Close-Up Portrait

[fais54]

Hiya, my sister and I are back with this shoot we did last night. We had a few good shots, but this one really stood out to me. But, one thing I noticed is that her eyes look really dark. She has dark brown eyes, but they don't really stand out unless you have a lot of light. Does that, and the lack of catch light ruin the picture? Also, how is the PP? I was going for a 'Magazine Cover' look.


8.8.11 by Stefan Faison, on Flickr

Olympus 5-20
14-42mm lens / 36mm
ISO 800 - 1/160
f/5.3

[BigFuzzy]

Hi Stefan,

Yeah, you picked out the first two things I noticed, the eyes and the skin smoothing.

Does the lack of light/catchlight into the eyes ruin the shot?: No. Does it hurt the shot, yes. Here eyes look like black holes, and I'm not sure I'll ever like that.. though others might disagree. I don't think I have to tell you that simply getting more light into her face (even just a reflector) could rectify that.

As for the skin smoothing. It's a personal thing, I just don't like it, even when done by all the pros in the magazines. Any time an element of PP become obvious (and I think it is in this image) that is when, to me, it becomes distracting. But, again, I'm picky about this type of PP. I prefer a more natural look. Maybe if just toned down a bit? As soon as I look at an image, if my first thought is something about the PP, then the image loses value in my eyes. Though I could be alone in that!

Despite all that, it's a perfectly ok image, I just know you want/like a more deep comment at times.
I like that you used a square crop. I'm not bothered that there's not more space to the right (ie direction she's looking) even though I normally would be.

It'd maybe help a little if there were something separating her hair from the background as it all gets a bit lost in the black

Still, again, I can see why you're happy with this. Keep posting!

[fais54]

Thanks BigFuzzy. About the hair blending in with background, I sort of wanted a look where her hair fills in most of the frame. I agree that the skin smoothing is a bit more than what I would usually do, but a lot of the photo's that I took influence from had a very 'airbrushed' looked to them, and I don't know, I sort of like it with this shot. But, don't get me wrong, I understand how it could be undesirable to some people.

As for the eyes...yeah I'm sort of on the fence. A catchlight in the eyes would really improve the shot greatly- especially because she has such dark eyes.

Thanks, I appreciate your critique BigFuzz

[AyanaP]

I like the picture...however, not crazy about the fact that her eyes are so moved over to the right that you see mostly whites. On the other hand, the way the light catches her face is awesome!.

[Rentham]

For me getting light in the eyes i fundamental. Another thing that bothers me is the eyes being buried in a corner (edit: Ayana beat me to it while I was composing my post). Especially in a situation like this I think you're better served leaving some white on both sides of the pupil. Right now the eyes almost look fake.

Regarding the skin retouch: in my opinion, pro glamor retouching is more about creating even skin tone than it is smoothing the skin. The best examples I've seen always retain the skin texture and detail. They look "perfect" because the skin tone is even throughout with no patches, blotches, etc.

Overall it is a nice shot and good work.

[BigFuzzy]

Originally Posted by Rentham

Regarding the skin retouch: in my opinion, pro glamor retouching is more about creating even skin tone than it is smoothing the skin. The best examples I've seen always retain the skin texture and detail. They look "perfect" because the skin tone is even throughout with no patches, blotches, etc.

These are the words I've been searching for to describe how it is when I actually like the skin "smoothing" ... It's all about the toning while still retaining the detail.. thanks Rentham, now I can better articulate my usual hatred for "smoothing"!

[Rentham]

No problem. I've given it a lot of thought while creating innumerable blurry blob faces in post.

[fais54]

Oh, so does her skin tone look uneven? I agree with what you're saying BigFuzzy.

[Niresangwa]

Originally Posted by fais54

Oh, so does her skin tone look uneven? I agree with what you're saying BigFuzzy.

The skin tone is not even. It looks mottled across her brow, once you get away from the hot spot of the lighting.

+1 to what has already been said, but I will, (for once), depart from agreeing with Al about the crop. It feels too tight and claustrophobic, and her giving an 'eyes left' feels awkward. I usually don't mind tight shots at al, but this is imo, in that grey area where it either needs to be tightened up, or loosened up.

[fais54]

Thanks. About the crop, I was shooting against a white background, and in the end I liked the darker look and I thought the close-up, tight crop looked cool and a bit different from what I've done so far. I'm not sure if a tighter crop would work though.