This girl has a remarkable face structure but her completion is always bad. Doing her photos is always fun because of the finished product - but getting there can really be a challenge! Good Luck!

Original: http://www.kdpstudio.com/2008/image/compection.jpg

My retouching: http://www.kdpstudio.com/2008/image/compectiona.jpg

This is my try. Started with the healing brush, went to the degrunge and also applied a third party airbrush filter.

dc

Very nice try... But when you work on a photo like this - step away and come back to it for a second look. You will then get a fresh look at your work. Take you completed image and drag it on top of the original. Now use the opacity slider to go back and forth... Look at your work at each 10% - 20 % and so on... You will understand when you try it.

Quick try..

I thought that I would give it a go. I used the healing brush and some blending modes.

Nevie that is beautiful work. Excellent job! Not at all over done and very natural...

thanks. i forgot the fingernail though.

I was going to ask you that! It is a piece of cake compared to the skin....

I think I had it on a layer that was turned off and didn't realize when I flattened it. Silly me!

Hi Kasko--Went back and compared the images as you suggested (I am not a professional retoucher and do little to none as far a portrait work goes). The only thing that I saw was that at a reduced opacity you brought back some of the original skin texture.

Was there something that you had in mind for me to see.

dc

That was exactly it... The original texture and a more subtle touch-up. You did a good job but after working on the same image for a long period of time - everything seems to become a blur. Stepping away and coming back gives a fresh look at an image. I think a 50% would show you a great retouch without being over done.

I couldn't help myself, I went back and added in the fingernail and made her skin a little less warm. I also cleaned up her little fly away hairs.

Peer K,

I love your approach. beautifully done.

Peer K, did you add noise to the skin to get back the texture of it?, It looks like it is doing some weird stuff in the shadow area of her elbow. Other than that I think you did a lovely job.

A quick play.
She does transform beautifully with her complection fixed.

Haven't been on the forum in quite a while...Thought id test out just the complexion part.

Very Pretty Girl...But yes...a challenge. Attached is a quick before and after. I Tried to get that magazine look for the edit. Reducing the original down to 100k takes away some detail, but zooming it helps a bit.

Ray

Peer K, did you add noise to the skin to get back the texture of it?, It looks like it is doing some weird stuff in the shadow area of her elbow. Other than that I think you did a lovely job.

I have a black and white layer with a bit of grain mixed in. That's what's adding the noise (which I think fits the image). I did notice that shadowarea.. I was not careful enough coming back from fixing the curves in lab-mode and saving in a small jpeg only made it worse :-) Well spotted, by the way! I would of course be more careful "in the real world" :-)

Also a quicky, half a hour. Mostly healing brush and copy-paste. Didn't touch makeup, only lips lighter.

Also a quicky, half a hour. Mostly healing brush and copy-paste. Didn't touch makeup, only lips lighter.



My first attempt.

This is the first time I've made a concerted effort to start off an image by dodging & burning and I'm very pleased with the result.

Very nice image. Perfect for different approaches.

Regards,

Storm

Here's my take. Pure D&B. MAN that takes a while!

http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh223/overcoming-silence/compectioncopy.jpg

Here's my version. She really is a pretty girl once you see "her". I'm not sure this is up to ya'lls standards but i'm open to suggestions on how to make it better.

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m174/yelhsaneerg/badcomplexionprettygirlretouched.jpg

For a quick retouch (like web use) I love high pass / vivid to bring in texture. This will do some funky stuff if you have shadow issues...

Wow - just got done going through all of your work and you guys/girls kicked some serious ass with this one... So you need something with a little more challenge!!! Let me see what I can find!

www.lancea.net/complexion.jpg

this is my take on it

I personally liked this image a bit warmer, quite a challenge, did have to pull out the healing brush in spots

FLASH BACK TO THE 60's

Ok so i gave my self one hour, but ended up spending 70 mins on it. So its not completely finished nor is it perfect. think of it as a ruff draft for a magazine layout, before you finalize the image. the look is totally classic 60's meets modern style. lovely eyes and dark rich ruby lips.

i went for a soft brushed look. Just like in the old days before computers. When they would "airbrush" out flaws. I also changed the position of her to look like she is laying down. I think it has more of a dramatic feel to it. I wish i had a hole day to work on it and do things "less sloppy" but i have to work on some magazine adds. But this was fun!

Also people in the past think i reshape the faces to make them look better. On this image all i did was makeup, no "plastic surgery" lol. It is very possible for a real makeup artist to match what i have done.

just one more thing, the dress i colored that way on purpose to look like it was tinted with ink after it was printed, and one thing i wish, and i will probably will work more, is her eyebrow. thats what i was working on before my own personal time goal was up. I was going for that painted eyebrow look, but i need to refine it to look more like painted eyeliner, with a hint of real hairs in it. But the photos close to done

Matthew, very nice idea and realization ! If you have more time to finish this, it will be great.

Regards,

Storm

I wanted to add a mole in about the same spot as Matthew did but I've already spent too much time on her. Thank you VERY much for letting us play with an image large enough to do some really nice work with :)

I went with several phases of ByRo's degrunge technique and then a lot of cloning and D&Bing. For the skin that's out of focus I used a box blur at 16px, set the blur layer to 'lighter color' blend mode, hide all mask and painted it in where I wanted to get rid of the armpit hair stubble and dark spots in the out of focus skin areas.

I think mine looks a little too mannequin like for my taste but it's probably the best I think I've ever done with trying to keep a skin texture.

This is my version ..

Greetings from Belgrade

Some really impressive work!! Mathew - great vision on this image! You guys are impressing the hell out of me!!

I've seen some amazing work so far! Here is one not-so-elaborate take. Thanks for sharing guys!

here's my go at it...i messed with her makeup and hair/skin color too. just had to do it haha

My Version (http://img214.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=61955_compection3_122_195lo.jpg)

lol hope u guys like it. :) took me about 20 mins.

This is my contribution ;)

http://www.digitalxposed.nl/retouched

Here is my try on the image.

I'm new here, so I'd appreciate any feedback. I only worked on the facial complexion, and didn't worry about the fingers and fingernails, which obviously need correcting as well..

Hi
My first post and my first retouch here, so don't be too hard on me please.

A lot of healing brush, some skintone corrections and brand new fingernails.

my try on this

Here's my try. I'm a non-pro, so any tips would be welcome!

I was challenged to do this retouch with my old, cheap PhotoImpact 8 editor. I'm game! Absolute cloning, D&B, saturated lips, adjusted color with curves, cropped, rotated (looked more like a reclining pose to me), added vignette. Also replaced the missing fingernail and tried to correct the position of rings a bit.

Nice photography to work with.Here's my version. I ran out of time or I would have cleaned up her hair a bit more.
~Nancy
___________________________________________
www.PhotoArt123.com

...my 'every-sunday-morning-exercise'.

Here I am :)

let me judge ....

the best work were kasko & Nanls

they were really good

nice job for every one

im getting bored looking at this thread, why does every one stay away from touching up the markup on the girl, or fixing her lips, eyes, eyebrows. You guys!!!! step it up a notch! you all got the Barbie girl plastic perfect skin down. try fixing the rest of the photo.

im getting bored looking at this thread, why does every one stay away from touching up the markup on the girl, or fixing her lips, eyes, eyebrows. You guys!!!! step it up a notch! you all got the Barbie girl plastic perfect skin down. try fixing the rest of the photo.

Well, I 'm not a MUA, but I'm curious to see what somebody else could make of it. Respecting the original photo.

If somebody has any ideas, feel free to use my original retouching, or do your own, as you wish.

download:

http://users.skynet.be/fa318429/kasko-detail.jpg

If you want to be a good touch up artist, then you need to be a good MUA, (makeup artist) cainam, but i do like your touch up work.

im getting bored looking at this thread, why does every one stay away from touching up the markup on the girl, or fixing her lips, eyes, eyebrows. You guys!!!! step it up a notch! you all got the Barbie girl plastic perfect skin down. try fixing the rest of the photo.




When you say "you guys" who exactly are you referring to? People participate in these challenges to improve their skills, or just for fun.... not to be put down. As my day job is as a Digital artist/senior retoucher, I enjoy seeing what others are doing.

~Nancy

When you say "you guys" who exactly are you referring to? People participate in these challenges to improve their skills, or just for fun.... not to be put down. As my day job is as a Digital artist/senior retoucher, I enjoy seeing what others are doing.

~Nancy

Nancy when you asked "When you say "you guys" who exactly are you referring to?"

you, and everyone else ( You guys as in :"the group". Next time i can say you all, or girls and guys, or people if that is more politically correct) Im not putting down people at all, i just gave good advice, those who take it will grow and those who just want to get little gold stars and never be told what they did wrong, well, Im sorry I Don't have any gold stars.

Hi guys

I saw a picture of Billie Holiday a long time ago and this model reminded me of her. So I tried to make it look moreso like that picture. I fixed the skin and changed the make up and lighting just a bit. Think I might have been too heavy on the eyeshadow though.

i did this just for u Matt :D don't be too harsh though it's a quickie before bed!

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m174/yelhsaneerg/badcomplexionprettygirlretouchednew.jpg

i did this just for u Matt :D

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m174/yelhsaneerg/badcomplexionprettygirlretouchednew.jpg

OMG
Just look at what you've gotten yourself into now! LOL
~Nancy

lol i wasn't trying to be a smart a** lol i just thought i'd take his advice and thought it be "cute" to address it to him :P ....dang i hope it doesn't open a can of worms lol

lol i wasn't trying to be a smart a** lol i just thought i'd take his advice and thought it be "cute" to address it to him :P ....dang i hope it doesn't open a can of worms lol

No! LOL
I was just kidding.
~Nancy

___________________________
www.PhotoArt123.com

Hi everybody:

This is my first post.

First of all, just to say that this is a wondelful place to stay in front of the monitor spending time a lot. I enjoy the forum, really. Congratulations.

I´m an amateur retoucher and trying to learn a lot.

Here is my first try. Critiques are wellcoming. Thanks a lot...JavierT

Hi everybody:

This is my first post.

First of all, just to say that this is a wondelful place to stay in front of the monitor spending time a lot. I enjoy the forum, really. Congratulations.

I´m an amateur retoucher and trying to learn a lot.

Here is my first try. Critiques are wellcoming. Thanks a lot...JavierT
Welcome to Retouchpro Javier
Find the Dodge and Burn (B&D) tutorial and try this technique instead of blurring her skin. You lost the top line of her nose and right edge (right side of the image) of her face also the shadows under her nose and lips are too pronounced; to dark. Nice job for a first try.
~Nancy

Welcome to Retouchpro Javier
Find the Dodge and Burn (B&D) tutorial and try this technique instead of blurring her skin. You lost the top line of her nose and right edge (right side of the image) of her face also the shadows under her nose and lips are too pronounced; to dark. Nice job for a first try.
~Nancy

HI Nanis:

I will do it. I have seen that tutorial here, in the forum.
Thanks for your opinion.

I had a go at this as well.

RTFull (http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee185/DigitalReGenesis/LowSize.jpg)

RTFace (http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee185/DigitalReGenesis/FaceB-1.jpg)

Nanls
I tried to search for the D&B tutorial you where referring to , but I didn't find it,
Can anyone give me a link please?
Thanks

Here's my try. It was a really fun image to work with! However, I have no idea how you all have been doing the nails. I'll have to learn that one. ;) This is a new hobby for me though, so I would love to hear if something is wrong with it.

Also, I didn't get the skin exactly how I wanted it, but that's because I merged some of my layers before I was done with them and didn't realize it until later. LOL I don't feel like redoing it all right now.

Also, I didn't get the skin exactly how I wanted it, but that's because I merged some of my layers before I was done with them and didn't realize it until later. LOL I don't feel like redoing it all right now.

Here is a tip: instead of merging your layers do a stamp visible which merges all of your layers that are on, to a new layer, while leaving the layers that were merged intact. To do this make sure you are on the top layer you want to include and hold down the shift, option, command and e keys (on a mac). A new merged (stamp visible) layer will be created as the top layer. Now just continue to work on top of that layer. If you find that you need to go back to fix a mask or whatever, just delete this merged layer and fix your problem. This greatly increases the files size so when I want to do another merge I usually will delete the prior "stamp visible" layer.
Hope this helps.
~Nancy


_____________________________

www.PhotoArt123.com

That is a great tip. Thank You Nancy. :)

That is a great tip. Thank You Nancy. :)

You're very welcome!
~Nancy
-------------------------------------
www.PhotoArt123.com

Nanls
I tried to search for the D&B tutorial you where referring to , but I didn't find it,
Can anyone give me a link please?
Thanks

Here is one tutorial you can try. The other information I sent by p mail.
~Nancy

Hi Everybody:

Following the message who Nanis post to me, here is my second try, playen with d&b thecnique (hard, very hard). I have spend a lot of time to do this. Is my first time with d&b and I have to be pacient, practise will makes me better, and faster. How many hours you pro spend with a picture like this for d&b? Only to test my evolutión with practise.

I have another pic with d&b , better than this, but have rights reserved cause de model, the magazine and the photographe ( I work for him, the photographer. What a pitty, it looks fine.

Lile always, critiques are welcoming, good critiques too, LOL

Thanks again

Aaaaaaalmost there. I've just recently upgraded from Photoshop 6.0 to CS3 (I gave up groceries for a year. That's ok, Iguess, as I need to lose weight anyway) and I'm just learning how to use all these awesome tools. (OH MAN, Healing Brush and Patch tools?? AMAZING!)

I'm about 3/4 into this retouching - I gotta figure out a better way to get rid of that weird greeny/yellowy/burnt shadow on the jawline, and get ride of the fine hairs on the cheek/jaw area.

Dodge and burn sample. Hi-res version here: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2335/2339354157_22f376f982_o.jpg

Hi OnAir

Really good job. How many hours have you spend with the pic?

I´ll try it again.

Hi, Javier! Thank you for your words. I spent 4-5 hours, when i got some downtime on my job. I wish, I could spend more.

Yay i see people trying to change makeup and even the dress and hair. , MonicaJean's i like the color tones in your image. Im not a fan of the skin being so sharp. It does not look bad, just not my style. But i do like the correction on the makeup you did.

Hi everyone, I got some time, so I did two pics, here are they. Just to do something different.

Here is my effort...

717x1000: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3271/2517893687_12e6bda94f_o.jpg

Full Size (huge): http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2322/2517870409_6a232b8458_o.jpg

Great pic. Thanks :)

i tried this again since the first retouch i had done wasn't all that great. i believe this looks much better :)

retouch before and after (http://img31.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=78972_beforeandafteracne_122_1170lo.jpg)

http://i25.tinypic.com/34exki9.jpg