Magicalla Worx wrote:
Not sure if the original was like that, but the skin seems too flat looking at the photo, maybe fix that.

What I can guess is you shot it a natural portrait way and she looks so pretty and cute the way you did, but the photo needs some better composition for her body takes attention off her face.

Fly offs don't look good the way they are here, esp. on her face and to the left of the image- the lips: distracts. Her skin is white, and the fly offs don't suit her. Also, the right side- above the ear and maybe you would want to keep the hair structure then you need to retouch hair and add some of it to some areas; like the ends on both the sides.

The spots on the body: take them out and the wrinkles on the neck: even them out and lighten them or maybe take out completely whichever suits better.

I like how you brought her in the focus blurring off the background details. Good job there, but I guess you need to even out the hair edges to blend them better.

Thank you very much - this is exactly the type of advice I was looking for.

This is the original - the flat lighting was an artifact of the day. I haven't run across any tutorials that talk about how to fix flat lighting on skin. Does anyone have a pointer on that?

Thanks again!

In Balance Photography wrote:
This is the original - the flat lighting was an artifact of the day. I haven't run across any tutorials that talk about how to fix flat lighting on skin. Does anyone have a pointer on that?

Contour the photo is what I meant. Contour the the lips, and the eyes, the facial edges use some d&b to highlight shadows a bit and it will be fine. Remember: Since this is a natural portrait, don't overdo it, just do it as you feel like and then adjust layer opacity to suit taste, maybe 15-25%.

P.S. Minor retouch of lips: some healing and some spark to the eyes won't hurt either.