First post here. Would love any comments on this one.
Thanks!

Not a portrait guy, but my 2 cents.
Thx for joining the forum!

I like this image very much. There is a beautiful soft look to her skin and the shallow depth of field creates a pleasant, soft background. Eye contact is excellent. Some might selectively sharpen the eyes; I'm OK with as is.

I like the BW conversion. Most BW's I see and do tend to be contrasty stuff. You have a nice tonal range without the deep contrast that would pull away from the soft, calm feeling I get looking at this image.

Minor nit: I'd clone out the fingers or whatever bottom right. Distracts, isnt adding anything as far as I can tell

Scott

Wow i didn't catch those fingers till now...man....

Thanks

Bryan

One small issue with the portrait is your choice of shoot with a 50 mm lens. On a full frame camera, it means getting too close for a face shot. The perspective isn't as flattering as one taken from a greater distance using a longer lens. (You can get the same effect with a 50 mm lens if you step back far enough and crop the resulting frame.)

I agree with scott on cloning out her finger tips. They are distracting. On the questions of sharpening her eyes and bumping the contrast, I disagree. One of the keys to surviving the added snap of bumping the contrast is to first reduce her small skin blemishes because bumping the contrast will make them more apparent. Sharpening her eyes and hair without sharpening the rest of her face would be more flattering and give the image snap.

One way would be to make a duplicate layer, sharpen it and then erase the layer over her face, excluding her eyes. If you have a little practice such a change only takes about 10 seconds in PS. I can post an example, if you wish.

Auntipode

I think an example would help

Thanks

Here's a version with the suggested PP: