Hi

I was trying out some tutorials that I found on this site and I wanted to know what you think.
The tutorials were the "soft dior look" and one about dodge and burn. I know I didn't get that kind of look or even close, but I wanted to know what I did wrong and how this could be improved.

This is what I've done to the original picture:
- General color and brightness correction
- Remove blemishes and hair on the right side of the face
- Remove reflection on the nose and under the right eye
- Smooth face skin with median filter
- Dodge and burn skin to get a clean look
- Added skin texture
- Added a little shadow on the right side of the face
- Removed (some of the) red hue on the skin

I didn't do any work on the eyes, lips and the rest of the body, just the skin on the face.

The picture is here (http://web.ist.utl.pt/~ist154435/mesesion_t.jpg) and the original here (http://web.ist.utl.pt/~ist154435/mesesion.jpg). I got the original from Melsstock page in deviantart.

Hi

I was trying out some tutorials that I found on this site and I wanted to know what you think.
The tutorials were the "soft dior look" and one about dodge and burn. I know I didn't get that kind of look or even close, but I wanted to know what I did wrong and how this could be improved.

This is what I've done to the original picture:
- General color and brightness correction
- Remove blemishes and hair on the right side of the face
- Remove reflection on the nose and under the right eye
- Smooth face skin with median filter
- Dodge and burn skin to get a clean look
- Added skin texture
- Added a little shadow on the right side of the face
- Removed (some of the) red hue on the skin

I didn't do any work on the eyes, lips and the rest of the body, just the skin on the face.

The picture is here (http://web.ist.utl.pt/~ist154435/mesesion_t.jpg) and the original here (http://web.ist.utl.pt/~ist154435/mesesion.jpg). I got the original from Melsstock page in deviantart.

The thing is... those techniques don't go togater well.

If you want it fast - Dior
If you want it perfect - Dodge and burn

Also, you don't have as much texture in your image and theskin in really blotchy, this is not a model, is stock, she has no make up no she has no hair done.
You can't get Dior results out of a regular (Very beautiful, but normal) girl.

One more thing: HOW LONG did you dodge and burn the skin, because I see it needs like 2 hours (aprox) of dodging and burning, some selective color adjustments made with masks.

This is not easy and quick.

Good luck and keep trying

Godmother is right. If you want it to look great, you use dodge and burn, you don't use a median filter or any other filters to add skin texture. Color-correction/lighting and dodge and burn (along with sometimes necessary stamping/healing) is most of what you need to make a great retouched photo.

you should go back to the original and take a look at the colors, the background wall is a neutral gray, it should stay that way, your color correcting moves on the after shot put a nasty cyan cast on the whole shot. use your eye dropper tool, sample the "gray" wall, the "white parts" of her eye, the shadows in her skin tone...notice how much cyan you have spilling onto them.

i would go back to the original, after you've done your skinwork, i would mask out the skin, and desat the reds and yellows a bit, then make a new curve to bring back some color, so it's not flat or monotone looking.

*Edit remember this is a crappy digital shot, you won't get magazine spread looks out of this.

I think you did a pretty good job for someone new to retouching. The person looks softer, less flaws.
Unless you are submitting it to Vogue or National Geographic, I think it is a good job for personal images.
I didn't think he was aiming for high-end magazine work.

KR1156 and smak are both right. For a personal image, this is a good job, and a step in the right direction. It's obviously not a high-res photo, and it probably wouldn't be for a high-end client. Just try to learn from everyone here, and your abilities will improve in no time.

We should have a "smooth skin/glamour retouch" contest or challenge. That'd be good for some people, since there seems to be so much interest.

I'll try getting a smooth skin with dodge and burn, but I think I'll use a picture with an higher resolution for that.

I wasn't trying to really get the Dior look, just smooth out the skin a bit. Now I tried to get some of the original color back like KR1156 said. This attempt is here (http://web.ist.utl.pt/~ist154435/mesesion_t2.jpg).

I'll look at some of the challenges there are in the forum, at least I'll have some examples and a nice high-res picture to work with.

Thanks for the replies. This sure looks like a good place to learn.

all i meant by "crappy digital shot" was take it for what it is, don't spend too much time with the advanced retouching techniques because its a bad photo to practice those techniques on, and you won't learn much.

you would be better off practicing your color moves on that photo, start to use your eye more, get used to looking at numbers…etc.

-i know a lot of ppl here are into skinwork lately and d&b, i feel sometimes ppl concentrate on their skinwork, and overlook color, density, masking…etc., and most of the time, go overboard on how smooth they make theyre skin.

good job, but i agree with everyone else .. it could be done better ..