First real attempt at Portrait retouching

[tmbigrigg]

This is my first real attempt at doing any real portrait retouching. I am hoping to get more comfortable with shooting portraits.
Here are the Original and the Retouched version: Please let me know what you think. How could the image be improved?

[tomorrowstreasures]

tmbigrigg- good job for a first edit!

a couple things to think of, all - imo
-the space above the woman's head is a bit too much
-maybe use the push tool to see if you can tuck the lace showing into her shirt
-i think that the direction that the model is facing should have the lead space, not the other side
-to me,the photo is a wee bit on the bright side

hope that helps!

[Chantelle]

Nice work.
I agree with treasures about the lace, the direction she is facing, and the room above her head. Theres a general rule, as I call it, that when taking a portrait, you leave very little space above their head so that their face/head is not in the middle area of the frame, the eyes should be in the top 1/4 of the frame, makes the image look for effective. All things I pointed out when I first saw the image. I like the texture of the background, nice picking. On my screen it's not too bright however, it's just about right. Only thing is her skin is a bit too orangey-red. The reason the person should be facing the opposite direct is because of the Active Space. She is looking at you, her body is turned to the left, however if it was turned to the right instead, then it would be more effective because of the active space (the room on the right hand side should be on the left hand side and less room on the right hand side if you want her facing towards the left).

Hope that makes sense and helps.

[tmbigrigg]

Thank you for the ideas. I will try to implement them for the next round of portraits that I shoot.

[ocular]

I would have removed the mole as well.

[AntZ]

I would have removed the mole as well.

For a "realistic"(ie not glamour) portrait I probably wouldn't unless asked to by the model.

[tomorrowstreasures]

For a "realistic"(ie not glamour) portrait I probably wouldn't unless asked to by the model.

totally agreed here

[miriamc]

Is your sitter please? I think she should be!
One thing about the re-touch is that she does look like she's used a foundation that is lighter than her neck, which is a make-up no-no. I don't know, maybe it's fine for portraits?

[jlabel]

What did the person photographed say?
I think you lost a bit of details, and if you wanted to go hardcore, I think you could raise her shoulders a bit so sho would look a bit younger, and the button over her nose... heheh