How's my skin?

[Olivia Price]

I'm looking for a critique on the post processing of the skin, how does it look to you? That and any other CC you can give I would love to hear it!

Camera Canon EOS REBEL T3i
Exposure 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture f/2.2
Focal Length 50 mm
ISO Speed 100

[ctcook]

Maybe it's just my eyes this late at night, but the skin seems a bit soft to me. Did you blur? Also, there is a lot of dead space above her, perhaps cropping in a bit. The pose and look are good.

[Olivia Price]

Originally Posted by ctcook

Maybe it's just my eyes this late at night, but the skin seems a bit soft to me. Did you blur? Also, there is a lot of dead space above her, perhaps cropping in a bit. The pose and look are good.

Well I used a preset action I found, I do believe it uses the G-blur although I'm not sure. I've been reading a lot of stuff to try to figure out how to work the skin not using this method but everything I find is for Photoshop CS and I'm using Photoshop Elements

I know there is a lot of dead space....I have this horrible habit of doing that when shooting (must break myseIf of this) I wasn't sure how to crop that space out and still keep the proportions of the photo.

[SusanH1970]

Agreed that the composition would be much stronger if you weren't so centered. Try to remember keeping the eyes on the rule of thirds.

Pretty lady!

ETA: You're better off staying away from actions when you're trying to learn, and look up tutorials on doing your post-processing manually. Most actions only work on certain types of photos, and also photos have to be perfect in exposure and focus before an action can be applied. It's tempting to use them, I know! When I first started I went a bit action-crazy just because it was easier and faster than manually adjusting my photos - but you'll learn much more by doing the steps yourself. Now that I have a workflow that I pretty much use all the time, I just write my own actions, lol.

[Olivia Price]

Originally Posted by SusanH1970

Agreed that the composition would be much stronger if you weren't so centered. Try to remember keeping the eyes on the rule of thirds.

Pretty lady!

ETA: You're better off staying away from actions when you're trying to learn, and look up tutorials on doing your post-processing manually. Most actions only work on certain types of photos, and also photos have to be perfect in exposure and focus before an action can be applied. It's tempting to use them, I know! When I first started I went a bit action-crazy just because it was easier and faster than manually adjusting my photos - but you'll learn much more by doing the steps yourself. Now that I have a workflow that I pretty much use all the time, I just write my own actions, lol.

Thanks Susan!!

I will definitely spend some more time learning PSE instead of using the preset actions.....there is just so much to learn and remember!

[SusanH1970]

Originally Posted by Olivia Price

Thanks Susan!!

I will definitely spend some more time learning PSE instead of using the preset actions.....there is just so much to learn and remember!

I started out (and still do this) by googling "How do I (fill in the blank) in (insert name and version of software you're using). Loads upon loads of videos and tutorials come up. Find the ones that work well for you and bookmark them. Then just practice doing them over and over until they become second nature.

[Olivia Price]

Originally Posted by SusanH1970

I started out (and still do this) by googling "How do I (fill in the blank) in (insert name and version of software you're using). Loads upon loads of videos and tutorials come up. Find the ones that work well for you and bookmark them. Then just practice doing them over and over until they become second nature.

Will do, are there any specific ones that you would recommend?

[SusanH1970]

Originally Posted by Olivia Price

Will do, are there any specific ones that you would recommend?

I use CS2, so not sure of what to recommend for PSE.

[Olivia Price]

Originally Posted by SusanH1970

I use CS2, so not sure of what to recommend for PSE.

Someday I will have the CS version of Photoshop

[roostabunny]

Four things, and it's late, so you're getting list format.

1.) Like the shot, good pose and smile, she's pretty and looks natural and such, but agree about the composition being too dead-center.
2.) I found myself wondering what it looked like before-hand, which, in turn made me wonder if the Before & After section might be an even better place to get feedback. I haven't posted much there, but I'm pretty sure it's all about post work.
3.) Gotta concur that using Actions at this stage will teach you how to be a good shopper, if anything, and not a good print-maker.
4.) Lastly, I'll make a futile plug for the GIMP. I can't afford a full Photoshop license at present, but have found the GIMP to be very powerful. I gave a skin treatment to the photo in this thread using a tut found online. Anyway, just a thought. The photoshop community is much larger, but I believe GIMP's a valid option, especially if you haven't already learned PS. Meanwhile, it's free.