Alright, one more try

Xandertures

After getting shot down for the second time,.. I took the advise and shot some new photos. I'm not claiming to be an expert so I realize my composition is not perfect. My goal here was to achieve a nice and even, believable skin texture. I know there is a slight gray haze on the second one.. haven't tried to fix that yet. Thoughts on these?

DesertRat

I am far from an expert in skin tones, but I LOVE the first shot. I can just hear the sigh of resignation from the dog.

Mike

~Jan~

I LOVE the first one! The look on that dog's face is PERFECT. Great capture! I don't know much about skin tones, either. I shoot mostly toddlers and the most I do is take off a scrape or bug bite.

jeffreaux2

The first shot is an exceptional portrait. Congradulations!!! Looking at your wifes skin, I still think that you are overprocessing, or adding in a touch too much blur. She is a stunning woman, and I would let her God given beauty show through. There are some filters available if you use photoshop that will give very subtle softening when used on portraits. One of those I find I use a lot is Virtual Photographer. There are dozens of effects in it, but the "glamour" filter can give nice results as long as you don't over do it. I generally apply the filter after cutting back about 50% on the blur. Then I fade the effect to between 30 and 40%.

Once again, so that I am not misunderstood, the composition in the first shot is perfect!!

Cuties02q

Wow the first one is amazing!!!! Great job

ShepsMom

I love the 1st shot, i love any picture with Shep in it
I think skins looks good on the lady, not blotchy or has any weird casts. Second one came out quiet nice, it look bit washed out, but it actually works for the shot. Keep posting more!!

gpphotos

the first one is a real winner. the warm lighting really works for this shot; it seems to reflect the mood of your wife and the pooch.

the only thing i see that bugs me is that the camera was tilted a tad and the floor is uneven. This bugs me because i see it so much in my own photos and am working to improve my handheld technique. since its not severe in this problem i think it would be easy to fix in pp though.

evoryware

Re: #1
much better, much more flattering!

Honestly to me it looks like you took 5 - 10 years off her from your last attempt.


Re: #2
Pretty much same response as #1. I looked at it compared to the retouch of your last and can easily see where you overworked the retouch.

I hope you can see the difference! This second one also brings out the color of her eyes.

Xandertures

Thank you all so much for the constructive criticism. It's been a long road trying to get things right.

I did notice the floor being a bit tilted on the first one but I didn't want to move it much and make my wife and the dog slanted. I'm on the fence with that one.

I will work on pulling back the skin smoothing even some more and try out that other filter mentioned. It's a constant learning process, thanks for being patient and trying to help me I just can't wait to get some studio lighting and a backdrop. Then I can get rid of the annoying couch in the background lol.

Here is one more I edited up last night. Her smile does look a bit forced, but I still like it (maybe because she is my wife)

macmac

The shot with dog is really neat. I think it show the depth that the dog is part of the family. I do think the vertical lines in the background are a little distracting and take away from the picture a bit.

Xandertures

Yeah those lines are from my son's bedroom doors. The shot wasn't planned so I didn't even catch that at the time. Bummer.

Flyinggina

I think these are lovely photographs. The one of your wife and dog is so cozy it makes me want to smile and smile and smile. I don't mind the slant or the background ata ll. My eyes go to and stay with the dog and your wife and the epressions on their faces. I like the ones of your wife alone too. She is a lovely woman. When I do touch ups, I try to make the person look the way I see her and adjust the amount of post processing accordingly. I don't know your wife, but it looks as though you are doing a good job. She must be really pleased.

Are you getting some studio lighting soon?

Virginia