Orten Effect for portraits?

[jax314]

I followed a tutorial from this site and made a slight curves adjustment. Is this effect good for portraits or does it end up making them too soft?


Camera: Nikon D5000
Exposure: 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture: f/7.1
Focal Length: 110 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: No Flash


Any other critique is welcome as usual...or other ideas to PP that would be better....

Thanks!

[Photolicious]

Now this is just an opinion But I find this effect a bit passé, it is very 80'ties glamour. I personally prefer the clean and crisp look. But again, this is just an opinion

[GadgetRick]

A little soft on a portrait is fine. I usually soften up kids' faces. This is a bit too much (imo). The hair is looking like it's out of focus.

[SusanH1970]

Originally Posted by Photolicious

Now this is just an opinion But I find this effect a bit passé, it is very 80'ties glamour. I personally prefer the clean and crisp look. But again, this is just an opinion

I gotta agree with this, sorry!

She's SO cute and this really has the potential to be a really nice portrait with clean processing.

[jax314]

Thanks for the responses guys....this is why I post here...No apologies necessary..I don't take it personal!!

One day I'm going to nail a portrait (at least I hope so)!!

But for now, I'm learning how to PP them. It seems as though most are recommending a "clean" PP, but I'm not exactly sure what that means....

Any helpful hints?????

Muchos Gracias!!

[Photolicious]

Clean PP in my understanding is:

Adjusting levels, curves and colours - so everything looks in balance and right.
Adding just a tad sharpness.

And then stop
No fancy filters or anything that sort of muddies up the original image. But of course, this is a question of taste. In the 80ties soft focus was really hot (Have an old "how to- beauty" book from back then, and it was all poofy hair and sooooft focus ) In the 90ties everything was "aged" and in Sepia, and today cross processing and grunge techniques seem to be really in style. And I guess for some images it works, but it shouldn't be applied to each and every photo, I think.

You will never regret clean PP, because it is timeless and makes your photos stand out even more, just as they are.

[SusanH1970]

^^ What Photolicious said, LOL.

Here's an example of clean processing from a recent shoot of mine, for illustrative purposes: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4070/...a748814b_o.jpg

[jax314]

Then does the composition lend itself to clean processing here? Is there anything I should fix (tighter crop or anything) before I attempt some clean processing with the original photo? Is it even powerful enough to worry about? Perhaps I should just make a small print to put on my refrigerator and not worry about it

Thanks!

[SusanH1970]

Oh it definitely does! If you want to post a SOOC I can give it a quick play if you like and let you know what I did. If not, that's okay.

[jax314]

Actually, I really enjoy watching you guys make my pictures better.....I'll have to post a SOOC after I get home from work (Hmmm...shouldn't I be working instead of being on here)???? Who cares!!

Anyways, I'll post it tonight and I'll look forward to seeing what you can do with it!!

BTW, are you going to have to cut out that little green thing in the bottom left corner?? I think I should have done that....

Thanks!