Meet Crys...

Squeezing the last sun out of summer brought me to working with a wonderful model. She wanted some updated shots for her portfolio with a more natural look and out at the beach. We shot all day and went through 5 outfits, it was a great time. Here's a few shots from a few outfits...

Jameson,

The first two are really fun. The would benefit from attending to spurious shadows on the face, left elbow and wrist.




I do like Crys' outfit here and am always taken by such Botticelli hair! However, I think this is just the potential. Just with this dress and a gold pendant and no complicated background. One can use the water or the sky or wet sand. You have used the pier as a background. This, being so very detailed, boasting it's own reflection draws energy from her in this composition. It needs to be about her and simplified. Maybe if she was leaning on a beam, as in the first two pictures of her, it would be more balanced.

Asher

Jameson Smith said:

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Jameson , I think this one is fantastic, her expression, her pose, the light... however I see a mismatch between the almost perfect look of her face and the rest of the body where a few "blemishes" can be spotted. Also, the black object at the left on the horizon distract me a tad.

Thanks for the feedback Asher. I agree that the pier is a bit heavy and somewhat overwhelming in this image. I can't remember if I have any similar images in our shoot set in this outfit without the pier but I'll certainly check. As for the shadows; I confess myself not much of a retoucher and usually stick with more simple edits and keep things as natural as possible. I'd love to take a class on retouching at some point but I don't have the available time at this point. If you have any recomendations on working with the shadows I'm all ears (and eyes).

Hi Ruben, thanks for your comments as well! I was really pleased with this shot as well, it just seemed to work. I actually hadn't noticed the buoy on the left, at least not enough to do anything about it... now that you've pointed it out I can't stop looking at it! LOL. I'll have to take some time and get rid of that. As for her look, it is completely natural. No retouching has been done to this image, just basic edits. Knowing that, do you think it needs to be retouched?

Jameson Smith said:

As for her look, it is completely natural. No retouching has been done to this image, just basic edits. Knowing that, do you think it needs to be retouched?

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In my opinion, it depends on the context. I like the photo very much as is and I think it has potential for some further beautification. If this photo were to be used in a magazine, for example, I´d say yes, it needs to be retouched.