Here is an original out of camera photo of my daughter as well as my "final" retouch. My PP workflow includes Lightroom adjustments to WB, exposure, sharpening, and adding a slight vignette. My PS work includes blemish removal, slight brightness enhancement of the eyes, stray hair work, and in this case getting rid of some marker ink on her hand.
I'm interested in your comments on the quality of the image overall specific to the retouching. I know I have some work to do on posing.
I'm generally happy with the result, but I never seem to know if I'm doing the right thing as far as some of the adjustments I am making.
I like that you didn't go over the top on the skin retouching. Often the results come back too plasticy. So I like the level of detail that you've been able to retain there.
The white balance and colour tone on the original was not so great, and while you've pulled some of the red/pink out of the retouch, it still doesn't quite sit right for me.
Your model has amazing eyes but no matter how much I try to focus on them I seem to get pulled to the bright areas on her forehead and the side of her nose. Next time perhaps pull back the lighting on that side just a bit.
So what would I change? What do I notice about the PP?
I think you went a little too far on the lightening of the eyes. This is a minor point. A matter of taste. But the 'shadow' side eye looks lighter than the highlight eye in the iris. I also think the girl's right eye is too white on the side away from the nose. Again, this is a minor thing. When a photographer 'whitens' the whites of eyes, it generally makes them appear more 'noticeable' in a photo. If a person has large open eyes, this is not really necessary (IMHO) and it may make a person appear more 'bug eyed' than they are in some cases. People with prominent eyes may or may not like that.
I believe "whitening" is often overdone (in many images I see posted here and other places). You have to be the judge. Others here will strongly disagree too.
Frankly I don't like that you removed so many of her freckles/moles. They are what make her who she is. Otherwise, I like the sharpening and the vignette.
Nice work. i would do more to even out the skin tone with a bit of light painting or dodge and burn. For fun, I did some crazy stuff to this lovely young lady just experiementing. I can email it to you directly for review or post it here... or neither. I would like to use it on my website as an example of stylization with your permission and credit of course. let me know.
Overall, this is very nice. I think that you went too far with your contrast boost, however. If this were a male it would be appropriate, but for a young female I would go for a softer, lower-contrast look.
Your daughter is really cute, and I'm not enough expert to talk about the studio lighting, but like canuck88 it 'disturb' me that you removed freckles/moles and the result is too 'plasticey', i.e. the natural cuteness of her fair skin and freckles is not anymore there. But again, this is just my own feeling of this photo as you've the last word on what you want to achieve with your photo.
