Hope you enjoy my first video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2mE8_ZN4ho

This is not a Tutorial, just a look over my shoulder.

Have Fun
Natalia

Thanks for sharing, what a treat! Though its not a tutorial I did pick up a few new tricks (how to transfer texture to another area of a photo - smacked my head when I saw that one - why didn't I think of that).

It's also interesting to see the order that people approach things, you like to start off toward the beginning with a color balance adjustment and I usually do that as one of my last steps.

I also found it interesting that you seem to do your work all on one layer for the most part (except the d&b stuff). I guess with experience you kind of don't need masses of layers so that you can go back and redo or fix what you've already done.

Thanks again!

I enjoyed it boy do you work fast :) ha ha dont think i appreciated how much work goes in to retouching and i have got loads and loads to learn

Thank you
Palms

pretty amazing to watch! how long did that take in real time?
I think the movie would be a great tutorial in itself in real time, any interest in selling a dvd of that in real time?

That's Awesome. You don't happen to have a larger version that's real time do you? There are a couple of things I'd like to see more on. The lips and skin texture in particular.

Take care,
Jim

Great *g*
Thx again:-)

lg Calvin

WOW! I would love to see real time tutorial of it.

Natalia, Thanks for the visual treat :)
Me too would like to see the video at normal speed as I am not able to catch up with many of the techniques used (yes I am a newbie). Hope you will post one very soon.

just d/l the video and slow it down during playback...

awsome retouch. would love to see a real time tutorial

wow...fast and good...but not very tutorial for me...it's too fast to see and understand what's going on in there...you know your stuff...

gerry

wow...fast and good...but not very tutorial for me...it's too fast to see and understand what's going on in there...you know your stuff...

gerry

Hey.. I did say this was not a tutorial... :)

Do you ppl really think there's a market for something like this on DVD? my english sucks, so I could never do it my self, but maybe some could do it for me.

but... is it worth it?

hey, godm...I would buy a dvd or a movieclip if you narrow the retouching categories down, to what you do in the picture here,,,

I'm interested in the lip retouching, and adding glow...even the color mastering...

this is a nice way to go...to start real retouching movieclips that people can buy for a buck or few ;)

Gerry

Hey.. I did say this was not a tutorial... :)

Do you ppl really think there's a market for something like this on DVD? my english sucks, so I could never do it my self, but maybe some could do it for me.

but... is it worth it?
I'll buy it without any narration, just a high quality real time version.

I would as well...on your site it says you are 25...if so, where did you learn your techniques at such a young age?

I would as well...on your site it says you are 25...if so, where did you learn your techniques at such a young age?

I'm 25 years old, that's true (Untill december 3th, I expect lots of gifts :))

I have a 2 and a half Years old boy, when I got pregnant I didn't have much more to do... so there goes 9 month of TOTAL PRACTICE and learning. No job, no school, just Photoshop and internet.

Practie makes all the diference.

:)

Did you have any photography/art/painting experience before you started retouching, Natalia?

(and your video is really awesome ;) )

Well... I'm an adverstiser (That was my major in the uni) and I took 2 years of Graphic Design in the UBA (University of Buenos Aires). When I met photoshop I loved it and started doing www.worth1000.com contest (even won a few :) ) and then I met retouch pro... and haven't done much else but retouching since.

thanks... you are all making me feel like a famous person jajaja

Have a nice day

Oh.... I forgot... I love drawing... by hand I mean... but don't have a wacom yet... saving for one :)

Goodmother,

Thank you for sharing your video with us it was amazing. if you do any more please post them as i really enjoyed the watching this one..

cheers

I would say if there was a video out there to teach me some of the skills that you have, I would be more then glad to purchase it. Your work imho is the best that I have seen so far. If I get to a tenth of your skill level, I would be happy.

Great video! And this all without the use of a tablet?

Great video! And this all without the use of a tablet?

Yeap... I love to get one thou... it's going to make me faster and better :)

Yeap... I love to get one thou... it's going to make me faster and better :)
I'm sure if you could burn some dvds of that video you would have enough for a tablet in no time.

I'm sure if you could burn some dvds of that video you would have enough for a tablet in no time.


I'm looking into that.
Thanks for all your comments everybody :)

You can consider also pay-for-download version ;)

i don't think you even need narration, just a full size version in real time. You will sell more copies if you just have a pay-per-download as people usually want something straight away, but maybe offer a dvd as well, just up the price to cover your costs. PayPal is very easy to set up and use.

My money awaits your tutorial.

superb, inside look at how it is done... thank you.

my money awaits as well! :D

GODMOTHER, GODMOTHER,GODMOTHER!!! WOOT WOOT!

Gerry

my money awaits as well! :D

GODMOTHER, GODMOTHER,GODMOTHER!!! WOOT WOOT!

Gerry


was that something like a football cheer? I'll have to rethink everything now ;)

yes it was ;)

One of the best videos of retouch for me. Great job, Natalia!

Yes a most wonderful talent and eye

Yes a most wonderful talent and eye

Thanks :)

It really takes a lot of time to do one of those vids... Now I see Why ppl don't share. It's not about wanting to, it's about time :)

Hi natalia,
just a big big thank you for the video. some might not consider it as a tutorial, but after spending a few hours watching it in slow motion, taking notes i found it combined with the shelby post on D&B that it was the best tutorial ive seen.
As for your work im a fan.
thank you again, and good luck in ur career.
alex :)

Its a very good video. I need to play it in slow mo as others have. What I noticed is that many of the techniques discussed on this forum were nice to see implemented-- byRo degrunge, Amy Dresser add white to highlights, replicating skin texture. These techniques can be easily duplicated, but having the keen eye where and when to apply it is the real treat of this video. Excellent job!

This is just so great. I've got to watch this a few more times!

just d/l the video and slow it down during playback...

how do you download it ...sorry i haven't had time to get into the whole youtube thing.

how do you download it ...sorry i haven't had time to get into the whole youtube thing.

http://mashable.com/2007/05/05/download-youtube-video/ :wink:

Natalia, you are such an artist!! I just loved your work.

I have 20 now and I really would like to become a photo manipulator before 25, hehehe.

Natalia, you are such an artist!! I just loved your work.

I have 20 now and I really would like to become a photo manipulator before 25, hehehe.

Hey I got to where I am in 2 years, so maybe you get there sooner than that :)

Good luck

Natalia

I did not catch the technique for replicating the skin, how was that done?

//Mike

I'm not sure but I think she copied the selected area to a new layer, then added some high pass. Finally she changed the blending mode... Overlay I guess.
Am I wrong?

:)

Photoshop: Natalia, did you use the filter "Neat Image" in the exposure eyes part or I'm just seeing things?

she reprocessed the image for the eyes in Camera Raw and brought it back in and recomposited it.

she reprocessed the image for the eyes in Camera Raw and brought it back in and recomposited it.

Thanks bri775!

I'm not sure but I think she copied the selected area to a new layer, then added some high pass. Finally she changed the blending mode... Overlay I guess.
Am I wrong?

Not at all... That's exactly what I did.

Photoshop: Natalia, did you use the filter "Neat Image" in the exposure eyes part or I'm just seeing things?

I did use neat image to reduce noise, so your sight is healthy, don't worry :)

That's good! =)

So... when can we expect to see another video from you?

Your retouching is amazing! The video helped me a lot! I also would like to see the slower version!

Great work!!!

Wasn't there an invert step?

I was trying to look at that.

High Pass, Gaussian Blur, Invert, and then Overlay mode. Mask (choose hide all).

Is that right?

I'm not sure but I think she copied the selected area to a new layer, then added some high pass. Finally she changed the blending mode... Overlay I guess.
Am I wrong?

:)

Photoshop: Natalia, did you use the filter "Neat Image" in the exposure eyes part or I'm just seeing things?

To add a little bit of texture, she copied some skin, add high pass and then, overlay.

For the entire face, she add high pass, gaussian blur, set it to linear light, lower opacity and finally, add a mask. that's byro's technique (http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=213).

Godmother, can u attach photography from tutorial here ?

Godmother, can u attach photography from tutorial here ?

I doubt she can as it was a photographers work, but if she did get permission that would be great:)

Just wanted to say great job, its nice to see a high end type retouch on youtube and not one with huge amounts of blur and super saturation.

For the record I would also buy a copy that in slower motion. Could you just take your original footage and have premiere (or w/e video app) re render a version at 10-15 fps? Having a voiceover would be nice but the more advanced people should be able to follow along just fine.

I would happily pay $50 usd for a dvd copy with voiceover and maybe $30-35 for a silent version. Also as suggested before a download version would be great for broadband users (though a hefty file as I imagine it was several hrs of retouching)

Natalia,

Great Work !!!

I would love to learn retouching/processing down to every detail, but even if I did I would still have to hire retouchers because you can't possibly have time to do organizing, communicating, shooting, travelling, etc. without adequate assistance and still make money, at least I know I can't. This way with you I know I have a Pro Retoucher here and I don't have to worry much about the end result.

However, I admit I have to learn basics to avoid posterization, etc.

Cheers

Gomother if its ok with you I can post a copy of the video on my site as a .mov quicktime files so viewers can download and slow down the speed (in the a/v controls palette) in the quicktime viewer. I converted the .flv video from youtube to a .mov and watching it in slow mo really helped me out a lot.

If you would rather not thats fine too just thought i'd offer :)

Gomother if its ok with you I can post a copy of the video on my site as a .mov quicktime files so viewers can download and slow down the speed (in the a/v controls palette) in the quicktime viewer. I converted the .flv video from youtube to a .mov and watching it in slow mo really helped me out a lot.

If you would rather not thats fine too just thought i'd offer :)

Sure, just don't charge ppl for it :)

Well I tried uploading tonight but the 17mb file makes my iDisk go crazy...just sits there. I think the problem is I have a 60kb sec upload from my satellite internet.

sorry I dont think its going to work :( i'll try it again tomorrow.

Thanks for sharing GM, I was glad to see you slowed it down for us as I know you work much faster than that ;) LOL

Some great stuff in there, maybe if you do release some tutorial DVD's you can just write the script and have somebody else narrate what you are doing (plus there is always sub titles to fall back on)

The video is a great resource to show people that a good edit is NOT a 5 minute job it takes time and on the video you start with a well shot model so remove that from the equation and it takes even longer (as you know)

could anyone help with getting the downloaded file to work slower?
I have downloaded the file have Applian FLV player but can't slow down the stream, conversion to .avi file doesn't work with windows player nor quick time.
I have been a fan for a while, would love to see how you work in slower motion.
Thank you.
Peter

Though its not a tutorial I did pick up a few new tricks (how to transfer texture to another area of a photo - smacked my head when I saw that one - why didn't I think of that).
Exact same for me.

Thanks :D

- I too would like to see this video in slow motion. Is their a method to do this?

GM...you said you self taught yourself in two years. Tell me how you did this. If you went to web sites...which ones. If you read books..magazines which ones...I would think you would need some basic understanding and ideas as you practiced the art to retouch. thxs

For the entire face, she add high pass, gaussian blur, set it to linear light, lower opacity and finally, add a mask. that's byro's technique (http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=213).

After watching the video many times in slow motion the purpose of this step remains unclear to me.

The tutorial you reference is about using the blur effect over the whole skin, Natalia is using it over cretin areas of the face only.

Judging by the before and after preview, it seems Natalia used this technique to smooth out areas of transition between shadows/highlights and midtones, instead of using it to smooth out the who face, is that correct?

Thanks in advance

Hi!

If you want watch the movie slower you can do it like that.

Download the movie and convert it to AVI. There's a site that's called http://vixy.net where you can have the conversion done online - just paste in the youtube link.

Then open the AVI in Media Player Classic (http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=205650). That nice little player allows you to increase and decrease the speed of the movie and you can even watch the frames step by step.

Take care ... Andreas.

After watching the video many times in slow motion the purpose of this step remains unclear to me.

The tutorial you reference is about using the blur effect over the whole skin, Natalia is using it over cretin areas of the face only.

Judging by the before and after preview, it seems Natalia used this technique to smooth out areas of transition between shadows/highlights and midtones, instead of using it to smooth out the who face, is that correct?

Thanks in advance

the purpose of this step is to smooth the major imperfections and leave the minor. In other words, the same stuff you said XD

If you use that effect for the whole skin, some parts can get a little bit strange, so, masks are always welcome.

the purpose of this step is to smooth the major imperfections and leave the minor. In other words, the same stuff you said XD

If you use that effect for the whole skin, some parts can get a little bit strange, so, masks are always welcome.

cool, but whats XD??

cool, but whats XD??

HAUIhaHIahua XD

It's kind hard to explain (specially in english). You have to see for yourself...just use the technique... You will see some major imperfections desapear.... minor will stand there.... makes the retouch looks more real.....

A similar technique --> http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/1169397

But of course, if you want perfection, just dodge and burn =D

Hi!

If you want watch the movie slower you can do it like that.

Download the movie and convert it to AVI. There's a site that's called http://vixy.net where you can have the conversion done online - just paste in the youtube link.

Then open the AVI in Media Player Classic (http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=205650). That nice little player allows you to increase and decrease the speed of the movie and you can even watch the frames step by step.

Take care ... Andreas.

thank you Andreas, this has been very helpfull.
Peter

Oh, Natalia, it's really great to see you here, I'm really a big fan of your amazing work and i've tried to contact you but I never had the chance to have your contact info, I've seen this video of yours and it was such a great inspiration to me, my work had really improved since then, specially when I saw you talking about the doge/burn tools on deviant art.

after viewing the video in slow motion, many things became much clearer, but not all.
In some section alot of painting is happening:
"give her some glow fillining the whites with whites", "lips", "some painting, shading and texturing", what mode is used for paining? didn't see if it was changed to anyhting else from normal, but normal mode would seem to destroy the details.

Also how does degrunge complement d&b? On the surface it looks like degrunge at least to some degree is destructive with application of gaussian blur, yet the whole point of d&b is to preserve every single detail (which is not possible with healing etc), very time consuming and requiring quite a bit of patience and experience (at least I am finding it still quite difficult to cover the area correctly).

Thank you.
Peter

after viewing the video in slow motion, many things became much clearer, but not all.
In some section alot of painting is happening:
"give her some glow fillining the whites with whites", "lips", "some painting, shading and texturing", what mode is used for paining? didn't see if it was changed to anyhting else from normal, but normal mode would seem to destroy the details.


I will respond to this part which I know more. Use soft light blend mode as you add white and black to enhance the highlights and shadows

Very nice, thank you :)

So now with all these complements, Im not going to give one. lol. just kidding, a nice video. The only thing im wondering is she looks way smooth in the end and her eyes are way too bright. I dont know if this your style, or if the youtube vid just gives no justice. I may have missed it but did you place a higher res of the final in this post?

I agree that you are very good. Interesting that you don't use layers more.

I do a lot of training stuff. If you wanted to turn this into a tutorial, you would want to break it down into the basic components, and do a short training video on each item, with more explanation as to what is going on, and a little bit more step by step. For getting the narration done, it wouldn't be too hard. Just create a text to go with it that someone can read in as a narration. The narrator could probably help you to get the English right.

I've been an admirer of your abilities for awhile GM. Thanks for taking the time to make that video and share :)

very very.....very amazing.....in complete admiration....EXQUISITE WORK!!

Wow, I'm impressed. If you need a place to host a high-res version of the video, you can use my site. The quality on YouTube is pretty terrible for actually seeing all the steps. You can e-mail me at aliasjanedoe@hotmail.com if you're interested. I might also be able to help you with your English. You do seem to type fluently, however. Why not just type your steps and display them like subtitles? And I think you could easily make enough money selling tutorials to buy a Wacom tablet.

for hosting of HQ vids i totally recommend vimeo.com (http://vimeo.com/).. It's free and it's HD, perfect to get minor changes in skin texture, you won't be able to see in youtube vids..


BTW Godmother: I just added you to my flickr contacts.. :)

SORRY I haven't read the last.. I don't know like 15 comments lol
ok...

i've tried to contact you but I never had the chance to have your contact info
How come??? My info is everywhere! Just google me.

"give her some glow fillining the whites with whites"

When you have retouched the image if you want that WET or really SHINNY look, you can fill the whites with white:

AMY DRESSER (http://www.amydresser.com/): this may possibly be my only "trick." This has to be done as a final step or it will magnify any so-called-flaws that are white in nature. Make a new empty layer on top of everything. with pure white selected as the foreground color in the tool bar go to Select > Color Range. The whites of the image should already be selected by default. Move the fuzziness slider so the slightest dusting of selection will be made (click selection radio vs. image radio), hit OK. Fill this selection with white. Mask or erase out what is too much. sometimes i blur this layer a bit.

"lips", "some painting, shading and texturing", what mode is used for paining? didn't see if it was changed to anyhting else from normal, but normal mode would seem to destroy the details.

Yes it does destroy the details when you have them :) If you don't have texture or details to work with you MAKE THEM.

I always paint in normal mode because I only pain where texture is not needed or not there in the first place.

Also how does degrunge complement d&b? On the surface it looks like degrunge at least to some degree is destructive with application of gaussian blur, yet the whole point of d&b is to preserve every single detail (which is not possible with healing etc), very time consuming and requiring quite a bit of patience and experience (at least I am finding it still quite difficult to cover the area correctly).
Thank you.
Peter

D&B an entire image takes more than 10 hours. Not all clients have more than 10 hours of retouching budget and not all images are printed larger than A3. And not all the images your work on are VOGUE COVERS :)

The only thing im wondering is she looks way smooth in the end and her eyes are way too bright. I dont know if this your style, or if the youtube vid just gives no justice. I may have missed it but did you place a higher res of the final in this post?

I didn't post a higher res one... I think...:dizzy:
I would now, but I don't have it on my regular disk and I'm lazy (Like really lazy) The compression of the vid tends to play with contrast and that's why it looks so white, but then I used to make eyes REALLY shinny... I think it depends on the image now a days or the client. Matte is really IN right now.

Wow, I'm impressed. If you need a place to host a high-res version of the video, you can use my site.
for hosting of HQ vids i totally recommend vimeo.com (http://vimeo.com/).. It's free and it's HD, perfect to get minor changes in skin texture, you won't be able to see in youtube vids..


About actually hosting THAT vid... well I made that Video when I was PC based and now I have mac the vid seems corrupted here in my new shinny imac. Another thing... I have a screen capture soft a friend let me to try and the vids end up being really really heavy (like more than 100 GB) I have no idea how to make that smaller.
Another thing I'm writing a tutorial chris is helping me with the english (tho I made the high pass thing on my blog all by my self :D
But I have had some threats against publishing it for free it's kind of crazy but it made me think about it...


Anyway... thanks for all your comments and for watching my little vid. I'm glad it even helped some of you. I just made that vid to show ppl there's no 5 minute trick that does it all :)

natalia,

you're good :)

About actually hosting THAT vid... well I made that Video when I was PC based and now I have mac the vid seems corrupted here in my new shinny imac. Another thing... I have a screen capture soft a friend let me to try and the vids end up being really really heavy (like more than 100 GB) I have no idea how to make that smaller.
Another thing I'm writing a tutorial chris is helping me with the english (tho I made the high pass thing on my blog all by my self :D
But I have had some threats against publishing it for free it's kind of crazy but it made me think about it...


Anyway... thanks for all your comments and for watching my little vid. I'm glad it even helped some of you. I just made that vid to show ppl there's no 5 minute trick that does it all :)

if you're using Snapz Pro X you will have to lower the frame setting to 5 and record in sections to make the files more managable, you can then use MPEG Streamclip(which is free) to export them as mp4 files which reduce the file size significantly especially when you reduce the frame size to 640X480, try this out and let me know how it works for you...

I use GOM player to reduce speed, it's great. The movie is very nice, it's a bit pity the resolution is low, but still valuable. Thanks!

Hey I got to where I am in 2 years, so maybe you get there sooner than that :)

Good luck

Natalia

Great job on the video Natalia. Here is a blast from the past : http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/critiques/13834-what-do-you-think.html

I only remember this post where you asked for critiques of your image because it was so different from the typical glam images we get. As you stated "the first I've done for my RETOUCH & MANIPULATION portfolio." Big difference time and practice can make.
It would still be a good challenge image for people here who want to practice skin work.

Keep up the good work!!!!!!!
~Nancy

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www.PhotoArt123.com

Here is a blast from the past
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www.PhotoArt123.com

You made me smile :)
Thanks

Hi!

If you want watch the movie slower you can do it like that.

Download the movie and convert it to AVI. There's a site that's called http://vixy.net where you can have the conversion done online - just paste in the youtube link.

Then open the AVI in Media Player Classic (http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=205650). That nice little player allows you to increase and decrease the speed of the movie and you can even watch the frames step by step.

Take care ... Andreas.

I have done exactly that but when i click on the decrease button the video even plays faster....weired

Hey Natalia!
Can we expect something new on your blog? LOL I am visiting your blog every few hours just to see if there is something new that I can learn from. :) Are you doing a longer version of the video?

Well sorry for bothering you, I know you are busy...

bye!

Thank you very much to share your skill with us; but why don' t you think about a tutorial? I'm not speaking about a free one.

all the best
Roberto Tartaglione