First portrait adjustment

[Amanda.MFM]

Hi everyone. I've been taking pictures for years but only recently got into it more seriously. This is my first attempt at adjusting a portrait (other than exposure). My goal was to enhance the picture without making it look too over done. Any comments are appreciated!
All I did was adjust the exposure slightly and tone. Some skin smoothing (first time using this tool), I removed the redness in the left eye and lightened the eyes slightly and I also whitened the teeth. I also added a little lens vignetting. I can't decide if the eyes and teeth are to white or not. I think I've been looking at it too long.

[zona5101]

i think you did a real nice job, in fact for a "first time" you did great. Flipping back and forth between the two, really shows the enhancement. And what you did wasn't so over-the-top as to be obvious without the original to compare to. nice work.

[statichash]

I think it looks good, teeth and eyes aren't too white either. Good job on the edit! TFS

[Amanda.MFM]

Thank you very much! I was a little worried. You know how it is when you first try something, we tend to go to far with it. I tried really hard to make it better without focusing on trying to make it "perfect". Of course my significant other said wow nice "airbrushing" ... so supportive... lol

[Ambiorix]

Didn't try it all out, but this lookes like a nice tut to me, to experiment on portraits!!!
Glamour Look

[scootermcq]

I like the edits on the person. What I don't like is the vignette. I would suggesting loosing it and cropping the image differently.

[deadgirlreading]

Originally Posted by scootermcq

I like the edits on the person. What I don't like is the vignette. I would suggesting loosing it and cropping the image differently.

I have to agree. The vignette is a little strong. As for the rest of the edits, they're subtle yet satisfying.

[Amanda.MFM]

@ Scott and Deadgirlreading. Thank you for you comments and input. I think the vignette is a style/look some people like and some don't. In this case I added it near the end for some interest becasue the background was blah , but I liked the empty space look. This is a self portrait I took up close & quickly in my office to give me something to work on/test the skin smoothing options for portraits (since I just upgraded from lightroom 1.3 to 3.0!). It also served the purpose of testing out my controller with my new camera.
Looking at my photo's on an uncalibrated monitor (at work) I notice the uploader for this site degrates the quality of the photo quite a bit and also that the vignette is a little dark. Thats unfortunate. I'll look at home and may adjust it a bit more.
Thanks again! It's much appreciated!