I think I would have kept the lips from V1 to add some more contrast to the face.

To me the skin is better in V1 but the overall colour and tone is better in V2. So I would add the skin texture but not the colour and lips colour from V1 to V2.

Steve.

Nice pose, nice girl, ugly shadows and over exposed ankles compaired to the rest of the legs.

I am no lighting expert and not being mean in any way, just trying to be helpfull.

Maybe have the lights near the camera either side so they are almost head on to the model rather than at 45 degres and farther apart.
Maybe even just one light camera left near to camera. That should give you even exposure on the legs and remove shadows on her waist coming from the flash on the right.

Like I said I am no lighting expert but that may help with this shot. Just my thoughts.

Steve.

I like the angle but it looks like you missed focus on the eyes which look a little soft to me.
I think her bust is the sharpest bit of the image.
Still a very good image dispite my nit picking.

Steve.

Bit un balanced for me. Pretty girl though and well lit.

Would lose some of the top of the image, which would also lose some of that distracting background. Her Bicep is also quite a distraction, would try to darken it down if you can. Just my thoughts though.

Steve.

The voting system on here is more to do with who you know and vote for than how good your images are. I dont get many votes on my own work, which I also consider to be of a high standard, but I do look at who votes for me. If its someone whos work I admire than thats what makes it worth the effort.

I liked your image the first time round and dont think that many on this site including myself could have created it. My only improvement would be in the post processing and I have uploaded a mod to show what I would have done. Its only a contrast and saturation boost and a little selective darkening.

Its a great image and yes it can be disheartening when you dont get the recognition an image deserves, I guess thats life though and you have to carry on regardless.

Steve.

Id say its pretty good for a self portrait. Not sure if its your focus thats off or subject movement with a slow shutter speed.

I know what you mean about trying to find subjects to shoot though.

Morning Ronnie.

A great image of this rose and you have removed the background very well, something I hate doing. I agree about capturing reds. They often seem to blow out, If you shoot RAW it helps as the detail is usually still there, The camera LCD shows Jpeg IQ and isn't THAT accurate. The histogram being based on a generated Jpeg means that it can be influenced by things like contrast, saturation, picture styles, and the color space that has been set in-camera for Jpegs (sRGB or AdobeRGB).

In fact, the red channel (in the raw data) rarely clips on a typical DSLR with a normal daylight exposure, because the red sensitivity is very low (about 1.5 stops darker than green). If one was to reduce exposure till the red histogram no longer showed clipping, then the actual raw red channel would be very underexposed with a poor SNR. Result: noisy red flowers!

Here is a link to the complete article over at Luminous Landscape:

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/optimizing_exposure.shtml

Regards Steve.

One thing I have noticed is a sharp dividing line where the misty layer you overlaid ends.

Nice image though.

Steve.

Ok as you asked for some critique I will. First let me say that I love the image and the lighting is great. My only negatives are that the image is not straight. If you look at the pillows and the picture on the wall they dip down to the left. Also I would place the girls a little closer to each other and give the image a little more space at the edges of the frame. I guess you could clone out the picture on the wall if you wanted as well. I have uploaded a quick mod for you, please excuse the rough cloaning as I did it in a hurry.

Steve.

I like it. My only comment would be to level up the cup.

Steve.