is it the photo or the processing

[carrbowl]

This session I took for me was challenging but, the photos to me are very boring. Any suggestions??? I haven't dealt with the frizzies yet, and believe it or not, I already lightened the eyes..

[mangosli]

Looks to me like kind of harsh on camera flash, then the processing makes it look a little fake. I really like the background blur and exposure however.

[carrbowl]

no on camera flash-- I think it was the sharpening action I used that was too much..is this better?

[OTRphoto]

Hope you don't mind - and I hope I didn't over-do the color.. but I like lots of POP ...lol

The first one I burned back in her cheeks chin and nose with a soft brush at about 11%, and softened the bags under the eyes. Adjusted the levels slightly and added a little contrast. For the fly-aways - I just ran a soft blur brush over the edge of the hair line... just to soften it a bit.

For the 2nd - I just turned the first Sepia... and adjusted the "brightness" in her face my adjusting the red and yellow sliders.

I won't be offened if you don't like.. just trying to give you some ideas to try >:o)

[AllenAyres]

My shot - a little smoothing and curves adjustment, mild vignette. I didn't do much with the frizzies tho

[DigitalDiva]

Here's my try

[Daylon]

My version -


D.

[carrbowl]

Thanks guys...does this mean you think the photo is ok? or your not brave enough to tell me it's the photographer not the processing?

[12stones]

Renae, I think it's a little bit of both. I don't think there's much in the photograph that stands out in itself and makes me say wow (like you said, boring), but then I think the PP doesn't enhance it either. Can you post the original for us to see?

[Disney Chick]

Diva, where did you get the texture?

[my3peas]

Hey renae! can we see the shot straight out of the camera?
I took a look at the exif and saw that your flash did fire. so just make sure to double check the next time you shoot. :) You can tell with the shadow under the chin and the pinlights in her eyes.

Anyhow, seeing the shot out of the camera no processing might help to tell you what we might do in the processing.

[carrbowl]

Sorry..didn't mean to imply the flash didn't fire...it just wasn't on camera...

[AllenAyres]

To me the photo looks a little under-exposed, which is why I adjusted the curves a bit, and the skin needed some smoothing, tho maybe not as much as seen in some adjusted images above. The skin smoothness looks better in the SOOC photo, maybe it was the PP you applied that needed to be toned down.

[gmarblestone]

Here is my attempt...QUICK AND DIRTY...
i just cleaned the bags under her eyes and made a quick attempt at making her left eye the same size as the right. And cleaned the lines on her neck..
OH and some REALLY ugly hair additions to tidy up the wandering strands.... it can look better given more time....
And recrop..

[Paulo]

For me, I think the processing and cropping was a little too much on the original post. The subject's natural skin looked fine, I think. Where did you have your off camera flash positioned? It may make a difference if it was move even more to the side.

1 original

2 slight addition of saturation, contrast, midtones, crop to deal with 'stray hairs'

3 same as image 2 but slightly warmer