Winter, Plate 1

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Beautiful face, great eyes. Not sure if you were going for a borderless transition from BG to her hat but I like it. Works with the softness of her face. The blue to white color bands are ok but the dark areas to her right and left detract too much from her. I also have an issue with the wisp of hair that seems to be growing from her ear. I would crop some of the left frame even if it put her in the center. Great subject.
Ed

Outstanding Dray , Love the way the eyes are sharp and the rest of the image has that wonderful softness

Great selection of colors - they eyes and the hat work well together ...there is a painting in the Des Moines Art Center of a lady in a similar hat sipping coffee in some diner in the 20's ...this photo makes me feel as though I just met her :-)

BTW, the painting is by Edward Hopper, Automat, 1927 ...

http://www.kevinchoi.com/blog/?p=67

Amazing. I think it's just about perfect. The only thing for me, and it's tiny tiny, but I wish she was a little bit higher in the frame. she seems a bit too low. other than that. FANTASTIC!

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What fringing? the light spots on the blue and dark areas in the BG? I don't see any fringing unless that's what you mean.

Well, it's a very good sign that you don't see it! :D

But I'm talking about the green on her right shoulder, hair, and left cheek and the magenta on her left shoulder and hair. There's also some green around her hat. I tried a lot of different things (ACR, CS defringe, painting with black on a color/hue layer...) and none worked...

I'd love to know, too, what caused the fringing in the first place.

The other question is... straight up, is this image flattering of her?

Couldn't delete this post so just editing it out.

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Originally Posted by draymorton

The other question is... straight up, is this image flattering of her?

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she looks like a movie star. is that flattering enough? lol

Maybe I should give this a try and figure it out before polluting your thread? hehe.

The Sponge tool works just fine. No need to mask anything. The Sponge tool is a desaturate tool that you can control like a brush. I tried it and it works fine. u gotta get in there though. zoom right in.

Cool - thanks! I never knew what the sponge tool was for. lol Will give it a try.

p.s. pollute away! :D

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Originally Posted by LeeIs

she looks like a movie star. is that flattering enough? lol

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Um... yeah, that'll do. :D

I agree, of course. Just wasn't sure if others might see something I didn't. I'm hardly a neutral party here, so I needed other, perhaps more detached, perspectives... :D

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Originally Posted by draymorton

Um... yeah, that'll do. :D

I agree, of course. Just wasn't sure if others might see something I didn't. I'm hardly a neutral party here, so I needed other, perhaps more detached, perspectives... :D

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Oh yeah I totally understand. I enjoy negative critiques as much as positive ones, if not a little more. it's nice for fresh eyes to look at your image all the time. but for this one, the moment I opened it, it looked great, like a scene from a classic film. It really is one of the best portraits i've seen around here. and I'm not that much in to portraits!

Amazing processiing, I almost think you could take some off of the top to balance it some. As it is I think there needs to be some more space at the bottom, If you didn't want to trim the top that is.

Really beautiful portrait. Love the shalow DOF and the soft icy colors go well with the wintry mood.

I am not too distracted by the dark areas in the bg, but I do also feel like reducing the contrast or intensity of them would help bring an even greater softness and focus on the subject.

The blue of the sky fading into the hat immediately has me thinking its a post processing oversight, but really its nothing at all to worry about. Just caught my attention, but does not make me feel any less impressed with the portrait.

I agree with Liban and Greg about it being tight at the bottom, which is probably my only real concern with the entire image. Feels a little uncomfortable the way her neck is cropped and chin low to the frame. Cropping from the top would not improve that for me as its not a matter of balance imo.
It certainly is not any deal breaker though, and what you have is a wonderful portrait.

Glad it finally worked out with the all elusive one :)

Thanks, guys.

WIll see what I can do to fix the blue. It was bothering me, as well. Couldn't figure out if it mattered that much.

Lightening the dark areas shouldn't be a problem.

The crop should be an easy fix. But I found that when I cropped too far down, it looked too ordinary or something.

Gary - thanks... me too!

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Originally Posted by LeeIs

It really is one of the best portraits i've seen around here. and I'm not that much in to portraits!

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Thanks man!

wow, this one's different Dray. It looks partially desaturated though I doubt that it is. The rain/snow storm adds a nice twist and the composition is excellent. I would prefer it to have a little more DOF, but the eyes are basically sharp and that's all that's absolutely critical. Nice work,

G

A bit of a departure from some of your earlier stuff but I LOVE this!

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Originally Posted by draymorton

Self-critique: I don't know how to get rid of the fringing. Neither PS nor ACR efringing did anything. Any tips?

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How I've come to address this in photoshop is to select the sponge tool (in flyout w/ dodge & burn tools) set it to desaturate - 50-100% depending... and paint over the fringe with a small soft edge brush.

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nice shallow DOF :)
beautiful light , is it flash (difused) or natural light ? seems in the reflection in her eyes you used flash altough exif says falsh did not fire , perhaps a window behing you ?

I like the contrast on her face from the 1st image and the light background of the last one
and yes needs a bit more space under her chin