Need to ask again - which photo is better?

Question

I tried doing what AJ suggested and using curves. Here is the result:

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b93/izzzie/Jessica4.jpg

What do you think?

Is it better than this one that most people seemed to like best?

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b93/izzzie/Jessica2.jpg

Also, in case any of you fancy trying to make it look good in black and white for me, here is the colour one ;)

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b93/izzzie/Jessicacolour.jpg

Answer 1

Yep. Jessica4 is even better.

Answer 2

I had a go at trying to make the colour one into black and white

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3125/2788...

What do you think?

I have increased to contrast and increased the highlights in her eye. To do this i used the cloning tool on paintshop pro and copied the reflections from her other eye, but it can also be done by lightening the area.

Answer 3

I answered your other question with an attempt to make it look good in black and white

Answer 4

The color one is by far the best, although you might lower the saturation a tad.  Black and white is cheaply sentimental and fake in the digital age, your color version has great tonality, so why do you need B&W.  

Answer 5

The top one is better. Curves did a nice fix. I would just like to see a catch light in the eye on the left.

Answer 6

I couldn'te tell the difference in the first two until i put them both up next to each other.  I like the first one better, because it's a little lighter.  The color one doesn't look as good as the black and whites.  It's a very cute picture!

Answer 7

i like the color one.

the B&W ones are good but

her eyes look almost dead.

in the color she has light

reflecting in her eyes.

Answer 8

The main thing that I caught my attention is the light on the eyes and the first pictures 'seems' to have more light on the eyes.  The second picture has a darker background.

However, you are the photographer and it depends on which one you like better and what you want to create, project or show to people

Answer 9

I like the color one.

Answer 10

In the first picture the area of burnt out reflections in the hair is darkened, which is better, but the rest of the picture is slightly lacking in contrast, especially the reflections on the wine glass which are much better in the second pic.

The truth is there's no way of making this perfect without reshooting, which probably isn't possible as it seems it was taken at a wedding or something.

I think you should try using adjustment layers with layer masks,

then any adjustments can be changed or removed without having to start again, and the layer masks can be used to only apply the adjustment to certain areas.

You could for example darken and lower the contrast in the burnt out areas only by painting the rest of the layer mask black, and if it's not quite right you could then readjust the adjustment layer or increase the area it is applied to by painting on the mask with white or even grey if you want the adjustment partially applied.

Heres the first few pages that come up if you search for 'photoshop adjustment layers' in google, they explain how to use layer masks too.

http://www.myjanee.com/tuts/adjlay/adjla...

http://www.phong.com/tutorials/adjust/

http://www.earthboundlight.com/phototips...