One of my favorite models to work with. She's already very attractive, so what improvements do you think I could do to this one and attempt for our next session.
One of my favorite models to work with. She's already very attractive, so what improvements do you think I could do to this one and attempt for our next session.
I think you have a good colour palette although the lipstick is a bit bold and too red, for me, with this more subtle blue yellow bias of the colour range. I think her eyes look to have been over photoshopped, which is very common and for me is always very noticable/distracting. Her eyes and her skin have a blue cast, which I think should be corected by adding a few units of yellow, perhaps a smaller amount of red too, to the highlights and mid tones.
Turning your model so her shoulders are at more of an angle will, I feel, be more flattering, making her look very feminin and slender, and also allow her to look more in to the lens even with her head turned, which would be nice. You could also raise your camera to look very slightly down on her, so she is looking slightly up into the lens, which is often flattering in a female headshot. My pesonal view is that most times, and as always there are exceptions, the side of the face nearest the camera lens should be in shade and the far side in the light, this usually creates nice 3D modeling and can, depending on how it is handled, create soft delicate romantic feelings or deep shade conveying more gravitas, mystery or solidity, etc. So in this shot moving the key light, your main light, to the camera right side would be my choice, of course one can use reflectors to adjust the shade and kickers to add accenting rim/back lights to hair, cheak(s) and shoulder, if you want.
As an aside, and this is a trick not usually highlighted, adding some shade on the near side tends to take off a few of the sitter's pounds because our eyes emphasise pale/bright areas and hardly notice darker areas, so half the face is de-emphasised, making the sitter seem narrower, whereas lighting as you have adds some pounds because more of the face is light than dark and so we see it more. Try it next time both ways and you decide.
Keep the key light above the chin's height, to create emphasis on the face and to de-emphasise the neck, this adds 3D, just as you have in this shot.
I would crop out the little bit of her top just popping into view.
A good attempt, and several ideas to consider next time, keep it up.
Thanks Ian for the comments. Funny thing about her eyes, I didn't do any post sharpening of them. But you are right they are very sharp. Good points though out your comments.
Glad to help. My comment about her eyes was more to do with the colour, which particularly shows in the whites but in the irises too, both parts look very blue, which may be a reflection of the fact that the whole image is too blue, as mentioned above.
Best of luck and hope to see some more after your next session.