Portraits and the Human Figure - Working in the lighting studio

Original: attempt at Butterfly light setup

Edit: removed blemishes, boosted clarity and contrast, smoothed skin using luminescence sliders

Original:

Edit: increased exposure and warmed up temp, boosted clarity and contrast, removed blemishes, smoothed skin with luminescence sliders

Original:

 Edit 1: lightened shadows, darkened highlights, removed blemishes, freckles and line in dress, boosted clarity  and contrast, smoothed skin using luminescence sliders.

Edit 2:  added Gaussian Blur to background. disliked this effect so I posted both photos 

 Original:

 Edit: cropped top off, used graduated filter top-down to lighten, removed blemishes and space between screens at top, boosted clarity and contrast, blurred and reduced noise in background using adjustment brush, smoothed skin on leg using spot removal, smoothed skin using luminescence sliders.

Weekly photo review

This is a self portrait done by artist Chuck Close

I chose this photograph hoping that I would be able to figure out the lighting of it. I decided that i think the brightest light is on the right and there is probably a reflector screen on the left. I think there may be a light on the backdrop and it looks like if there is one it's pointing up from the floor behind him. I'm not sure if they're correct but that's my guess. Otherwise I like this photo a lot. I love his expression, sort of a why are you taking this picture expression which seems silly because it's a self-portrait. The subject is in good focus while the backdrop seems blurry and the shirt is not distracting because there are other areas of dark shadow in the photo.

Weekly Photo Review

This photo was taken by Andrey Antov and was submitted to Digital Photography Magazine in the Best Shot category. What I really like about this shot is the almost awkwardness of the depth of field. The spider is in perfect focus as is the greenery in the bottom left corner but there are really blurry bits of greenery in the bottom right side. Also the entire top of the mushroom is in focus while the stem seems blurry. I think the spider being over at the side instead of centered gives the image a better balance. I like that the top of the mushroom and the spider are the brightest colored things in the picture.