She's here. (http://home.nyc.rr.com/psfaking/For-BB.jpg)

I don't know. Different yes.

While I like the removal of the batten(s) sticking from her head, the lightening [fill flash] seems in these <100k shots to have blown out the teeth and shot the detail of the hair. This young woman has increditable eyes, glad you brought them out. Only an uninformed opinion but I wouldn't have "improved' her complexion as much. To me She is quite pretty as a teen, why can't she have a few skin blemishes like freckles?

I have to respect the folks out here that make thier living taking and selling portraits. How do they "know" what will please the client?

Robert Collins

It's over exposed. Move your levels shadow slider to the right.

Cheers
Dave

You probably didn't, but it looks like you've used the red channel for luminosity, which I think is causing a loss in detail. I don't really notice a retouch of blemishes, but I do notice a difference in skin and eye color. The skin looks very pink, and the eyes too colorful (just my take). I fiddled around with the original image, and came up with this.

By the numbers, Vikki is just about bang on (maybe bang on givin different cals). I still find the lighting a little flat. Maybe needs to add an extra 1/2 to 1 stop on the shadow side. Probably just my own preference.

Cheers
Dave

Very well done Vikki, i really like what you have done with the picture. I am going to try your technique now.
Wayne

Well Vikki i guess i was going to do it, but i see you didn't leave and instructions on how you did it.

Thank you Vikki. Please tell us your technique.

Sorry about not providing any instructions. I don't have a "regular" formula, or workflow, so it's kind of hard to document what I do. I sort of play around with this, tweak that, until I get the results I want. If you were watching me, you'd be seasick.
After the fact, I can't give the step-by-step, but I can say that the majority of the corrections were done with levels and selective color, adjustment layers. I did some dodging on her pupils to give them definition, and I darkened her lips, for the same reason.
Whenever I think about adjusting a photo with skin tones, that's what I concentrate on first. I've got a little trick I use to help me "see" if the skin tones look right. What I do is add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer over the main image, and reduce the saturation until the image appears to be grayscale. I then paint on the attached layer mask to reveal just the skin area. This allows me to see the skin tones without the distraction of other colors in the image. It's an excellent way to "see" color casts and problems. Now that I see what's wrong, I can add adjustment layers or tweak the underlying image layer until the skin tones look good.
Here's what it looks like: (this is an slow animation, so give it a minute to change)

Thats a cool tip. Thank you VeryVery much Vikki.

That one belongs in the tip section Vikki. Thanks very much. It really works!

Ed

Thanks Vikki, I'm going to give it a try right now. Sounds like something i can use to improve myself.

I tried it and it works great, thank you so very much Vikki. Sending you an attachment for you to check my work per your instructions.

Wayne, the coloring is much better, however......
I hope you don't mind a critique, as I must comment on the photo in general.
Your retouched image has a strange look. It actually looks like you used the red channel, converted it to grayscale, and colored the image. There is a muddiness about the image. If you compare the two below, you'll see the one on the right has more definition and the coloring is more natural. To my eyes, the image quality itself looks better. Of course this is just my opinion, and we all see things differently. And just another personal preference...I'm not sure the bright cyan background and highlight to her dress is the most flattering color. (I could be biased about this though, as I almost hate that color)
I'm curious about your thoughts on this, and also, what methods did you use to achieve your results?

Vikki,
I don't mind at all about your critique of my photo, in fact i welcome it. I thought i had followed your instructions carefully but as i was preceding i did lose track of some of the things i was doing. I will do it over and see what i come up with. With the photos sitting side by side i can see where yours is so much of an improvement over mine, as mine does look muddy. This time also i will keep track of what steps i'm am taking and not wonder off.
And again Vikki thank you so very much for taking your time with me, I am a newbe with this and hope to become more efficient in time.
My wife, sister-in-law, and i were in your town a couple of years ago while taking a vacation, (we live in Ca.). Stayed in Buffalo and rented a car and drove over to Nigerra Falls for a day, what a beautiful place.
Also visited you site and loved your pictures.
And now back to more practice on the photo.
Wayne

Wayne, I am interested in your steps. Maybe I can see what is causing the muddiness. I would recommend using your original image to start with.
The Falls is beautiful, but our city isn't (gracious of you to leave that out).
Canadian side is beautiful though.

Vikki, I am going to try again and write down the steps i take. I didn't have time today.
And again i want to thank you for your time, i really want to get this down.

Talk about seasick, i was all over the place.
Duplicated Background Layer
Added Hue/Saturation Layer
Reduced Saturation to -88
Painted on Hue/Saturation Layer (skin only)
Added a Levels Layer and then i was all over the place
I just couldn't get the beautiful brown tone or the beautiful hair like you did.
I don't know if you can make anything out of what i did but i will keep trying.

Wayne

I think this looks much better!
Looks like too much yellow in her hair. You need to make some adjustments to the blue channel (you can do this in levels).
Another thing to play around with is a Selective Color adjustment layer. You can adjust specific color there. You have to experient (great way to learn too).
(btw, I recommend setting the saturation to -100, when using the gray overlayer)

The color in this is different than Vikki's. Comments would be appreciated. This was done strictly by balancing the greys. Highlight value from the sweater: R/G/B: 252 Shadow point in hair: R/G/B: 11 Midpoint edge of sweater: R/G/B: 156. Adjusted RGB curve slightly to increase contrast.

Cheers
Dave

Dave,
Looks great, by following Vikki and you maybe i will get there

Vikki,
Am i getting closer. This time i also used the selective color like you suggested and curves. I was only concerned with the skin tone and hair coloring at this time, nothing else. I line my work up side by side with yours and i still cannot get the nice tones you get. Thanks to you as i look at my original post and now, i can see that it is a lot better. In fact i'm sorry i posted it, but then again i guess i would never learn. It looks baddddddd.
Wayne

Forgot to add the attachment, here it is

Just looked at it here and it looks flat now, it looked ok on my screen

I think you're getting it. Still, there is cyan in her dress. Use the "trick" to see what I mean. You can use selective color, set to the whites, and then remove the cyan.
I've been doing this for a few years, and I started off knowing nothing. It just takes practice, experimenting, and patience. Hang in there.
If it looks good on your screen, but different here, you may need to some calibration, or see what your color profile is in Photoshop. I always recommend sRGB, not Adobe's.

I used your trick and it made all the difference in the world. I am happy with this for now. I will move on to some other photo to practice on now. Thank you so very much for your help. Oh and i did do on last step, i used the shadow/highlights adjustment to finish it off.
Wayne

Glad to help.