July 05 Contest Votes

[karmaelea]

So here's my voting:

1. Flora - everything beautiful & harmonic
2. Faustina - beautiful ... but eyes *imo* slightly overdone
3. Kschulz - beautiful & very natural eyelashes
4. Soleah - glamourous ... but lipstick *imo* a little bit smudgy
5. Cazubi - beautiful ... except this plain white background

Oh, it really wasn't easy to decide ... applauding all the other participants :o)

Kind regards
karmaelea

[Sean2]

Here are my choices:

1. Faustina ( hands -down_ beautiful work, clean lines and sharp profiling - would love to see and explanantion or tut on this one Faustina - Wow!! )

2. TPaul - what can one say. encompasses all of those elements that are needed to round out a fine retouch -; looks great

3. Soleah - nice soft rendition, seemed a little small but draws the eye

4. Ryan M. Nice 40 -50 glam B&W - like this one a lot, but competition was fierce

5 Lorraine - very nice, caught all the detail and unless i missed something, was nicely proportioned and balanced


Honorable mention to portraitREEsm (gen) for fine detail around the earings and the flash of the stones. Very well done, but tough given the competition, keep it up. All excellent entries.

I would be interested in how everyone did their renditions (Steps /Tut), particularly the skin and eyes, as my own picture's skin looked blotchy when I put it up on the net, but not when viewing it on screen.

Which pics did the 'owner of the face' pic for herself - just interested???

Well done everyone, looking forward to competing against you all in the next round... I'm moving up slowly form the back of the pack and looking for the opening on the outside, coming round the first quarter post

Sean

[Jaime]

It was not an easy task to choose five.

1. Faustina
2. Chrisshogy
3. Dreamypix
4. RaccIria
5. TPaul

Thanks to nurdant, the model for this glamour contest. Also thanks Caitlin for the help of the photo album.

[Gary Richardson]

No one picture really did it all for me, but there were elements in each of my top 5 choices that made them stand out.

I'm not too much of a "beauty" touch up fan, so looked for a "light touch" and that's why I chose Chris as 1st, others were chosen on overall picture impact, and technique.

1st ChrisHoggy (Overall light touch, needed a little more contrast)
2nd Flora (Outstanding eyes, only person to do them justice}
3rd Lorraine (A little harsh on the cut out, so didn't sit naturally into background)
4th Caitlin (loved the background, but poor selection on right shoulder let it down).
5th Kschulz (Eyes too bright for rest of image, or would have marked higher).

Just realised I've marked them by pointing out faults (in my eyes), but this was only way to seperate them, as all did a similar job on the skin, hair, and general "beautification".

[Nacoya]

1. Faustina
2. Flora
3. chrishoggy
4. dreamypix
5. dougcolwell

tried to think about the possible interpretations of the challenge in picking my top 5. Something of a mixed bag which shows a lot of thought in working out individual 'solutions'. Great work everyone.

[pjulich]

1. Dreamypix
2. Faustina
3. RaccIria
4. PatrickB
5. Eliebeth

[Cameraken]

I hope this is OK but this was a joint decision between my wife and me.
We have eventually decided on

1 faustina
2 dreamypix
3 soleah
4 PatrickB
5 RaccIria

Thanks to nurdant. You would not believe what I learned from this competition.
Great job everyone. I enjoyed it immensely and learned a lot from you all.


Ken

[chrishoggy]

1/ faustina- An amazing job done all round. I can't fault your image at all, and would be happy to pay top $$'s for that level of work.

2/ dougcolwell- The eyes were my only problem with this one. They seemed a bit too bright, and stood out a little too much.

3/ Flora- Nice image, but the background seemed to overpower the image of the face.

4/ Lorraine- A little better blending of the background to the hair, and sharpening of the eyes would have put this further up the voting.

5/ nurdant- Like the red hair look, but some bits were missed round the earrings. Also needed red eye removing.

[Shalford]

A very difficult contest to judge.
Congratulations to all, amazing talent out there.


1. Faustina

2. Flora

3. RaccIria

4. Dreamypix

5. Soleah

[T Paul]

Faustina – Stunning glamour retouch! I love the skin and lighting in this. I am sure many will want to know your steps for your technique (me included)! Adding the sequins to the top was a great addition and really enhanced the glamour look. The sparkling irises are a bit odd and lessen the realism though.

Flora – A lovely glamour look with just the right amount of softness. My one complaint would be the background, as it overpowers the image just a bit.

Doug Colwell – Light on the glam, but a really nice natural beauty look. Great masking work too.

Dreamypic – A lovely retouch and I especially like the eyelashes. However, the heavy even texture especially in the skin areas I find a bit strong and unnatural looking. Must admit I'm not a fan of the brick wall for the background either.

Caitlin – I like the warm tones and that you repositioned the woman so that you could see her entire head. Nice touch. I think this one would be stronger if it was just a tad softer looking.

Honorable Mention –
Karmaelea – Light on the glam, but a nice natural beauty look. I had you as number 6 due to the wispy hair you left over the eye and a few others you could have tamed around the face. I like the eye shadow you added, and especially how you make it sparkle. Nicely done.

1stLite, lovely results, but alas it looks too much like a painting for this contest.

[soleah]

Here's my vote:
1. faustina
2. flora
3. dreamypix
4. kschulz
5. cazubi

honorable mentions: lorraine, doug colwell, chrishoggy

My top 5 may differ from the others, but somehow I find myself agreeing with the others choices, too.

Well done everyone, for the great entries and great judging!

[T Paul]

Kudos to all those that entered this month’s contest. Congrats on a job well done and a special thanks to Nurdant for letting us work on her photo. I’m happy to see that she not only joined the site but also tried her hand at the contest. Hopefully she will remain an active member of our community.

This month’s contest winner is Faustina! Congrats on your stunning entry. Enjoy your prize : Image Doctor by Alien Skin. Please take the time to share your steps with us.


The top 10:
Faustina – 109
Dreamypix – 74
Chrishoggy – 38
Doug Colwell – 36
Soleah – 26
Lorraine – 25
Caitlin & Racc Iraia – 21
TPaul – 19
Cazubi - 17