Help!! New to Portraits advise about this pic please

[majac]

Hi, Ive been taking sport photos for the last few years and have finally decided to do some portraits.
I took this photo of my daughter and am quite happy with it for a first attempt BUT, i'd love some advise on what ive done wrong, how to improve shots etc.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance. Nikki

[LeeR]

This photo has a lot to reccemend it, including a very attractive young lady; however, I don't know that it is wise to cut the top of her head off.

[BigFuzzy]

Heya Nikki,
First off, my compliments on a beautiful daughter!
I love the composition, it's right up my alley, so that I'm a fan of. The colored stripes in the background is a bit distracting, but not too much for me (though others will probably note that as well).

The major issue I have with the image is that it's waaaay over processed in my opinion. There are tons of "digital artifacts" showing how much processing was done. And, to me, the skin smoothing was really overdone. The difference between her nostril and face is very noticeable and the difference between her hair near her temple and skin makes the processing very obvious.
The inside of her left (to us the right) eye is a part where it's obvious the skin smoothing wasn't applied.
To me, with processing (which I do do), the key is "less is more".. .when the processing starts becoming an element of the image in and of itself (ie very visible), then we know it's gone too far. People do this all the time with vignetting. Also, the whites of her eyes look too processed as well.

I think this image would have been quite nice without the processing and to me it was so overdone as to almost ruin the image, especially when viewed large. She did not need that much processing.
Sorry if I sound a bit harsh, but I think you tried too hard with an already good image.

PS some technical details such as shutter speed, f/stop and focal length would really help in the future.

[majac]

I had to bribe her to take the shot. She was on her mobile (of course) and I stood next to her and said "look up". It wasnt a posed shot or anything it was very spur of the moment. I didnt have much time to frame her, she is a very unwilling subject.
I would really like to start taking photos of her but dont know where to start, as I mentioned ive always taken motocross, skateboarding and surfing shots.
Any advise is welcomed and would be appreciated - as I have absolutely no idea.
thanks

[majac]

NO, your not being rude. I appreciate your honesty. She has really bad skin at the moment and I was quite happy with the near original shot. She said mum make my skin look better and I knew I was way over with it but I kind of felt sorry for her as the picture really was beautiful but did show up her skin alot.
I will sit down tomorrow and only do minor adjustments (which is what I prefered) and see how it looks.
And thanks for the advise.

[majac]

actualy the more i look at it, the more i dislike it.
I love the pic but I totally wrecked it. haha.
Am determined that i will only slightly tweek it and Im sure the results will not only not look artificial (as this does), but show her, as she is.
Gosh, i really got carried away with the editing didnt I... oops

[BigFuzzy]

haha no worries, we all do it when we're first fishing around with post processing. As I said, i can't imagine her needing that much work.
What do you use for post processing?
You'll learn what you like to do and what really needs doing in time, now IS the time to experiment. Keep shooting, and keep posting, I'll be happy to look at whatever I come across, glad I could help.

[majac]

something very ironic has just occured. I just opened up the original image and... the only thing I probably DIDNT edit was the whites of her eyes. They are real, Thats natural. quite funny actually.
Anyway, I use photoshop elements 7.
And again, thanks for the feedback, I will rectify the error of my ways.

[BigFuzzy]

Wow.. amazing that her whites are that white and vein free..
And remember, it's only one man's opinion... look at my work, and if you don't like it, you should probably not listen to me haha. That's my advice to anyone receiving comments here...
Ah, i don't know elements 7 as I mostly use Lightroom and a very little PS CS4 to do my 'montage' shots.. so I can't suggest more specifically what to do.

[LoWhen Photography]

In elements there is a patch tool, right? If there is learn how to use that. It's great for fixing up skin. Just circle the skin blemishes when using the tool and look for a nearby spot on her skin where there is good/even/smooth skin.

What the tool does is take the colors in the second area you select and mix then with the closest values & colors in the first area. Then removes the colors that don't.

Great tool. Use it all the time.