Contrast?

[ElCapitanoAwesomo]

I was practicing an eye edit on a photo of one of my friends, and this was the end result. I did some curves adjustments on overall image so that the brightness of his eyes didnt seem odd, but something seems off. Is the lack of definition on the nose throw off the photo?


Rafa by ijusteatedpie, on Flickr

Any other critique would also be highly appreciated, thanks!

[BigFuzzy]

I think the eyes look fine. Some would argue removing of the veins, but I'm not one of those people.

The "off"ness might be related to other issues, primarily composition.
To me, it's way too tight a crop. Many people would agree that there's no problem cropping the top of the head, but equally as many (imho) would argue that it's rarely a good idea to chop a chin in the way you have, especially since it's just starting to chop the lips as well.

Also, I feel it's too tight on the sides, the crop is almost encroaching on the eyes from the side which, to me, is never good.

Also, your lighting makes the image as a whole a bit flat, the reason being is that it appears you have the exact same power lighting coming from both flashes and you've not created any shadows which are what create depth to your images since shadows = depth.

[wulf]

I don't mind the top and bottom crop and I like the way you have emphasised the eyes. However I think you have gone too close at the sides - I would give each eye at least the width of the lower lip as a margin. Also, I suspect you were quite close to your subject when you took the shot and the result is that he looks rather cross-eyed. That isn't such a great look, especially when the eyes are the feature. Try standing further back and either zooming in or cropping the final result more for the desired framing.

Wulf

[danbaileyphoto]

The weirdness that you see is most likely an optical illusion. We're just not using to seeing a face and eyes this way, with no context around them. If anything, it's compelling just for that reason. Sometimes, the unusual gets noticed. It's actually kind of neat, but I want to see tiny bit more of the outside edges of the eyes and the bottom of the lips. A slightly looser crop would make a difference.