Kristen

[DougR]

The problem I'm having with this photo is that she is propped on her hand creating a "jumble" in the lower left corner. Nothing I do makes it appear correct. Thoughts?

[FeatherMonkey]

Without the hand I tilted my phone wondering what had gone on.

Not sure if that helps, I also know sod all about portraits.

[Manfred M]

Doug - my usual solution to corner issues is to try a vignette to darken those areas. It often works well and has the added benefit of creating a framing effect and concentrating the viewer's eyes to the centre of the image.

In addition to the issue you have pointed out, I see a few other technical and compositional issues with the image.

From a technical standpoint, the image is soft and needs some sharpening. The overall appearance is quite muddy, and that is almost always associated with incorrect black point and white point settings. The image also appears to be a bit overexposed. B&W is all about contrast and tonality and I would also look at increasing contrast a touch.

I'm not sure that your focus is spot on either.

Getting a bit more nit-picky; dodging the shadows under her eyes and lightening here eyes would also be things I would look at.

From a compositional standpoint, the image looks like you tried to do a Dutch tilt; when in fact you are dealing with a person lying on her side, supporting her head with her hand. The close crop is the issue as it accentuates the strange angle of the head versus the body. Had you made this more than just a head shot, it might have worked better. As it is, something looks a bit strange about it.

Here is a quick take on how I might have handled the technical issues and vignette.

[IzzieK]

Very pretty lady, Doug...any more shots of her?

[DougR]

Manfred,
I made a small change in contrast that I like a little better but the "jumble" still draws my attention. (Maybe because I know it's there...). As far as the tight crop, it is something I like in some cases, depends on the shot. Looks like I will have to "reframe" as the vignette bled over.



Izzie,
I only have one other picture of Kristen. Her and a friend were expecting and wanted photos.

[Manfred M]

Doug - the metadata suggests that you are doing your work in Picasa, and unfortunately I have no expertise with that tool. I have played with it in the past and found it to have just very basic editing capabilities.

The "jumble" likely bothers you because it has some bright spots that draw your attention to it, so the strategy would be to find some way of locally darkening it up. That's why I suggested a vignette, because it is generally a tool a lot of editors have and is reasonably easy to apply. The downside is that it is a bit of a blunt tool and a bit more finesse is called for.

Back in the wet darkroom days we would simply "burn the area in", which is a nice way of saying increase your exposure locally to darken up the area. If Picasa has a "burn" option, that might be an approach. It tends to require some experience to burn well and overdoing it is all to easy.

I've burned in the bottom left hand corner; I think this might be more along the lines of where you would want to go, but with Photoshop, I have a lot of control and can finesse things quite carefully.

[HijoD]

She seems like a pretty girl who is willing to have fun and pose for shots. I feel your BW edit needs some contrast and sharpening. Also my eyes are kind of wondering all over the image which tells me there are no strong focus points. If you have a set of her you may want to take another look at the shots where the face is not filling the entire frame. I also agree with the comments above. I would add a vignette.

Did you lower clarity in PP?

[DougR]

Javier,

Yes, I lowered clarity a tad to soften her features.

[Manfred M]

Doug - global softening tends to make the image look soft which tends to suggest that it is out of focus. This is rarely a desireable effect. The eyes and mouth (especially the lips), eye lashes and eyebrows need to look crisp. Wrinkles around the eyes and mouth can be smoothed out, but once we get to the point where we don't see small details in the face (pores, for instance), the image gets that "Barbie doll" look, and that just doesn't look right to the viewer who is expecting to see skin.

[DougR]

This is a before photo of the second picture, before any pp. This was a pose that she chose. A not very becoming picture. She did not receive, nor see this picture, as I found it not becoming. She received the second photo where the scar under her mouth and a few small, minor "defects" were removed. The photo was changed to black and white, first because I liked it, and second because whitening the teeth did not look "natural". She would probably not have liked this photo, and she never saw it. She was, even with the defects, delighted with the second, processed one.
I agree with you that when you reach the point where the skin looks plastic, it is not becoming, but ladies need a little softening, in my opinion, and men, not so much.
I guess it's all subjective.

[Manfred M]

I agree with you that when you reach the point where the skin looks plastic, it is not becoming, but ladies need a little softening, in my opinion, and men, not so much.

Doug - I've done a fair bit of retouching and have had some professional level training. I completely agree with you that in general you will tend to do more work on women than on men.

First of all, retouching moles and scars can be very touchy. Sometimes people regard them almost as a "badge of honour". It is always best to check with your subject before doing so.

When it comes to global adjustments, the only one I will use is "import sharpening", i.e. counteracting the effect of the camera's anti-aliasing filter. Any other adjustments I make are local only.

Depending on the image, I might do some local sharpening of the eyes (pupil), eyebrows, eye lashes and lips. I will often do a very tiny bit of whitening of the whites of the eyes and the teeth. I will often darken the pupils a touch and I will also darken (increase the saturation of the lips, i.e. increase the saturation / density a touch, even if the subject is wearing lips stick.

I will soften lines around the eyes and around the mouth a bit (sometimes a lot) as this can make a lot of difference in the appearance of the subject. This is something I will do to the individual lines and do not use a global adjustment. I will also remove pimples and other "temporary" skin blemishes, but will not remove moles unless my subject wants me to.

If there is skin discolouration; dark shadows under the eyes, blood vessels or blotchy skin; those I will remove pretty well automatically. If there is a sheen, from either oily skin or from the lighting, I will also correct those. I might soften shadows or accentuate shadows to help sculpt the face. Stray hairs are removed as a matter of course as well.

I never do a global skin adjustment, as I do generally want to leave the skin looking natural.

[rpcrowe]

I did some retouching on the color image, only slightly smoothing her skin, before I used Silver Efex Pro 2 for the B&W conversion (which I agree looks better than the color). I don't think that the skin looks waxy and phony in this retouch...

What do you think of this B&W conversion? IMO, her eyes are her best features and a bit more contrast accentuates them...

If I were working with it some more, I would try to avoid the hand under her hair. Perhaps by cloning or maybe a vignette would do it.

IMO a bit of makeup such a some blush to accentuate her cheekbones and a bit darker lip gloss might be a better start...