Post-Proccessing Critique

[reedtm]

Hi!

This is my first post here, but I'm excited about the opportunity and the community here! I'm an aspiring photographer at Grace College, in Indiana, and I'd really appreciate and feedback you can give me, especially feedback with ways to improve. Thanks!

This is a picture I took of my friend Kayla at Winona Lake. I tried a few different Photoshop tricks, and I'd like to know what people think. Any suggestions?

[LeeR]

Interesting light on your friend. It works really well for you. However, I am not thrilled with the background. Now I have been to Winona Lake, I learned to water ski there when I was a boy, but all of the little reflections are creating distractions. Look how much better this image looks with the background replaced with something simpler. Could you have moved the camera down a bit and used the trees on the far side of the lake to create a similar dark background?

[reedtm]

That's an interesting edit, and I never even considered doing something like that!

Actually, though, I think the water is my favorite part of the shot, mostly because this shot was almost completely candid. (If you don't count the reflector...)

What if I toned down the reflections of the water?

[zona5101]

excellent illustration Lee - there is a lot to learn just studying these two images...

[LeeR]

I wasn't suggesting necessarily that you get rid of the lake, but that you simplify the background and keep it from becoming a distraction. You have made a huge improvement with the changes you have made, I think I would keep going in that direction if I were you. You might also want to clone out that bit of a dark line behind your model's head.

[LoveDSLR]

Having fun with complementary color.