Critiques :)

[Lamouzinga]

Hi There,

I'm new to this site and was hoping to get some feedback on one of the images I've been editing for my portfolio. Photography by me. Not sure of the specific names for techniques I've used but in this photo there is a layer for the 3d shading (dodge/burn), airbrushing to skin (very minimal and decreased opacity), Gradients are used to create a dark look around edges of image, and colour correcting.
Still not overly happy with final result, as with the dark shading it makes the eyes/eye colour less defined.

BEFORE:
http://img90.imageshack.us/my.php?im...cialshoot3.jpg
AFTER:
http://img135.imageshack.us/my.php?i...cialshoot3.jpg

[0lBaldy]

The first thing I noticed was... her top is blown out which draws the eyes and that hair across the forehead distracts also.. I will leave the rest of the critique to the Pros because it is all subjective and depends on what you want to emphasize

my try below is not a critique as such.. It's more like.. I wanted to see what I could do with your image

after levels and color correcting I used the "Wet Skin" technique
lightened the eyes and eyeliner by using the history brush tool set at screen
combined all
Used an action "Richard Houtby Dragan Effect", masked and blended in at a low opacity with the combined layer
some cloning and more tweaking (maybe to much tweaking)

[Lamouzinga]

Wow! that looks great! Thank you so much for taking the time to help me with your advice. Very kind of you! I will check out those tutorials now! thanks again!

[Godmother]

Lamouzinga, I like your work on it.

I think u went a bit far on the dark edges... but that's it

[plantphoto]

Apart from the blown out shirt I think you have done a good job on this.
Simon