Looks a tad light, and maybe a little more sharpening.
Little different levels and USM.
Only other thing I could think of would be to make the reds pop a little more.
EDIT: Other thing I forgot to add, did you crop off the top of the head? I'd open it up a little more if you want a portrait, otherwise I'd bring it in further if you want something intimate.
leadZero - nice work - nice eyes. - I worked with this for more than an hour and never did get anything worthy of posting
Is there any way to tone down the highlights on her cheekbone and nose? And I think maybe I'd try to soften her hair away from her face just a bit in an attempt to add a little depth.
everything looks great....BUT I would definitely pose her differently. the straight on shot is not appealing for her/ women in general. makes them appear larger in the image.
Yeah I suppose I could use a little sharpening. I'm using a d70 with an older manual focus lens, so obtaining critical focus is not so easy. I've been having a lot of trouble with this actually and have been looking into getting a katz eye. Maybe I'll buy one for myself for the holidays.
A lot of the gamma was lost when I outputted the jpeg for web - not sure what happen, I'll have to look into this. While the blacks are deeper than the file I posted, leadZERO made it a little too contrasty for my taste. But I appreciate the opinion nonetheless. Much of the highlights were added in post - its something I like. And again, I purposefully took the reds down in a curves adjustment, but maybe I took it too far. I'll play with these with more attention in the future.
And to Tony, I agree the pose is not ideal - it doesn't help the fact that she's not model-skinny. At the time I was into a straight-on aesthetic that wasn't, necessarily focused on flattery and beauty. In this version, I was seeing how "glamorous" I could transform it in post.
I don't like:
- The necklace takes away from the picture because it is so large and droops so low causing the portrait to be too long. If you did not have the necklace you likely would have cropped higher and kept it to her face and eyes.
- I would crop (and clone out as necessary the necklace) to get her head. I think it would improve the picture tremendously
- You framed off the crown of her head.
