Hi all,

This is my very first post on this forum. Attached image has been processed to give an icy look and feel. I don't want it to be overdone. It has to remain realistic and subtle.

What I want to know is:
- Is this image 'finished'? Or are there parts which need enhancement?
- Is the retouching overdone or just fine?

Image:
http://www.uittenbroek.nl/DH/su_ice-001.jpg

To me, the subject looks way too pale, and the photo looks a bit flat, like the textures have been edited out. It looks like you have desaturated all the reds.

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the comment. It was meant to create a pale skin to enhance the icy-look.
I didn't desaturate all reds, but transformed HSL to oversaturated cyans and blended slightly with soft-light. But that will off course transform the reds.

What I want to know is:
- Is this image 'finished'? Or are there parts which need enhancement?
- Is the retouching overdone or just fine?

Image:
http://www.uittenbroek.nl/DH/su_ice-001.jpg
A while back there was a contest here at RetouchPRO to create an "ice princess" which was supposed to look as photographic as possible.
http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/contests/18669-sep-07-contest.html
You may want to check out the entries to see how the members here interpreted that assignment as a comparison to your work

- Is this image 'finished'? Or are there parts which need enhancement?
- Is the retouching overdone or just fine?

usually we associate blue, white, crisp, clear, hard - with coldness, and whilst the pic is lovely, perhaps if you hardend it a little and added some blue it may help. also i think the whites of the eyes would be very important to be sharp clear and quite a bit whiter..

hope i posted this in the right bit, i'm a bit new at 'forums'.. sorry if it goes askew..!

dexy

Great. I like it.
Perhaps, give the picture a blue touch.

how does the skin made? this white touch is beautiful.

Hey Dennis,

Myself . . . I like the image, however, I don't think the image gives the impression of a cold effect.
I noticed a few areas in the photograph that could have been better (mainly cloning tracks), and some personal suggestions.
I would have used the dodge tool to give the iris a bit of depth by lightening the lower portion with aprox. 40% brush. One of the finger nails has a "dirty" look. As already mentioned, I think the eye whites could be a bit lighter. Adding a little blue to the image is a good suggestion as well. Some light fur on the upper left and under her right hand is mildly distractive. The hair on her lower left is also replicated obviously.

Did you take this photograph? If so, a nice pose and stunning model. :)

Thanks LQQKER! You made your points very clear. This information will sure help me to 'see' the parts which need attention.
And indeed: I photographed the model myself :)

Phill: I first retouched the skin with healingbrushes, then a softening layer on the 'contrasty' parts of the image (because I wanted the skin as smooth as possible). Added a lot of cyans and blended with softlight to make it look 'colder' (but maybe I should have used less opacity Dexy?). Then I highpassed a lower layer (with all skintexture information) to get skintextures back.
(By the way: the picture was taken with a medium/large softbox from above and reflectors from down... so the skin is already 'softened' by lightning).

Thanks for the information.

the skin wouldnt be white in my image :( i think my before-image isn't well for these retouching.
can you show us the before-after image please? I'm interesting on it.

A bit colder...

Sorry, I am not on my calibrated screen, colors could go wrong.