Retouching: Photographer Exposed!

Ok, here it goes----I am going to show you, me-----EXPOSED! Real life, real time. I don't like taking pictures of me----I love taking pictures of other people! So, when you don't want your picture taken, believe me, I truely understand!

First, I wanted to give my mom a picture of me for Mother's Day (now this is a REALLY BIG surprise because, well, as adults, we never do this for our moms!)!

So, I knew 2 things: #1, I wanted to shoot down on myself to alleviate double chin and lengthen my neck and face to give a more slender look (from outer space would have been my first preference but that is a little extreme). #2, I wanted it to be black and white so that flaws such as wrinkles, age spots, acne, discolorations in skin tone or other forgeign bodies who have deposited themselves on me in the past few years would be less noticable.

Oh, I guess I did know another thing-----the studio is a wreck so I would take it in my living room, camera on the tripod with the trip switch held by me and NO ONE ELSE AROUND. (Some things, a girl has to do in private). I took several with my head turned in different directions and decided upon this as my pose of choice:

This is the original. Flash on camera ETTL, -1; Camera F5.6, ISO 100, Lens 24-70mm, SS 20. OK, that pose is fine, the exposure is fine, lets work on me (this girl needs to me made FINE, too!)

Oh, man, am I good!! Smooth the skin, decrease shadows under the eyes, brighten eyes and teeth. Now, just look at these 2 images: #1 is what you may have from your absolutely fabulous digital camera, but #2 is what you get from a professional retoucher. But wait, there's more! Dont forget, I want it Black and White, plus, I want to crop it in closer.
There, that's more like it! Let's clean up some stray hairs and check out a "porcelain white" on this one.....
Here is what a porcelain B&W looks like. It reminds me of the old milky white dinnerware----you know, the pure white settings with the little bubbles on them. But, you know what, the more I look at this, the more I want to change the crop and bring it in. Yep, it does look better brought in closer.

What do you think?