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My Face.. Again. :)


Jbknight3

Well-Known Member
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This isn't a huge difference but it did take a while to get this to look the way I wanted.

The one thing I love about this photo compared to others I've done.. The eyes are perfectly in focus!!

Anyways.. Here is the before and after!

Before:
Clean Shaven Original.jpg
After:
Clean Shaven.jpg

Opinions and Critiques please!
 
The blending is softer this time around, makes you look all dreamy:cheesygrin:
 
I think it looks pretty good. Nice and subtle. You might add just a little of the softening to the inner area under the eyes....just a little.
 
The 1st thing that grabs me is the huge amount of keystone distortion you have introduced into the shape of your face by shooting from so far above the midpoint of your face. It reminds me of photos taken from the top of a building, looking down on other buildings, which now assume trapezoidal shape, e.g.,
http://lisacall.com/images/2011/11/new-york-city-7.jpg
http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2...the_city_2013_07_07_by_dareheaven-d70i25e.jpg

No commercially successful portrait photographer would *ever* intentionally introduce that amount of keystone distortion. Occasionally art photographers will try this look, but it usually doesn't get them very far. It's *very* common to see this effect in amateur selfies where the person holds their cell phone camera unusually high.

The other undesirable side effect of shooting from this far above is that the irises of your eyes are jammed up against the bottom of the upper lid. To me, this gives you a subservient / guilty / beaten look, which, for example, is not at all the impression I have from your avitar and earlier pix of yourself that you have posted.

In addition, because you shot using a 50 mm lens from very close, so you have also introduced a considerable amount of perspective distortion (ie, relative to your ears or the general shape and size of your face, your nose now looks much too large. ). The combination of the two makes for an almost "funhouse mirror" effect, and I'm sorry to say, I don't think it's flattering, at all.

With respect to the lighting, you did one very good thing -- you got enough light into your eye-sockets so they don't look hollow / sunken / dark. OTOH that much light from near the front means that the light is too flat and there is hardly any 3D molding of your face by the (missing) shadows.

Obviously, portraits have been made in virtually every possible way, so the above is just my personal opinion.

Best regards,

Tom
 
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