Forums > Critique > Serious Critique > Too much photoshop?

Photographer

Santiago Rueda

Posts: 4

Miami, Florida, US

I've a colorful style with bold post-processing and I like it. But I always get the same critique that I use too much photoshop so I'm not very appealing to magazines and fashion clients.  What do you think? Should I restrain myself? Comments will be greatly appreciated.

Oct 23 12 09:05 pm Link

Photographer

Adrienne Andersen

Posts: 69

Tampa, Florida, US

I don't think that it's necessarily 'too much' photoshop, as it's what you photoshop. There is a lot of hard contrast, over-saturation, and IMO strange color choices. It's a little weird to me what you chose to photoshop, and what you leave alone. Like your avi for instance. A gorgeous picture, and I immediately went to your port to see it, but it's overly sharpened, making the skin look 'gritty' almost dirty. The concept in the image looks soft, ultra feminine, but your edits don't convey that. You did a better job with the full body shot from that series. It's gorgeous.
The same for this image:
https://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/pic/29772940#29772940
Her face looks gritty and you took the time to photoshop the color and sharpen it, but didn't remove the hard lines around her mouth and under one of her eyes.

In this one:
https://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/pic/27756111#27756111 The bottom image is a great fashion image, if just a tad over-saturated.
In all, I think, lay off the sharpening a bit, and the over-saturating, it produces 'hard' colors that aren't appealing, at least in fashion. You can still be creative with your coloring and editing, if you do the basics in regards to editing. i.e. fixing the skin correctly. As a general rule, make sure the overall effect adds something to pic. Changing skin tone into unflattering colors takes away from your shots.  Hope that helps. Good luck.

Oct 24 12 07:11 am Link

Photographer

Santiago Rueda

Posts: 4

Miami, Florida, US

Adrienne Andersen  wrote:
I don't think that it's necessarily 'too much' photoshop, as it's what you photoshop. There is a lot of hard contrast, over-saturation, and IMO strange color choices. It's a little weird to me what you chose to photoshop, and what you leave alone. Like your avi for instance. A gorgeous picture, and I immediately went to your port to see it, but it's overly sharpened, making the skin look 'gritty' almost dirty. The concept in the image looks soft, ultra feminine, but your edits don't convey that. You did a better job with the full body shot from that series. It's gorgeous.
The same for this image:
https://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/pic/29772940#29772940
Her face looks gritty and you took the time to photoshop the color and sharpen it, but didn't remove the hard lines around her mouth and under one of her eyes.

In this one:
https://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/pic/27756111#27756111 The bottom image is a great fashion image, if just a tad over-saturated.
In all, I think, lay off the sharpening a bit, and the over-saturating, it produces 'hard' colors that aren't appealing, at least in fashion. You can still be creative with your coloring and editing, if you do the basics in regards to editing. i.e. fixing the skin correctly. As a general rule, make sure the overall effect adds something to pic. Changing skin tone into unflattering colors takes away from your shots.  Hope that helps. Good luck.

I think you're right.  I would try to go easy with the sharpening and saturation and be more clean with the skin.  Thank you for your time and advice.

Oct 24 12 10:01 am Link