[Another dyemention]

So this is (frustratingly) as good as I can get this in PP. I think its decent but it just doesn't have that "finished" portrait look that a lot of pictures have. It looks dull to me. The colors don't pop enough, its not as sharp as i'd like, and there's just something "off" about it. I've literally been working on this photo for the last two hours. Tweaking and resetting, over and over. So please let me know what you all would do with this to improve it..
Thanks

---------- Post added 08-01-14 at 09:11 PM ----------

sigh, I don't know why my pictures look blurry when I upload them to PF. My wife's face is definitely not that blurry in LR. If it's not one thing it's another.

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Last edited by Another dyemention; 02-28-2015 at 08:38 PM.

[mike_perth]

I think this is a great shot what counts is the subject matter they are special to you! You've used depth of field well the skin tones look great.

[Kozlok]

The DA50 is a sharp lens. Should be amazing, really. At f3.5, you should be stunned at the sharpness. Have you adjusted the focus for FF/BF? Fixing Front and Back Focus - Introduction - In-Depth Reviews

Looking at your picture, I'm guessing front focus. Try dialing in -5 and shoot again. Also, I think when you upload to PF, the resolution is much smaller than the original, which highlights the blurriness.

Here's my attempt at making it a bit better. exposure +25, contrast +6, highlights -5, shadows +5, whites +6, blacks -15, clarity +17, temp +13, tint +14, green saturation -31, aqua -21. I also upped the sharpening a bit. That looks like it added some artifacts, but should work better from the original.

[Another dyemention]

Thanks mike, I appreciate you're compliment.

The blurry ness could have been from this not really being a posed or planned shot. My son just happened to be sitting on my wife's lap when I walked by. It was very spur of the moment and more of a snapshot then an intentional portrait.
And kozlock, that is much more how I wanted the results to look. As soon as I get home I'm going to mes with it some more and see if I can replicate your results. Thanks for posting your adjustments.