you are right to say that your girlfriend is beautiful, she really is!
i have been a fan of yours and your works - they're so inspiring
please keep posting so i and others may learn from your technique.
These shots are crisp in detail and color range. I like how you can see her lashes reflecting in the colored part of her eyes.
Nice work. Can you give any advice on a three strobe lighting setup to shoot a model on a couch and eliminate as much shadow as possible? I have 3 inexpensive strobes, a 160 ws with an umbrella and two 100 ws 40" softboxed strobes...
Mikhail... lovely lighting and woman. The catchlights are well placed for a classic lighting scenario. I hope you don't mind that I too take a pass at retouching one of your images. I would also like to use it in my retouching gallery with credits given to you for the shot of course.
Retouching performed:
Level adjustments
Color balance adjustments
2 independent passes of skin smoothing using Noise Ninja™
Blemish removal using healing and clone brushes
Light painting to pull details out of shadows, reduce hot spots on skin and hightlight the brown eyes
High pass sharpening
Saturation boost
I like her 3/4 profile quite a bit, and think you should work that more in future shoots (as opposed to shooting primarily square to her face).
Also, the hair in motion is a nice look - try working some more wth her hair. Bring some in on her face/forehead. When she pulls her hair back, as with a headband, her hairline is a smidge higher than average, and combined with her delicate features (nose and chin), this gives her the appearance of having a bit larger forehead - which I don't think is the case. Getting some hair back into the shot at the top of her head may enhance what is already a lovely lady.
Lastly, try shooting tighter. She has absolutely amazing eyes, and like I said above, very delicate features. Play that up. Shoot tight - a composition just an inch or so above the brow line, and 2-4 inches below the chin, in portrait mode. Have her looking off to the side just a bit, or facing off to the side, and looking back into the camera. Anyway, those would be my starting points.
n that first playing a little pic you've gone overboard. You've washed out any character at all.