Stranger caught in Hungary

[Marcel]

Even if I didn't speak her language and she didn't speak mine, I was able to convey the fact that I wanted to take her picture. I've played around with this shot quite a bit and ended up with an Hyper-realist kind of portrait.

What's your opinion?

 

[stamatisg2002]

Well, I think that it's a nice shot, but doesn't she look a bit older a result of the tweaking?

 

[Marcel]

Well, I think that it's a nice shot, but doesn't she look a bit older a result of the tweaking?

I don't think so. She had severe acne this is why I went the selective blur route. I'll post the original tomorrow just so you see.Thanks for your point of view.

 

[JoeLewisPhotography]

I have to be honest here. This processing is terrible. The face is severely blotchy, the skin tones are way off, The eyes and the hair look fake. Looks very HDR-ish. In my personal opinion, the only processing that looks good for portraiture, is the "real" look.... Sorry....these are just my opinions of course. You normally post some nice natural looking portraits...I'm curious why your so eager to change, or try something new, when you already had something great working for you. I'd go back to what you were doing. experiment on other genres.

 

[Marcel]

I have to be honest here. This processing is terrible. The face is severely blotchy, the skin tones are way off, The eyes and the hair look fake. Looks very HDR-ish. In my personal opinion, the only processing that looks good for portraiture, is the "real" look.... Sorry....these are just my opinions of course. You normally post some nice natural looking portraits...I'm curious why your so eager to change, or try something new, when you already had something great working for you. I'd go back to what you were doing. experiment on other genres.

Thanks Joe. I guess I just get carried away. After looking back at the posted image, I can only agree 100% with your words.
I'll just get the heck back to normal processing for portraits.
Thanks for being honest.

 

[Marcel]

Here is the original with just a bit of PP.

 

[Browncoat]

...I guess I just get carried away...

Don't ever stop experimenting, Marcel. Trying different things is the only way we grow and get better. Sometimes we miss the mark, so you just have to move on to something else. Portraits are very easy to over-tweak. There is a fine line between just enough and too much.

I've taken the liberty of making some adjustments of my own below.

 

[Marcel]

Don't ever stop experimenting, Marcel. Trying different things is the only way we grow and get better. Sometimes we miss the mark, so you just have to move on to something else. Portraits are very easy to over-tweak. There is a fine line between just enough and too much.

I've taken the liberty of making some adjustments of my own below.

Thanks Anthony. I like what you did and appreciate your wisdom. I'm sure I'll never stop experimenting, but I might not try for the supernatural effect with portraits. But only time will tell.
I like what you did with the image, nice retouching and color balance. It sure makes her look prettier.
Maybe this is where I erred since I was not trying to make her look good at all. I wasn't doing this for her but just for me.
An when I look back at my image, I sure don't like it. I'm beginning to wonder if the lighting condition of my desk could have brought me that far out. I had the sun coming in almost backlighting my screen???
Anyway, today is another day and no one got hurt.

 

[JoeLewisPhotography]

Sorry Marcel...my post was not meant to discourage you from experimenting! Just saying, that when you have a good thing going (like your normal portraits), don't mess with it too much....kind of like, "if it isn't broke, don't fix it" kind of thing, that's all i meant.

 

[stamatisg2002]

The original as well as the retoutch Anthony did, I believe are way better thn the first picture. That's my personal opinion though. Nevertheless is a great portrait capture! Cheers!

Stamatis

 

[Marcel]

Sorry Marcel...my post was not meant to discourage you from experimenting! Just saying, that when you have a good thing going (like your normal portraits), don't mess with it too much....kind of like, "if it isn't broke, don't fix it" kind of thing, that's all i meant.

Please Joe, drop the "sorry Marcel" part. We're friends trying to help each others here and I appreciate all the feedback.
I'm also a grown up fully capable of being able to be wrong sometimes.
This is a never ending search, so there is no need to stick to one solution does it all.
I really appreciate your honesty and I surely don't mind the truth.

 

[robinchun]

The original..then Anthony's (imo) but like the others have said 'until you try..'

Robin