[Paula33]

Here is a picture I recently took and touched up in PP, what do you all think? Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

[Rawit]

(09-18-2012, 08:01 PM)Paula33 Wrote: Here is a picture I recently took and touched up in PP, what do you all think? Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Looks very nice! Natural, not overdone. One thing you could improve perhaps: reduce the texture size a little bit.

[randomAccess]

(09-18-2012, 08:01 PM)Paula33 Wrote: Here is a picture I recently took and touched up in PP, what do you all think? Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Good expression, engaging and natural. Since you asked for a critique, some thoughts on the pose etc.:
- the PP part is good - the retouch is not obvious, especially at normal viewing sizes.
- subject separation is good, with respect to focus and contrast - the model is brighter than the background. I think you had an on-camera flash for fill with a light source to the upper left, but can't tell for sure. I find the lighting a bit flat - less fill would have created more definition - but this can be a matter of taste. Exposure is almost perfect - just a tad over.
- the subject's left arm is distracting - bare arms always are. Either long sleeves, or drape her hair over the arm , or feather the key light to make the arm darker.
- the subject's right arm appears amputated (because, visually, it is cut at the joint) - it should be forward enough to be visible, or cropped out
- the shoulders are at a good 45 degrees, and tilted visually away from the camera, looks like her weight is on the back leg, which is all good. Head tilt is also good.
- having said that, it is more traditional to face women's shoulders away from the key light - this lightens the neck / throat area, leading to greater attention on the face.

A different crop might be of interest: I have taken the liberty of posting a cropped (and contrast / exposure-adjusted) version.

[Paula33]

Great critique, randomAccess!

[kirk]

looks great smile

[mikedawson]

I agree with the other comments. Very nice overall. Not overdone. I would like slightly different lighting to get more shadows but that is always a subjective thing. The only new thing I would add is that I find the hair to be a little messy. A bit of comb or brush before the photo would have been nice.