Critique please

[Macha_v]

Can you please let me know your thoughts on how to improve this image?
Here is the before and after :

[klev]

Re: Critique please

You need to revisit the lighting on the face. Faces are not ellipsoids or spheres, and lighting doesn't work like that on them.

[Macha_v]

Re: Critique please

Thank you for taking the time to looke at this Klev,
would you mind showing me an example of a male face well lit? I didn't change the original way the face was lit, I only changed the levels. I would like to understand your perspective.

Thank you again!

[klev]

Re: Critique please

I can look for one, but I'm not sure whether I will be able to find one that properly demonstrates the difference. In the before image, the shadow going from the forehead down to the chin has a different shape. It isn't perfectly vertical, whereas it is in the after version.

[mikemorrell]

Re: Critique please

I'm a newbie here, know nothing about retouching and little about lighting. But I do see that there's a natural 'Chiaroscuro' effect in the original where the subject is brighter than the background. Artists have used effect since the Renaissance to focus the viewers attention on the subject. Photographers use it too.

In the retouch, I like the lighting on the wall, the double bass, the piano keys and the sheet music. This strengthens the 'Chiaroscuro' effect. But the overal effect is less natural because a few objects in the background (paintings, the chicken, the bottle) are much brighter than their background. So the viewers attention is drawn both to the subject and to a few objects in the background.

My suggestion is not to highlight the paintings at all or the 'back end' of the chicken. Reduce the lighting slightly on the front of the chicken and the bottle.

Hope this helps,

Mike