Resubmission

I've been asked to resubmit my Photo Skills A work because I missed the deadline by 2 days, back in November (I had gone to Brazil on deadline week and thought I could submit the work online, but unfortunately discovered the bad way I had to physically hand in the CD for it to be counted). Anyway.

I got some feedback at the time and a hypothetical mark to give me some bearings, which was good.

As I actually had done the work at the time and no matter how good my new submission is, it will be kept at a certain mark, I decided not to re-do everything from scratch, just to improve my previous work based on the feedback I got. I must admit I think it's a lot better now!

So let's start with the condom shoot.

This was my previous image:

Today I cringe at this font! Although that wasn't assessed (gladly), for not being a requirement of the brief (text/graphic design).

Anyway, the two main feedbacks regarded the background (as you could see creases on the fabric) and it not being easy to read. My tutor said expanding the black area around it would make it easier to read.

Based on this, I revisited this image and now it looks like this:

I swapped the original background for a plain black background on Photoshop, as it's less distracting, expanded the frame and took the opportunity to change the font :P

Do you agree it has improved?

Moving on, the vodka shoot!

This was my previous submission:

The feedback for this image is that a brighter background would have lifted this image.
At the time, it hadn't struck me, but now I highly agree. I simply didn't know what "a good background looks like", what is perceived as good or bad...

So this is what it looks like now. I kept a little bit of the shadow, but the background looks much much whiter, eh? Only when I fixed the white balance I realised how the previous image had a yucky pinkish tint to it!

But I've also selected the BG and made it brighter on Photoshop. And naturally had to change the font colour to make it visible against the new background.
Next time I shoot in the studio, will pay more attention to lighting the BG!

And, finally, the MAC shoot! :)

The feedback for this image is that it's over exposed. In order to be considered "high key" it would have needed to be a lot more over exposed than this... the BG has the same issue as the vodka one, has a pink colour cast and a white background would lift this image.
Yeah, it is over exposed. The only reason why I selected this at the time is because I thought the over exposure was actually flattering to the skin of the model... but yeah, it didn't work. The risk didn't pay off this time. And I've learned that the time to take risks is during feedback sessions, not submission lol

Anyway, here's the new image:

I am quite proud of this image :) I think it's SO much better than the previous one!
Yeah, I decided to go for a new image altogether, after going through all my photos for that shoot.
I spent quite some time on the post-production of this image. Compare original vs final photo:

Pretty much I got rid of moles and "sandy" texture of the skin, hairs around the mouth and around eyebrows, got rid of the lines under the eyes, softened the skin overall, made the white part of the eyes whiter, increased the contrast on the iris, and eyes sparklier overall.
I think it made a big difference!
And of course I later added the MAC logo to the image!

What do you think of my new photos compared to previous submissions? Please share your thoughts! :)