Hi friends,
So I'm new here and I'm trying out a whole bunch of techniques rolled together.
I am keen to get some feedback on what works, what doesn't and how I can improve my process or if I've overlooked something.
Thanks!
New and looking for critique
Hi there, welcome. So, the very first thing I notice about your image is that everything (except fortunately her skin) seems to be WAY over saturated. The next thing I notice is that the light isn't really hitting her face, it's hitting her chest - her face looks like it's in shadow, I don't know if highlighting her chest was the idea? Regardless, I would personally prefer to light someone to notice her face before her breasts except in certain types of images.
As far as the explosion thing that is happening, I think ideas like this tend to work much better from a distance - say, a full-length shot of her in the scene with it trailing behind her. As it is right now, it just kind of looks like her skin and hair (but mostly her skin) is exploding out the back of her like from a massive wound, without blood. Does that make sense? If it was full length and streaming out behind her more it might make more conceptual sense.
She looks like a lovely model and it looks like a cool location but I get the distinct feeling that this is a composite. Maybe working more on matching your subject and background lighting would be good. Also, I'd back off on the skin smoothing by about 50%.
Thanks Sennia, that is all very helpful! You are right it is a composite, the background was put in post and is intentionally oversaturated with the intention to give more seperation to the foreground. I will see if I can make other adjustments like you have recommended.