Hey to all...figured I wud post something..just some photoshop play..



Before (http://xs102.xs.to/xs102/06256/before.jpg)

After (http://xs102.xs.to/xs102/06240/steph1.jpg)


I have a new digital photography forum PhotoFaq (http://www.photofaq.net). Not much activity yet...if anyone is into that....

jamz

hi jamz,

first of all, welcome aboard! :)

I just downloaded your files and placed one on top of the other for comparison.

In my opinion, i think you could ease about 50% of the skin treatment you did. With the treatment as it is, you lost some details on her ear, the line that draws her nose, and some other details that make the retouching job look more real. Something that bothers me a bit is the greenish colour cast on the edge of her hair (I know fair hair is always very dificult to deal with, and I think that overall you made a good job out of it. Only the green colour cast bothered me.)

well, you did a good job overall, but I think you could ease it a little bit.

cheers!! :)

George Rutherford
www.seagullsfly.com

Thanks for the critique! I did this one rather quickly :)...but I agree with ur observations...I see the green that you metioned. I think I actually lost some image info due to the compression I used. Now that I look again..it seems there was something going (green) on around that area in the original photo to begin with. Had to tilt the LCD monitor a little to see it. I was just concentraiting on skin for this one. Also I like to enhance the brow and lashes slightly. And a little enhancement of the hair highlights and darks..and hit the ear rings slightly.

thanks much...

Jamz

I've just joined this site as well. I'm a portrait photographer specializing in black and white these days. I'm slowly edging into digital.

As for the critique, I see a lot of digital retouching these days that is overdone. I think many people fail in the old adage, "just because you can, doesn't mean you should".

With this "flawless" skin look, it removes the humanity of the subject and leaves a "virtual" looking person, who does not look real.

I have done negative and print retouching for a long time and that was the thing that I had to learn. When to stop.

I'm sure I'll have the same issues with photoshop.

Michael

the others already mentioned the skin, so i'll just refine this a bit. i like freckles. so to remove them, to me, is a no-no. i'm not all that crazy about moles, but likewise, it's generally considered a no-no to remove those as well....unless the client specifically requests it. also, the earrings could stand a touch of sharpening.

otherwise, very nice.

craig

I hope you don't mind me playing with this one. I'm still learning, so any comments are always helpful.

Thanks.
Dennis

IMO, it's far too 'airbrushy' and obvious. I love when I see a final piece, but really have to try hard to reconstruct in my mind how the retoucher went about making the edit. I have to agree about the freckles, by removing them completely you remove an aspect of the personality of the portrait. Usually a good tactic for freckles is to subdue rather than remove...

I have only done some restoration work for friends and family as a hobby so take my comments for what they are worth (zero experience points). I think the skin is too perfect. Somewhere in no-mans land between very nice reality and artsey. I think the eyes may have been over worked especially below the eyes. These make the photo look very flat. I have been experimenting with methods to increase the depth of a photo. Left side is your "after" version and the right side is my version (starting with your "before)".

I also agree with the other comments about the mole and freckles.

Thanks for all the comments...here is another:

Before (http://xs302.xs.to/xs302/06263/whiteredb4.jpg)

After (http://xs302.xs.to/xs302/06246/whitered.jpg)

For a fashion shot it might be OK but t looks over retouched to me.


Michael