Critique Please!!

[TLC]

Hello! I am new to this website and I think this is a fantastic resource! I am looking for some critique on an image I just shot and retouched. Thanks for your time!

[TLC]

Anyone?

[igot2pman]

Givit a day or two b4 getting sad...

Anyway...I like most of way you did here. Cleanup is mostly well done except for what’s in red. The cheek area looks flat with no texture. Over all i like the lighting and the concept.

Subjective:
Color is a bit orange still... corrected the below with selective color (Neutrals c:+10 m:+1 y:-4 {absolute}). Stripes show your original retouched skin.

I personally don’t like the catch lights

I think the shirt is now brownish

Hope it helps ,
-Keven

[TLC]

Originally Posted by igot2pman

Givit a day or two b4 getting sad...

Anyway...I like most of way you did here. Cleanup is mostly well done except for what’s in red. The cheek area looks flat with no texture. Over all i like the lighting and the concept.

Subjective:
Color is a bit orange still... corrected the below with selective color (Neutrals c:+10 m:+1 y:-4 {absolute}). Stripes show your original retouched skin.

I personally don’t like the catch lights

I think the shirt is now brownish

Hope it helps ,
-Keven

Hey Thanks for the feedback! I am still going back to the skin every time I open the image, ha ha. I was kind of purposely going for a "warmer" look over with this but your color correction definitely gives me something to think about. TOTALLY agree with the catch lights. Any recommendations on what I can do about replacing them? or do you think I should just remove them? Thanks a ton!!!

[Algarve Images]

I think may be the white balance is off in the original, correct that first in raw then there's less to do, the really smooth skin for me imho makes it look like it belongs in a shop window lol

[igot2pman]

I played around with position of the Fake soft box glare. The below was the best i could come up with. They also looked good without any catch lights.

Colored over the bad flashes and other stuff with black sample.

Rectangular M tool then filled with white. 75% opacity. 3 rounds of regular blur, then masked out only the glass.

I also fixed the problem areas i talked about above.

Hope it helps,
-Keven

[TLC]

Originally Posted by igot2pman

I played around with position of the Fake soft box glare. The below was the best i could come up with. They also looked good without any catch lights.

Colored over the bad flashes and other stuff with black sample.

Rectangular M tool then filled with white. 75% opacity. 3 rounds of regular blur, then masked out only the glass.

I also fixed the problem areas i talked about above.

Hope it helps,
-Keven

Cool! I love this idea! I will definately play with the softbox effect. Thank you very much for your help!

[TLC]

Originally Posted by Algarve Images

I think may be the white balance is off in the original, correct that first in raw then there's less to do, the really smooth skin for me imho makes it look like it belongs in a shop window lol

Thank you for the feedback. I'm struggling with the color because I want it to to have a warm almost gold tone to it but I don't want it to look orange and on purpose not like a mistake. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

[Algarve Images]

I can't really a whole lot better than what Keven has already accomplished, did get rid of most of the "halo's" that really annoy me lol...
Ran it through the "remove colour cast filter" in Nikand blurred the shadows to blend in better and look less harsh.
The whole lighting thing was a bit weird to start off with, but it kinda grew on me and i accented it in one image with the good old midnight process.
Changed the angle of the subject and made two other alternatives which you may or may not like, everything in photography is highly subjective, thats why i always start with Raw format, you can't please everyone, regards,
Gary...

ps...i broke my ankle yesterday so am not a happy bunny!

[igot2pman]

I really like the extension and rotate. It just makes it seem like he is looking at something.

-Keven

[TLC]

Originally Posted by Algarve Images

I can't really a whole lot better than what Keven has already accomplished, did get rid of most of the "halo's" that really annoy me lol...
Ran it through the "remove colour cast filter" in Nikand blurred the shadows to blend in better and look less harsh.
The whole lighting thing was a bit weird to start off with, but it kinda grew on me and i accented it in one image with the good old midnight process.
Changed the angle of the subject and made two other alternatives which you may or may not like, everything in photography is highly subjective, thats why i always start with Raw format, you can't please everyone, regards,
Gary...

ps...i broke my ankle yesterday so am not a happy bunny!

Cool I definitly like the rotation you put on it. I don't know if I'm crazy about the midnight process thing. What are these halos you speak of?
Thanks again!
Sorry to hear about your ankle!

[0lBaldy]

Originally Posted by TLC

I'm struggling with the color because I want it to to have a warm almost gold tone to it but I don't want it to look orange and on purpose not like a mistake. Any thoughts?
Thanks!

I couldn't help myself... (you mentioned Gold Tone)...Sorry!!

[TLC]

Wow that's trippy!

[Algarve Images]

Good Olbaldy to come up with something out of "goldfinger" lol
The halo's are probably caused by either excessive sharpening or using the highlight/shadow tool, easily fixed by using the blur tool on no. 1 or 2 at 500% magnification. Have arrowed the areas most affected...

[Algarve Images]

Originally Posted by igot2pman

I really like the extension and rotate. It just makes it seem like he is looking at something.

-Keven

Yep i really like that one too, angles and space can make or break an image in this case it works quite well, regards, Gary.

ps the "midnight one" was an experiment best suited for something else may be, what that is i will find out in due course or probably never lol!

[TLC]

Originally Posted by Algarve Images

Good Olbaldy to come up with something out of "goldfinger" lol
The halo's are probably caused by either excessive sharpening or using the highlight/shadow tool, easily fixed by using the blur tool on no. 1 or 2 at 500% magnification. Have arrowed the areas most affected...

Ah! got it. Yeah I think i sharpened this low res version too much before I saved it to post up here. Thanks again!

[TommyO]

TLC,
I really like the overall color (gold tone) of the image. I also think you did an excellent job maintaining the tonal differences between the subject and background, especially with the shirt. The contrast difference could easily have been lost. It's funny how sensitive our eyes are to those things and how important it is to maintain, even when very subtle.

I also don't want to overlook all the other hard work you put into cleaning up the other small but important issues. Job well done.

I would like to see just a few small things cleaned up some more.
- the subtle wrinkle in the tee shirt by the V neck on his right side;
- the small reflection on the sun glasses on his far right edge;
- better defining the far right edge of the sun glasses against the background (just a very small amount);
- the larger reflection/catch on the sun glasses by his nose.

That's it for me. Otherwise, I think the image would hold up well in any printed media, as well as in a larger format. I do agree with Gary, in that a good scrubbing in your RAW editor is always a good first step.