Trying something new

[kyo]

I've been playing with some effects and various styles, and wanted to see what people thought or what could be improved.

The original image can be found here.

original

And the result..

final

Done with some sharpening, adjusting highlights, a highlight and shadow overlay layer, and a bit of painting.

Any comments would be appreciated thanks.

Kyle

[CathyH]

Hi I like the background and her hair, but I think I would have made her skin smoother and more flatering. Not so blotchy.

[kyo]

Thanks for the comments, I spent so much time trying to get a certain look I forgot to pay attention to the easy part

Another try to smooth things out a bit.

smooth

[smak]

You're making the background more artistic, but... you are making the face look worse to me. The face is the item of interest in the photo.

[kyo]

I think the smoothed out version makes the face a lot better.. but I'll go back and tone down the pure whites a bit on the face to make it a little more natural.

[CathyH]

Kyo, I like the smother one much better, but you need to think like a painter.
If you were applying the paint, were would the highlights be and the brush strokes.
I hope this helps, becasue I really like the style.

[smak]

Maybe it's me, but I think the original looks best (except for the brown spots).
The retouches are different versions of (sorry) worse. It seems like the face is being aggravated by trying to do some improvements to it.