The lighting is nice and I like her expression. That said, to me the hands are not working. The right hand cupping her face is in a claw-like position with her fingers disappearing and a bright hot spot on her nail next to an already questionably-bright hot spot on her face. The hand coming from behind her head looks just, well, weird and a bit contrived.
The biggest question to ask when using hands in a portrait is: why? Do they add something or tell a story or are they there to try to make the pose look "cool"? In my experience, no hands are much better than bad or mediocre hands in a picture. I see more portrait images ruined by hands than almost anything else.
And for what it's worth, I'd back off on your skin smoothing by about 40%. Hope this helps!
Hi! This is better, but still, the feeling I get is that the hands are there for no reason other than to hide half of her face. Or is this image about the nail polish? if so, then more of it should be included. All I see are hands first and then her face. A portrait should be more about the face, *unless* it's supposed to be specifically about the hands for a very specific reason.
Also,for what it's worth: Reduce the post production work by a lot. The vignette is casting a shadow on her face. The whites of her eyes are nuclear and should be toned down. Overall the skin smoothing should be reduced by at least 50% but if it was my image I'd probably only keep about 20% of what has been done in post production.
Something we should all do: when you're done working on an image, put it away, go get a cup of tea or something, and then come back to it with fresh eyes and reduce the opacity of your layers.
The hands are a bit strange. Maybe that’s a good thing since we’re talking about them.
The thing about this image that isn’t good is how over processed her face is. Altogether this model has no texture. Combine the lack of texture and the fact that an arm is coming out of nowhere to grab her face is unsettling.
I totally agree, Chase! "Normal" is what everyone else is but I am not so words like strange, over procesed and unsettling suit me well. Thank you for your comments :)
The lighting is nice and I like her expression. That said, to me the hands are not working. The right hand cupping her face is in a claw-like position with her fingers disappearing and a bright hot spot on her nail next to an already questionably-bright hot spot on her face. The hand coming from behind her head looks just, well, weird and a bit contrived.
The biggest question to ask when using hands in a portrait is: why? Do they add something or tell a story or are they there to try to make the pose look "cool"? In my experience, no hands are much better than bad or mediocre hands in a picture. I see more portrait images ruined by hands than almost anything else.
And for what it's worth, I'd back off on your skin smoothing by about 40%. Hope this helps!
Hands? "To be or not to be"! I do believe I agree with pretty much everything you're saying. It's just nice to hear it from someone else. Thank you!
What you think matters, Sennia. What do you think of this image?
Hi! This is better, but still, the feeling I get is that the hands are there for no reason other than to hide half of her face. Or is this image about the nail polish? if so, then more of it should be included. All I see are hands first and then her face. A portrait should be more about the face, *unless* it's supposed to be specifically about the hands for a very specific reason.
Also,for what it's worth: Reduce the post production work by a lot. The vignette is casting a shadow on her face. The whites of her eyes are nuclear and should be toned down. Overall the skin smoothing should be reduced by at least 50% but if it was my image I'd probably only keep about 20% of what has been done in post production.
Something we should all do: when you're done working on an image, put it away, go get a cup of tea or something, and then come back to it with fresh eyes and reduce the opacity of your layers.
Hope this helps!
You're the BEST Sennia. Thank You!
The hands are a bit strange. Maybe that’s a good thing since we’re talking about them.
The thing about this image that isn’t good is how over processed her face is. Altogether this model has no texture. Combine the lack of texture and the fact that an arm is coming out of nowhere to grab her face is unsettling.
I totally agree, Chase! "Normal" is what everyone else is but I am not so words like strange, over procesed and unsettling suit me well. Thank you for your comments :)
Closer croping making it look like she is touched by multiple hands?
Hey, that looks pretty good. tHANKs Corrie!