a recent retouch...any suggestions on how to improve it would be much
appreciated...

pixulz,

very nice so far.

the skin is a bit pale. an adjustment layer of contrast/brightness would help. you could run a curves on it and adjust the individual channels also.

the other thing i see is that the skin also looks a bit 'oily', specially in the highlighted areas. that could be toned down a bit.

one minor point is the transitions between tones. some of these could also be toned down a bit, smoothed out. but that's more a personal choice than anything else.

Craig

thanks for the suggestions craig...appreciate it...

I really like what you have done here but I'm thinking that perhaps the nose freckles need to be reduced a bit to match the reduction of the forehead freckles.

Cheers
Dave

pixulz,

i shld also point out that you did a marvelous job of the skin texture. the eyes are incredible and the lips quite good also. i kind of like the freckles :)

dont know what i was thinking when i wrote that first critique. a critique shld never be just about what's 'wrong'. there's a lot of 'right' in your picture too :)

thank you for showing me your work.

Craig

Duv...i see what you mean...i did reduce some of the freckles on the forehead a bit...i should reduce the nose freckles to match and see what it looks like...thanks!

Craig...thank you.....for me, i do like to know what i need to improve on first...that way i can correct the major things and then move on to the minor things, like you pointed out...the things that are not mentioned, i assume are good so i dont make any changes...it helps alot to have fresh eyes...i tend to work on retouches too long and dont take a break to recalibrate my eyes...so the suggestions you, duv, and others who critique my work are very hepful to me in improving my skills and improving my "eye" for retouching...if i wanna make money doing something i enjoy alot (retouching), then i need to learn and practice all i can to improve my skills and "eye" for retouching in order to provide quality work for future clients...this website and the many generous people here can help me on my way to becoming a professional retoucher...

-Ramel-

pixulz,

yes, i understand. i just worry sometimes that i might get too 'critical', which can tend to discourage folks. if all you give someone is 'wrong', 'wrong', 'wrong', they can, after a while, think that everything they do is 'wrong'. and i would just hate to think that i've contributed to that. most folks i see here are primarily 'right', 'right', 'right' and that shld be re-inforced as well.

and yes, this, i tend to work on retouches too long and dont take a break to recalibrate my eyes is one of the secrets of good retouching, or just about anything to do with the arts. step back and look at things as if you'd never looked at it before. there's lots of ways to do that; take a break, let it sit over night, flip or rotate the image and so on. it helps.

i find with myself, that my eye is better than my hand. i can see things quite well, usually, but somewhere between my eyes and my hand, things dont always translate correctly :)

Craig