A nice lady to meet.
Bob
http://www.deinfaces.com/

What's gone wrong with the skin processing? Looks a little unusual, or us it just my iPad screen?

ct, if it comes down to my PP or the iPad screen, trust the screen every time. I continue to struggle with middle age women's skin. I try to balance the fake, waxy look of Professional Portrait with the blotchy look of Nik Silver Efex pro II. This iteration hopefully looks less fakey. Thank you for looking and commenting.

Sorry, but her eyes make her look startled.

Do you mean Portrait Professional (software)?

If so, there is a thread here http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1132444/0?keyword=portrait,professional#10810854 that could in fact be the issue with your blotchy skin, BTW looks blotchy on my calibrated monitor.

Agree on the eyes, she looks startled unless she has had some cosmetic surgery.

JB, WOW! That thread says a lot. I guess that I am not the first to struggle with blotchy skin with this software. Or the second, or third. Thanks for getting me on to this.

SURPRIIIISE!

Based on the above thread, I downloaded the free trial for Imagenomics Portraiture2. Here's my first try.

I'm a fan of your series.
This is a pretty woman, and I find her eyes captivating; not overly expressive.

I would like to see the original shot with no skin work. This last post is better by far, but still a bit unnatural to me. Does the shot really require any skin work?

-Tim

Thank you, t-bone. OK, here is the image right out of ACR, and then with Nik Silver Efex Pro II with minimal tonal adjustments.

Thanks for posting these.
I see what you're after here - Some kind smoothing to help flatter.
The spot below her nose completely disappears in the first posted shot, as do the crows feet. 2nd and 3rd shots look more natural.

I must say, too, that when I pull this image larger on my iPad to create a tighter crop like many of the other shots you've shown, the character in her face makes the shot interesting with no need for smoothing. My opinion, of course!

Again, great series.

Thanks. It just frustrates me that the B&W looks less flattering than color, right out of the converter.

Check out CSpringer's Portrait Actions at Action Central, http://www.atncentral.com/image_enhance.html

I did a quick pass through Skin Fix and then into Silver Efex Pro 2 with some selective adjustments and a wee bit of toning and pretty much eliminated the blotchiness, if you are interested. Much more can be achieved on the full rez image of course.

Thanks, JB. We're just heading out of town for a few days. I'll check out those actions next week.