Hi all. Looking for some comments and/or criticism on this photo. I've been tweaking on it for a while and I've hit a wall, maybe this is where it stops, or maybe there are some other things I could do to improve it. It's almost a dead-center composition, but it seems to work in this case. I wish I had a bit more room around the edges to work with, but it was cropped pretty tightly when taken. Any suggestions? Is the vintage color cast too strong?

I like the processing. However...too staged?

You know... it's kind of cool!

Her skin is pretty blown out though, it seems like it's intentional but I think it detracts a bit from the over all photo. The case and the grass are all textured and crinkly, but you want to squint when you look at the girl. I do think it's cool though.

I really like the picture, and the sepia tone works well. Maybe a little burning over her skin to tone it down a bit, but I think it's a fun photo!

Jo

I'm OK with the staging I think its clever. The toning is excellent. But like Jo and Trojarhorse have pointed out, something is off with her skin. Without measuring values to see if/where it is blown out, I think the issue is that its just to bright and perhaps too smooth. Burning the skin seems like a good idea. You might even add a bit of noise over the image to add to the aged look.

Scott G

Thanks so much for the comments so far. Yes, I suppose it's a bit stage, not often do you find a little girl sitting in an old suitcase in the middle of a field.

Ok, based on suggestions I applied a multiply layer masked for her skin only, and here are the results...

Nice picture and staging. I would like to see it with more space right and not centred to see if has more impact.

Fabulous portrait. Perfect. I would not change anything. That said, what I find
superb about it is its peculiar beauty.

Then again, let's go in a different direction and sprinkle some magical glow & see
how much older and mysterious it can be:

Glow is neat Kaden, but I dont like the total loss of detail in the girl. Maybe a bit of masking over her face.

Another version.

Neat! (in a ghostly kind of way)

awesome image. the second version is the best one.

I like the original version a lot. The staging is eye-catching and the girl's pose and expression are thought-provoking to say the least. The overall tone really works for the shot, too. It might be nice to see a version with slightly less vignetting just for comparison.

Kaden, thanks for the ideas on the glow, those add an intersting dimension. Thanks everyone, I sincerely appreciate the feedback.

I think your second one is nicer. The only thing I would have tried is different stops, (I like shallow depth of field, personally), and maybe would have tried something similar to this, just to put more emphasis on the girls face?

Interesting that you post that Marcel. I was messing around with a fake tilt-shift look that was doing something similar. I agree that a smaller DOF would've given her a little more pop; the bg is a bit busy. Thanks for the comments and sample.

Jaydub's second version. I'd be happy if I'd created that.