I'm just learning... I mean very new to retouching photos. I'd like to get some other's take on retouching this photo of a family friend. My Wife and I are getting into photography and I'm interested in the retouching process as well. Here's a photo that I took this past weekend. If you decide to take part, could you please post a short description on what steps you took to get the desired result. Thanks very much for your time and help.

ps - I'm personally trying to get a very natural looking result... but just want to give the photo that extra pop :)

Here are the steps that I could remember:

levels adjustment
color correction
contrast adjustment
slight skin tweaks
dodging and burning of the hair and background

I'm just learning... I mean very new to retouching photos. I'd like to get some other's take on retouching this photo of a family friend.
...
My ps - I'm personally trying to get a very natural looking result... but just want to give the photo that extra pop :)

This imge may have more processing than what is desired.

-color adjustment
-airbrush effect on skin
-dodge-burn

dc

really nice job cobb

@frank, i really dig the gradient effect you gave to the bg there...nice.

I'm still trying to learn retouching and have a question about DCobb pic

you did a nice job on airbrushing the face but shouldn't you have matched the skin tones on the body to the ones on the face {the face is so warm and pink looking and the body is pale and cold looking to me} or it just a matter of taste and how much time you want to put in a pic ???

This reply is in response to the question by Out-Of-Focus regarding the facial tones vs. other body tones. If you will examine the original posted photo, you will notice that there is a redish tone to the face. I did not try to isolate any body parts and simply made all adjustments on a global basis. Rouge applied as facial make up would give the face more redness than the arms, etc. I did actually lower the red color using H/S, but probably more was needed. The extent of color correction is always the client's choice. This was a quick job and I didn't spend a lot of time on it. Also, I am not a retoucher. I do this just as a hobby. However, your observation is well taken. Thanks.

dc

Quick retouch using some plug-ins:
-iCorrect
-Portraiture
-Noiseware
Selective color adjustment & high pass filter

Wow, great job everyone! My expectations were exceeded... really nice work. Frank, I really liked the burn effect you used on the background and the top of her hair. DCobb, excellent color correction! That was spot on for me atleast. I do think that the airbrushing was alittle too much for me, but defenitely a great job. chillin, really nice work as well. You were able to get your color adjustment very close to DCobb's and I really like that. Can you give me any info on that iCorrect program that you're using? Is it fairly easy/fast... has it helped you overall? I'm interested in the plugin myself. Thanks again and please anyone else add to what these others have done.

- Jason

quick little fix…

Congratulations! You are new to photography and already you have an eye for setting up a shot and know how to achieve good lighting.

This is what I did:

1. Duplicated the background layer, desaturated that duplicate and turned its opacity down to 20%.

2. Opened a curves adjustment layer and put a marker right in the middle of the green curve and moved it up 5 points. This reduced some of the red in the skin.

3. Dodged the black rings under her eyes. Dodged and burned the face trying to smooth out the transitions between the highlights and shadows. Also generally emphasized the highglights and shadows with the same technique.

4. Opened another curves adjustment layer and darkened the shadows. Masked out the subject in the center.

5. Used Neat Image on the background and just a tad on the skin. This was mainly to get rid of the Jpeg artifacting that has resulted in the image been downsized.

6. Used Unsharp mask on the eyes, mouth, tip of nose and select strands of hair.

And apart from a few tweaks here and there, that was it.

Sincerely Syd

sorry syd does not pop to me this time, looks like a wonderful satin finish but blue on the shoulder

sorry syd does not pop to me this time, looks like a wonderful satin finish but blue on the shoulder
You're right Cass. Sloppy work. Done in a rush and not much attention to detail. Apart from desaturating a bit (which worked against it and brought out that blue you are talking about on the shoulder) and moving the green curve, I did no other colour work. I appreciate your comment.

Sincerely Syd

my "dark world" action (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/photo-retouching/16847-darkworld-ps-action.html)

with adjusting a bit the color-layer.

follow the link if u like the action is on the board.

cs with shadow and highlight is a must have.

here my try at it

I suppose your friend gets tired of being told she bears an eerie resemblance to the actress Jennifer Morrison.

a quick retouch.

levels adjustment
color correction
skin corrections using dodging and burning at low opacity
smart sharpen to finish

KR1156, I like your work.

Here is my version.

-Adjusted light
-Burn/Dodged the skin to even it out
-Burn/Dodged shadows/highlights
-Added a bit of noise

I probably should have softened up the hair...

Here's my take. Not a pro - just a hobby.

thing to consider -
- darkened eyes with Hue/Saturation layer
- Add color to lips
- Used dodge tool to bring out highlights in her hair
- burn tool on the eyebrows
- quick de-grunge process on the skin.
- improved background lighting

Congratulations! You are new to photography and already you have an eye for setting up a shot and know how to achieve good lighting.

This is what I did:...

...And apart from a few tweaks here and there, that was it.

Sincerely Syd

Beautifull work, and the cropping... icing on the cake"

Thanks Chillin. I didn't match the colour of the arm to the skin though.

I like the way you gave the photo a nice open feel and the way the skin almost seems to glow.

I like tsg's submission too. Nice and natural with good colour.

Sincerely Syd

Thanks Syd. This picture was my first post.

Hi!

This is my version:

Degrunge technique(ByRo)
Dodge and Burn
Hair retouch, and some curves, adjusting the contrast.

Hope you like these 3 classic attempts.

c

Here's my try,

adjustments:
levels
hue/sat
curves-eyes, hair, lips
tried to even skin
smoothed skin
high pass sharpen

Let me know what you think, am still learning and hoping to improve with each try.

Keiser

Here is my try,

I did a duplicate layer,
Overlay
Graussian blur at 5%
Then bring back the eyes & mouth
with a mask.

newbie practising:

tweaked levels, col balance, saturation
removed tiny blemishes and smoothed (maybe a tad too much)
burn and dodge around the eyes and mouth

Something a bit different...

I warmed the colors up a bit using curves and color balance, burned it a bit and added a bit of contrast.

The uploaded image seems a bit dark, here's an outside link:

http://www.pbase.com/pam_r/image/76360992.jpg

OK, here's my entry (before & after), based on your comment that you want a natural look with some 'pop'.

Increased the brightness of the whites of the eyes, the saturation of the irises and the lips, size and brightness of the specular highlights in the pupils, auto levels, photo filter 'warm' (81), unsharp mask.

Here is my try..
Healing brush
apply image-channel red- blending- soft
Filter-distort- diffuse glow
sharpen
and some filters of DFT 55mm v7 plug-in.

My try.. (http://www.sjanoe.nl/bewerkt_2.jpg)

Liquify, d&b, degrunge, curves :cat:

besides what the good folks have already done......

- Changed the background colour to bring out the blue eyes;
- deGrunged twice: once to even out the skin bumps (larger radius), another to smooth the texture (smaller radius);

Rô

Here's my stab at it

This was a job well done out of focus - great skin tones and very natural.
Top marks. Wish you could do the same for my face. Vicky.

Everybody has done such a great job with this photo! I wanted to try it out.

With this size photo and considering the subject doesn't have major blemishes, I just did a low opacity (about 35%) and low flow (also about 35-45%) clone touch up all over the face after duplicating the layer. Then, I reduced the layers opacity to 90% to let out just a hint of the original texture.

Then the typical eye whitening and saturation, followed by USM on the eyes at: 60, 2.5, 1.0.

Burned along her jawline for shadow/cheekbone effect. I also dodged around her mouth to reduce frown line/shadow. Burned a bit in cleavage for “oomph.” ;)

Cleaned up the background of spots and hairs.

Levels for a tad of dramatic feel.

here my try at it


Nice one out of focus - very natural, wish you could do the same for my face.

vickyfroud

Here's my try

This was a job well done out of focus - great skin tones and very natural.
Top marks. Wish you could do the same for my face. Vicky.


thank you very much Vicky
kinda new to this and still have alot to learn

BW - When it's very light (or pitch black) she's very beautiful!

My Go.

A slightly larger picture next time would be better.

Peter

Pretty young lady. Finally had some time to work with this photo. Small source, but went ahead anyway. Wished she was looking more forward as her eyes look strained. Nonetheless, did some standard glamorization steps: adjust levels and PWL for a more rounded face, adjust for warmer skintones, some minor liquify adjustments to chin, cooler background color, etc. Cropped tighter for impact and more balanced composition.

Blemish reduction and b/w conversion. :)