Clanceen#1

[Elder Wal]

Just delving into the art of portraits and would appreciate any comments (good or bad) on my recent effort.

[ggt]

Very pretty and clear eyes! I wonder what she would look like in B&W. Between the rocks and the plaid of her dress, it's distracting from THOSE EYES --for me anyway . . .just a thought. I'm no xpert on photography of any kind, so just giving my impressions.

[rpcrowe]

She is, IMO, a remarkably attractive lady. The rocks and plaid don't bother me a bit. What I did find distracting however was her left armpit. I don't know if it is the armpit or the shadow there but, my eye is distracted way from her magnificant eyes and that is a shame...

[HMW12]

Agree about the armpit. It does draw attention away from those amazing eyes. It also looks to me that the skin tone on the face is distinctly different than on the arm and chest. Wonder what a tighter crop from the bottom to just below the hair would look like, although this would probably result in non-standard proportions overall.

[Elder Wal]

Yes, I see what you mean. Now that my attention has been drawn to it, it does become a distraction.

She is, IMO, a remarkably attractive lady. The rocks and plaid don't bother me a bit. What I did find distracting however was her left armpit. I don't know if it is the armpit or the shadow there but, my eye is distracted way from her magnificant eyes and that is a shame...

[Elder Wal]

Its funny that you talk about a tighter crop. Before posting the original I played around with the very same thing in both colour and mono bu thought the original was better (before my attention was drawn to the armpit). Here are my cropped versions.

Agree about the armpit. It does draw attention away from those amazing eyes. It also looks to me that the skin tone on the face is distinctly different than on the arm and chest. Wonder what a tighter crop from the bottom to just below the hair would look like, although this would probably result in non-standard proportions overall.

[ggt]

Oh yes, I much prefer the cropped versions. Her beautiful eyes just pop here --in a good way. Nice work!

[Loose Canon]

Hi Wal,

May I be allowed to say that you have one killer model going on here? Those eyes just drill through you as you look at her.

The crop is just the ticket.

I like your B&W rendition, Wal. I’m a huge fan of B&W portraiture. This is, in my opinion a stunner.

Wal, for a nice finish for your stunner might I offer a suggestion or two? Now please keep in mind I go over the top sometimes and these suggestions may not be to your liking.

There is a bit of detail loss going on in her hair just above her left (camera right) eye and in the hair just to the left (camera right) side of her face. No idea if you could reclaim this shadow crush with your original. Just a thought.

What about cleaning up the stray hairs in her part and on her forehead?

A bit of level and/or curves adjustment to add a bit of nice contrast?

I did some selective dodging and burning when I put this in an editor to see if what I wanted to say to you had any merit. Dodged the hair a bit in the shadows and highlights, made a very (very) light burn pass on the face (avoiding the eyes of course) with attention to her lips, and with an eye toward accentuating some of the nice shadows on her face (burning) to see if it would bring a bit more depth.

Your crop really brings out the eyes, which makes this shot. I stamped the spectrals in the corners of her eyes and on her right (camera left) eye lid, and I took out the spectral on her bottom lip. Leaving the catchlights, naturally.

I took a pass at her eyes and lips with a sharpening tool and this is what I ended up with.

Wal, please… I will take this down just as fast as I put it up. Just say the word.

Very nice job.

[Elder Wal]

Thanks for the comments Terry and I'm happy to leave it up. All your comments have merit, especially the stray hairs and the spectrals in the corners of the eyes.

[rpcrowe]

I love the new cropping. I do like the B&W version but, my favorite is the colour rendition because of the magnificent colour of her eyes...

[Dave Humphries]

I love the new cropping. I do like the B&W version but, my favorite is the colour rendition because of the magnificent colour of her eyes...

I agree with Richard, I just love the eye and eye shadow and I'm normally a sucker for brown/hazel, not blue/grey eyes (shh, don't tell the missus)

That second crop is great