Something's not right about the black and white. It seems that the depth of field is very narrow in this one. The focus is on your eyes as it should be. Parts of your forehead and nose are quite soft. In the ethereal edit that does not do significant harm but in the b&w the partial sharpness looks strange. I think the aperture was simply too large here. It's ok if areas of the face behind the eyes like the hair is out of focus but in my personal opinion the depth of field is too narrow here.
I remember from your old editing videos that your retouching skills are good. But because this image is so unlike what you usually shoot, it is quite understandable that some minor errors may have crept in. Focus is critical. A slightly off exposure can be salvaged in editing but there's nothing you can do about focusing errors.
Isn’t it weird how different the same image looks when it’s turned to monochrome? Like the super shallow depth of field isn’t as visible in the coloured one.
I definitely agree that a wide aperture does not work for a portrait like this, it’s weird to have the nose and forehead outside the focus field, but I’ve seen it done by some celebrity photographers for example and I wanted to try it. Though I think in a way it works for bw because it gives this kind of an vibe of an really old portrait photo, something like silver gelatine maybe? I’m not sure what it’s called but I have an image in my mind that reminds me of the kind of edit I did, and it’s kind of a creepy vibe those images have.
Absolutely right.
While that wide an aperture might not work, a wide aperture is still desirable because you definitely want to isolate the subject in portraits. I can't really give you a value because that would depend on the lens and the camera body and, to be honest, I wouldn't know the answer even for my own gear. The whole face should be in focus (maybe a bit of softness on the edges and the hair).
Creepy is the word. I think you have a talent in creating shots in the plasticky and soulless style we have seen a lot in commercials that are downright creepy. Subtly subversive Eve!
I’ll show the other pictures I took on a later date, where I stopped down the aperture to have the whole face in focus.
I need to be able to show that I can make a light bright boring image, but just choose to live on the dark side 😁