Hi all

This is a first attempt at a glamour touch up - following the Retouch Tutorial but adapting it with some of me own ideas.
I know it isn't perfect - nose ain't right and skin not perfect etc - what do you reckon for a beginner like me though - show promise?
Any critique, comments etc all more than welcome - want to learn as much as possible from my mistakes :)

http://www.wireless-i.co.uk/Art/test.html

Cheers!
Neil

Hi Neil... Welcome to RetouchPRO.

Glamour retouching isn't "my thing," so I don't have any technical comments, but from a "How does it look?" perspective, it looks great! -- especially the work you did on the skin and eyes.

For a first time at bat, I'd say you have many home runs in your future. Keep on doing what you're doing.

~Danny~

Maybe the blurring made look so ... splotchy? the skin texture is missing and the colors in the skin look almost like finger painted. Slow down and take your time.

good job on posting though! how did you get an image that size to lload on this site?

I'm also just starting out. One thing I found out about this site is that over-softening or finding a quick fix will drive these posters nuts. It all boils down to practicing a lot and being really slow (at first). I put my first attempt up a few weeks ago and I already feel as though I have learned a lot just by taking the suggestions of the members on this site.

I picked up the Photoshop Restoration & Retouching, 3rd edition by Katrin Eismann http://www.photoshopdiva.com/books.html on someone's suggestion. It's been next to me as I practice ever since I got it. Lots of great tutorials for many different situations.

-LF

Hi Neil, First of all let me say I have been using Photoshop for years, transitioning from an all film world into a digital world after years of laughing at my college instructors trying to convince us that our photo world was gonna get rocked. We did not believe it but here we are today, almost 20 years since my masters. I am gonna comment and give some suggestions, as I wish folks would do a lot more on here. There is always room to learn new tricks and I am always looking for a good critique.
#1) It looks really good. You did great with skin tones and eyes. It's hard some times because we are all working on our own machines, different monitors, systems etc. If I am at home I am on a mac, on the road, PC. What a conundrum this causes for me. Anyways, like I said it looks great, and if this is truly one of your first attempts, I see great potential. I always loved working depth of field and the computer makes that even easier with a lot more potential. I love to do a trick where I put a blur on the whole thing and erase away the eyes to no blur at all. Makes the eyes POP right out and softens that skin just like my hand-sanded filters of the old days. On my monitor the whites of her eyes are still a bit cyan and I think they could be brightened up a bit. Try this just for fun too if you wanna.
- duplicate layer
- opacity 35 / layer mode = darkness
- filter = gaussian blur (make the amount around the same size as the file size of your image)
- duplicate that layer
- opacity 75 / layer mode = lightness
- shift/click on those 2 duplicate layers so they are both highlighted and then click on the create new group button at the bottom of the layers menu (looks like a file folder)
- now click on the add layer mask button right beside it

- click on the move tool in the tool box (top right) so you now have black as your foreground color and white as your background

- now using the paint brush practice painting over your photo. In this mode the paintbrush is actually erasing away the soft layer so at 100% opacity erase the softness completely away from the eyes then you can use different opacities in other areas. It's a nice softening tool where you can be very selective. I hope the instructions were clear and not too long-winded. Please email me with any questions whatsoever. I am recovering from some minor surgery so I got lots of time to sit here. Thanks to all the RP members for their constant input, questions, ideas etc. Have fun.
Chris

Hi neil I really like it I think the skin may be a little soft but overall pretty nice
anyway better than i could do. But practice makes perfect,also you might take a look at some fashion magazines to see the finished product to see whats out there and expected

good luck zganie

I agree, the skin needs some texture. Dupe the layer, add some noise so the skin looks real.mask to show the original and "paint" the texture back by using a soft, white brush on the layer mask. Here's an example.

Stosh

blurring and adding noise are some of the worse things you can do when it comes to retouching. both those filters take so much quality and texture away from the image that when applied, a clear sign of retouched image is revealed.

ive always been taught that a good retouch is a picture that doesnt look like its been retouched at all. when it comes to using blurs, and noise, all you end up with is flat, blotchy, fake-looking images.

despite the poor quality of the image given, here is my take on the picture. no blurs, no noise, no filters. hope you guys like my work ..

enjoy!!

Love the eye treatment you have going on but there is some redness in the actual eyeball that should be taken care of. Overall I think the image would be helped out by a little level adjustment. Take the right-hand slider in levels (the highlight end of the histogram) and drag it to the left to about 226. At 226 the catchlights of the eyes become overexposed and there's just a little overexposure in the red channel on some of the highlights in the lips. I think the whites of the eyes could be made lighter also. This is all just my opinon of course. I did a quick job on your beauty2.png (I assumed that was the last one in the process... left to right, top to bottom) file to show what I mean. Since I know nothing about Gimp I don't know how many terms and techniques will translate directly from PS.

I also recommend byRo's most awesome degrunge tutorial for the skin.
http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=213

I'm not too sure what I did here, I just kept trying different things. Not sure I like what I came up with, but figured I'd share it anyways. Any opinions?