critique requested. not sure on the eyes

[Kiwi92651]

Hi there

New to this forum. Requesting my first critique on an image I shot last week. One beauty dish and reflector.

Thanks

Kevin

[klev]

Re: critique requested. not sure on the eyes

I like the eyes. Typically to get a really sharp look to them as people often associate with this kind of work requires some amount of post work. If it was me, I would probably simplify the various hues in the skin somewhat, do something to give those eyebrows some depth, adjust that background just a bit, and bring the highlights in the skin closer to each other in density. Beyond that I would probably want a more distinct shadow on the neck. Right now it just looks a bit blah. Typically when it's like that, I just go darker. Some people mess that up. If you do that to see how it looks, you don't want it to be high in contrast. Deeper shadows should not look high in contrast. I really dislike some of the gaps in the hair, and the really sharp ends. It makes the hair feel dry, but it would be difficult to make that feel really great. When it comes to the main parts of the eye, aside from makeup and eyelash adjustments, it can be difficult depending on if you're used to it. That outer line around the iris can sometimes be made a bit more distinct to make the subject look focused. Here I feel like the pupils could go just slightly darker, relative to the shot. For the purple eye shadow, I would wait until you have a really pleasing skintone overall, then color correct that region to look good against the overall skintone.

I can see other stuff I would probably do too. It's kind of time consuming to get these shots just right. I tend to go for simple color palettes and defined highlights and shadows with some consistency, because I find them to be more striking. It's just me though. There are things I'm not crazy about regarding the actual shot, but it's not that far off, in the sense that if you made this one, you could probably do even better. I think it's that I'm not big on the position of the shoulders or the relative size of frame to head. I'm not a fan of the hair on the neck, and I would have liked to see the top of her head in this shot. Fixing the other stuff would offer a massive amount of improvement, but you would still have weak hair and slightly weak eyebrows. From the perspective of what you have hear, that makes me want to suggest you try darkening the hair a bit overall to make it feel less about the hair and make the face a bigger focal point. Also watch out for stuff like in the lower left portion of the photo where the hair meets the background. That just has the appearance of a photoshop mistake, even if it wasn't one.

[Kiwi92651]

Re: critique requested. not sure on the eyes

thanks for the response. All points taken. The skin does look a little blotchy to me still. What would you suggest for simplifying the hues? Other than say more FS.

[klev]

Re: critique requested. not sure on the eyes

It's not always easy, and in my opinion it's still important to understand that shadows and highlights may have different hues and saturation values. If it's all basically the same color with different lightness, it looks really weird. As a general rule, your highlights perceived on non-metallic and non-translucent surfaces are more tinted more toward the color of the light itself. The shadows tend to give the viewer some idea of the perceived color of what surrounds the subject.

In terms of simplification, there are a few parts to it. The first is not to go too crazy with adding inflections to curves, so that you don't create your own problems. Residual amounts can be adjusted with good masking technique and selective color, color balance, curves, or channel mixer. I probably use selective color and channel mixer more than the others. Sometimes it's difficult to spot edges if you're just painting on an alpha channel/layer mask. To make it easier, you can start with something like quickmask, mask out the obvious area out to its borders. Then feather a few pixels, create the appropriate color adjustment layer, and refine from there. If you prefer to kind of freehand paint on the layer mask, I suggest a brush blending mode that is conducive to it. I would personally use something like brush set to linear dodge with a dark and medium dark color. I would use a history state and history brush to paint it back toward black if it goes too far. The reason I suggest that is that you can go over it multiple times at 100% without hitting pure white on the layer mask. This allows for (in my opinion) more control over the buildup in localized areas.

Overall I think you could make a better shot than this. At the same time I think you could get this one to a much better place. I'm not even looking at anything drastic. It's just a matter of what distracts me or what I feel should have more emphasis in the shot. I want the hair to either feel smooth or be less visually demanding. I don't like that I look at the nose more than any other highlight area. These highlights describe distinct facial topologies, and I really like the details that describe them. With the shadow on the neck, to me it's bright enough that my eye still goes there, yet there's not enough to be truly interesting. Some of the other shadows feel much deeper, so I think those could also be brought in line. When I think of this stuff in terms of a beauty shot, I'm looking for a certain implicit message, a visual path, and balance. The lack of these things can make a shot that is actually somewhat high in contrast feel flat.

Also what do you mean FS? I can't parse the abbreviation.

[Vernon]

Re: critique requested. not sure on the eyes

Hey, Kiwi92651.

Let's see about the only suggestions I may offer, based on my perception of the image, are:

• reduce the hair on the forehead
• clean up the stray hair along the edge of the scalp, down by the cheekbones
• clean up, trim, or add to the hair ends to make it more consistent or fuller
• I concur with the skin tones; they seem a little off between the facial region and the upper part of the torso (shoulders, collar bone, etc) - try a little adjustments in the magenta and yellows
• I think that some shaping around the lips/mouth with D&B may add more definition

I might also suggest adding a before image for comparison.

[Daviskw]

Re: critique requested. not sure on the eyes

I have some advice... close the image... wait a few days... open it... now what do you see? To me when I first opened the image the eyes looked too sharp compared to the rest of the image...Also the catch lights are slightly over done.

First impressions are usually right... You have been working on this picture I would guess for awhile. When you do this you tend to loose that first impression that others have when they see it for the first time.

By closing the image for a time then looking at it with fresh eyes I often find flaws in my work that i was not seeing while working on it. Most of the time it is color casts and luminosity problems but sometimes it is other flaws.

If you still like it then I say job well done...it is certainly acceptable and we all have out preferences and opinions... good luck and work.

Butch

[suryapuranik]

Re: critique requested. not sure on the eyes

It's not always easy, and in my opinion it's still important to understand that shadows and highlights may have different hues and saturation values. If it's all basically the same color with different lightness, it looks really weird. As a general rule, your highlights perceived on non-metallic and non-translucent surfaces are more tinted more toward the color of the light itself. The shadows tend to give the viewer some idea of the perceived color of what surrounds the subject.

In terms of simplification, there are a few parts to it. The first is not to go too crazy with adding inflections to curves, so that you don't create your own problems. Residual amounts can be adjusted with good masking technique and selective color, color balance, curves, or channel mixer. I probably use selective color and channel mixer more than the others. Sometimes it's difficult to spot edges if you're just painting on an alpha channel/layer mask. To make it easier, you can start with something like quickmask, mask out the obvious area out to its borders. Then feather a few pixels, create the appropriate color adjustment layer, and refine from there. If you prefer to kind of freehand paint on the layer mask, I suggest a brush blending mode that is conducive to it. I would personally use something like brush set to linear dodge with a dark and medium dark color. I would use a history state and history brush to paint it back toward black if it goes too far. The reason I suggest that is that you can go over it multiple times at 100% without hitting pure white on the layer mask. This allows for (in my opinion) more control over the buildup in localized areas.

Overall I think you could make a better shot than this. At the same time I think you could get this one to a much better place. I'm not even looking at anything drastic. It's just a matter of what distracts me or what I feel should have more emphasis in the shot. I want the hair to either feel smooth or be less visually demanding. I don't like that I look at the nose more than any other highlight area. These highlights describe distinct facial topologies, and I really like the details that describe them. With the shadow on the neck, to me it's bright enough that my eye still goes there, yet there's not enough to be truly interesting. Some of the other shadows feel much deeper, so I think those could also be brought in line. When I think of this stuff in terms of a beauty shot, I'm looking for a certain implicit message, a visual path, and balance. The lack of these things can make a shot that is actually somewhat high in contrast feel flat.

Also what do you mean FS? I can't parse the abbreviation.

Klev, I think he means Frequency Separation by FS..

[DianaPolitical]

Re: critique requested. not sure on the eyes

Ok, the eyes are overdone. I could even tell in the thumbnail - take down their brightness.

Her skin color is also very uneven and just weird. Cheeks super pink, forehead yellow and saturated, bottom half of the face desaturated... need to get all that in check.

also, your blurring the image, her face has the tell tale retouching glow~~