Stacey - B&W

[zona5101]

I seem to struggle with my b&w conversions... Looking for feedback on this one. In addition, I am on the fence as far as the composition...it is rather centered and typical. Moving her eyes to the top third cuts off her head/glasses so I'm not sure it helps more than it hurts. Comments beyond B&W/Cropping are welcome.
1/60 @f5.6 320iso;135mm

[candidrachel]

I think she looks gorgeous! What bothers me most about her pose are her shoulders kind of square to the camera iykwim. Perhaps if she was posed at 45 degrees it would be better but I love how you have captured the texture of her hair and her eyes are really pretty!

Good job!

[BigFuzzy]

You know I love you, right Bruce?

I ask because, ouch pal, for me, I really dislike the processing on the skin/face/eyes..
The skin has that over plasticy feel and the eyes scream over-processing. It's made more obvious by the difference in the smoothing in different parts of the image, ie her face has no detail, her hair lots.. it feel disjointed.

In the end, the very first thing that jumped out at me was that obvious processing which, to me, makes the rest irrelevant..but

...the b&W in terms of good blacks and good whites looks good to me. I like the stark contrast you got here. I'm ok with the centered positioning but not a fan of the couch behind her creating those stark differences between light and dark, especially since the line goes right through her head..

Not often I have to bash you.... or is it me?

[zona5101]

Originally Posted by BigFuzzy

You know I love you, right Bruce?

I ask because, ouch pal, for me, I really dislike the processing on the skin/face/eyes..
The skin has that over plasticy feel and the eyes scream over-processing. It's made more obvious by the difference in the smoothing in different parts of the image, ie her face has no detail, her hair lots.. it feel disjointed.

In the end, the very first thing that jumped out at me was that obvious processing which, to me, makes the rest irrelevant..but

...the b&W in terms of good blacks and good whites looks good to me. I like the stark contrast you got here. I'm ok with the centered positioning but not a fan of the couch behind her creating those stark differences between light and dark, especially since the line goes right through her head..

Not often I have to bash you.... or is it me?

This is all good. I have a tendency to over-process, I use Gaussian blur layers like a spider monkey with a crack habit. The skin looks too smooth and some of that is coming from the file compression as i purposely left texture in the original edit - but I am sure I need to back it off a bit more. I like the eyes but see your point that its not so much the eyes being too sharp as it is the stark differences between the sharp and the not sharp that is exceeds something you'd find through effective aperture selection. - thanks for the feedback.

[zona5101]

Originally Posted by candidrachel

I think she looks gorgeous! What bothers me most about her pose are her shoulders kind of square to the camera iykwim. Perhaps if she was posed at 45 degrees it would be better but I love how you have captured the texture of her hair and her eyes are really pretty!

Good job!

Thanks, I see what you're saying with the squared shoulders.

[MeAgain]

I love everything about the photo except how bright her face is. But like I said in a previous post, I have no taste or skill.

[zona5101]

Originally Posted by MeAgain

I love everything about the photo except how bright her face is. But like I said in a previous post, I have no taste or skill.

Thanks - that's a good & valuable comment and, I am sure, a result of me over processing the image. I love the expression on her face so I'll go back and rework it. Thanks for providing me the feedback!