Portrait

[Javier]

[DanK]

A nice pose, but I'm afraid I have the same concern I mentioned last time: the skin is over-processed. She looks like she's made of plastic. I would reduce that part of the processing substantially. I'd also suggest burning the hot spots 9especially on the left eyelid) and leaving more room on the subject's right (viewer's left).

[Manfred M]

+1 to Dan's comments.

Good retouching for portraiture is a relatively slow and time-consuming process, largely involving dodging and burning. The short-cuts where skin softening is used (either through local application of a Gaussian blur or use of a tool like Portrait Pro) gets one the plastic doll look. Even techniques like Frequency Separation often (in fact usually) lead to results that do not stand up to scrutiny.

Dan is 100% right about the hot spots; those really detract and can be challenging to avoid, but good lighting technique in combination with good makeup will reduce that problem. Even then, there is usually a need to do some cleanup in post; the forehead, bridge and tip of the nose, the chin, etc. (all areas that are closest to the light) will need some gentle cleanup in post. Avoiding blowing them out in capture enables this. A large modifier that is close to your subject is the place to start.

Deep, hard shadows do not generally work well with this type of setting; i.e. a soft, feminine pose. A fill card or fill light are almost always mandatory. Beware of photographers who preach single light shooting; they may have a single powered light, but almost always add a fill card; in my view this is using a secondary light source. You do need some light under the chin and at the neck to open up those hard shadows.

[egglejan]

And I like this kind of leather. there is a photo from my collection where the leather is slathered in oil and highlighter. It looks too beautiful, but there are models with such perfect looks that they don't even need retouching. The only - but acute - problem is that due to the novelty of retouching tools (of the same Adobe Photoshop), their accessibility and deceptive ease https://photorelive.com, the boundary of acceptable improvement has not yet been worked out. An unspoken code of ethics is just emerging, often through lawsuits, high-profile claims, brave little revolutions and an endless succession of mistakes.

[lunarbo]

She is undeniably lovely and placed in a gracious pose. It's Javier's choice to show her skin as smooth as he has, it may be said to add to the picture and I wouldn't argue with that view
However for me the highlight in her left eyelid, plus the purple eyeshadow, makes her look as if she has a nasty stye and I think this must be addressed. Also if a bit more space could be added on the left side of the picture I think it would be better balanced

[rpcrowe]

I am wondering if the model wore eye makeup that was less reflective and if the light were a bit softer (or a combination of the two) whether that might have prevented the reflection on the eyelid.