[shf]

June 6, 2012 at 9:47 am

Hey ladyardilaun,

What I like in this is great eye contact and focus where it suppose to be. Shallow depth of field works quite well in here. What I personally would change is cropping (I would crop more from the top) and would sit the girl bit differentely, not to create vertical line with her shoulders. People generally do not like ‘from above’ angle, but I love it and it works quite well in most of situations, like here.
Overall great image , Well done !

Thomas

[shf]

May 31, 2012 at 8:41 pm

markst33 wrote:

I am a huge B&W fan as thats what I used to do myself in the attic of the family home which my Dad converted into a darkroom for me so its no contest. Monochrome portraits all the way :)

Mark S.

ahh love it myself, did quite a lot last year in the college. Keep thinking to go back to analog and build something in my attic ;)) hope to make it come true some day !

Thomas

[shf]

May 31, 2012 at 8:27 pm

Thanks Mark for your comment.

I will show you color version of the image, which one you feel is better ?

[shf]

May 31, 2012 at 7:46 pm

Hey Mark
Thanks for quick reply ;)) yes eyes look sharp but i think its due to sharpening of the image after resizing, on original image, they are not that sharp.
Regarding the skin, only enhanced lights and shadows from natural source and evened tones a bit as well (it meant to be color image at the start, I liked it a lot, but when done conversion I fell in love with it ;))
Thanks for your thoughts Mark !

[shf]

May 14, 2012 at 10:02 pm

Hey Dan,
No blurring in post processing ;)) it could be slightly out of focus, as i find working with d90 like a pain in the…. ;))) Tried to squeeze out as much as i can from this camera, unfortunately, sometimes was making mistakes. I picked this image anyway as a personal like.
Thanks !

[shf]

May 14, 2012 at 6:42 am

Hey Isabella,
Thanks for reply.
What is stuck to her leg is a tattoo, she asked not to remove it in post production by any means.
I never noticed this shadow before, I will be careful next time with things like that.

Thanks !

[shf]

April 8, 2012 at 7:49 am

Personally like it even more now ! great shot.

[shf]

April 7, 2012 at 10:11 pm

Gus that is brilliant shot. Love it !

[shf]

April 7, 2012 at 10:09 pm

hey alanhunt, it looks good, bit tight crop for me, and personally would work with saturation to get equal saturation across the image (eyes pops out which probably was your target), apart from that, looks great, and you managed to get perfect focus.

[shf]

April 7, 2012 at 10:06 pm

I personally like it, just one thing that catches my eye (heeee ;)))) is blown highlights. if you would manage to bring details back, would be even better.

[shf]

February 29, 2012 at 12:53 am

but you see, i’m not here to argue either and honestly i said what i said because of the attitude i perceived in some of your comments.
i did give you my critique/opinion on the shot and on the processing.

I do not want to aruge either, but the fact you stated one thing, made me to make one comment.

i said i didn’t like the tones – which u correct to a certain point.

And I accepted it and agreed with you, and not only you, that this needs to be improved, where i worked on it and tried to do it to my best capabilities, knowledge and my lcd screen possibilities.

i agreed with other comments about eyes being too bright

I also agreed on this comment, and that was fixed as well.

i said i liked the colour of the eyes and that i liked the picture but i believed could be improved.

There is always space for improvment, no mather how good you go with your images.

some of your answer didn’t do you any favour.. and i point it out.. i was only pushing you do achieve ur best on this picture and not waiting for the next shoot just because u felt u had spent many hours on this one…

I said what i think about the opinion. You have stated that

u need to learn how to use that technique properly

so I asked you, if im doing it wrong, how to do it right? I said it that this work was discussed with people which does retouching for living and, of course they pointed out mistakes I made about skin tones and some of the changes I made, but also said that technique itself and processing of skin texture and shadows are quite good. Obviously I did not master it, and will not for long time, as only shooting and working on another pictures will make me see these mistakes straight away.

thanks for your time anyway, and I hope will meet you next time in better light.

[shf]

February 28, 2012 at 11:53 pm

brownie, you did not get my point, I am widely open to critique, as other people see things that I may not see it… I am still open to critique and will listen if it is done in construcitve manner, but not when someone says things without backing up his words. I have got so many opinions about this image, that it got improved since first posting. But, as a photographer, I also need to know how to select other people opinions, and to make right choices that will affect final product, I may go and change everything what people says, but if I am not going to be happy with the image, the whole critique thing makes no sense.

Yes, model was very happy with this image, discussed in detail.

[shf]

February 28, 2012 at 11:09 pm

Hes not the only one not happy with the photo, or the processing of the photo. in my opinion it looks unnatural, fake, and flat. i dont like the pose either. why are her eyeballs so overly white?

I am absolutely fine with this, I am not going to make everyone happy.

also, your signature thingy, its too elaborate, big and a distraction to any photo you put up. if you cant make it classy, at least make it smaller.

This is done the way I like it, and it will be like that. You could keep a bit of class and say nothing about it… this is last thing which should be considered around the image. If you dont like it, live with it.

in the title of the thread you wrote “critique please” so stop pissing and moaning about the critque and take it on the chin.

pissing and moaning? where am i moaning about the critique I have recieved? I take everything on board, I dont have to go and fix everything that ppl mention in this thread, do i? on the other hand, if someone mentions that I am not using technique properly (and is not using himself either to that extend), why should I sit quiet and say nothing? And if that is stated, I would like to know how that technique should look like, and would like to see the result of properly applying techniques.

EOT, no point to discuss this further, as it goes nowhere.

John, thank you for your time, Im sure skin tones can be improved, in the middle of learning that now… best regards.

[shf]

February 28, 2012 at 12:11 am

I am not going to argue with you over who is right and who isn’t. I said my point of view, you may accept it or not.

no, you tried using what you reckon is a high end retouch technique… u haven’t master it yet and the comments above prove it.. also the fact that u did a second version prove you wrong.. u need to learn how to use that technique properly and only by listening to other people’s comment you will manage that..
u can buy a 20000€ worth of equipment but unless you learn how to use it, ur picture will not be worthed any more than a picture i take with an iphone

ok so if i take a picture of my dog’s crap and spend 4 days on photoshop adjusting whatever i feel need to be adjusted, you think i can sell that picture for a 1000 euro just because i spent days of work on it??????

High end photo retouch, as you know yourself, isnt about fixing crap image, but mastering good quality image, dont understand point about image of a dog… I never said I have mastered dodge and burn technique, as this is only second image i have processed so far, many more to come in the future, with many more failures and successes.

btw. if I did not use ‘high end retouch technique’ here, describe me please what it is, how it looks and how should be used… interesting only you are not happy with the result of this technique, and people which does that all the time on retouch forums did not point out mistakes on technique itself.

not sure it’s a great way of working but anyone is free to work his way

I dont make money on this yet, im in the middle of learning various techniques.

personally i believe that if you put a picture up for critique it would be worth listen to it and if you can see the other people’s point, i would re-work the picture because i do care about my work and i want it to be good.. otherwise i wouldn’t look for critique.. i’ll post it on facebook and i wait for people to say “wow what a stunning picture you took today..”

Trust me that I listen to critique – when it is constructive. That is why I prepared another version, way before you posted your critique. I am not going to fix an image if someone states that image is too bright. If i lower brightness down, someone may say its too dark. Everybodys screens are different, Im making sure that image will look good on paper at the end.

i think you improved the tones on the second picture, however is still not the best you could achieve with that very good image you had to start with. the only reason i’m replying to you is because i do think you have a good image but you haven’t done it justice so far. if the image wasn’t worth it i wouldn’t be wasting my time trying to get my point across… at the end of the day we are all here to learn, no one is perfect and there is always room for improvement but you need to accept it..

In your opinion tones can be better, I think they are fine, the way I like it. If that would be for elle magazine, I would listen to requirments of the image.
You are absolutely right about learning outcomes form posting our work on this website, and everyone will agree, that constructive critique is helpful. But not when someone accuse you over not listening to others, when in fact, I shown evidences that I am listening to…

Cheers

[shf]

February 27, 2012 at 9:18 pm

Well i never thought that my work is perfect, Im sure elle would not publish it because these kind of shots are made specially for them, with appropriate models and stylists etc. this is an image taken during normal photoshoot. Personally think (and not just me, also people on retouch forums) I have achieved an acceptable level of high end retouching technique. There is many things I would change now, but once job finished, I move on to, and take acknowledge to next jobs. yes, I am happy with result, and fact that i spent couple of hours retouching makes in my opinion, this work valuable. I am not going to change something just because someone said it. I take on board others knowledge, but if I am happy with result, the way is presented, I am not going to change just because someone does not like it. Regardless how good work you complete, there is always going to be complaints. Just live with it. Thanks for your time anyway ! P.S. This is an edit I have done after couple of hints and tips:
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