More Post Processing.

[Dnoces]

The second one is better, but I think you lost to much color as now it appears more flat.

[RSStory]

The second is the better of the two, however, it is still not good. As was mentioned by Jim the flesh tones are off. More important to me is the image is soft and is lacking compositionally. It looks more like a snapshot then anything else.

Scott

[soupman]

Today I see both sets!

The original is out of focus (look at the eyes). So when you did the post processing it is worse. I think you improved the skin color but it tends to the yellow side on my monitor. I don't know the effect you were trying for but it sounds like a lot of work and I am not sure the result was worth the effort. I too have experimented and sometimes I think I catch myself an hour into post processing and realizing that I forgot what the original looked like.

Thanks for sharing and keep working at it. Some people make it look easy and I struggle with it at times. It seems to me that the photo has to be right first and then very little PP is needed.