January 07 Contest Discussion

[irshgrlkc]

I consider myself to have hazel eyes so I went with an exaggerated grey-green-brown trifecta. If I didn't know better I'd think we were told to color the eye hazel as there is room for many different interpretations and colors.

As far as doing a little more than just adding color layers, I think it is necessary. For example, I used dodge and burn to restore highlights to white and shadows to black.

I also think that the directions are always very undetailed on purpose as this allows us to try our hand at being creative and trying new things (and perhaps learning something).

Just my two cents,

[lilsip]

Oh, man, that stray mascara's been driving me nuts! Glad to know I'm not the only one. I guess if anything "extra" is to be done, it's with a light touch. I'm still not sure whether I'll do more than coloring yet, but I certainly won't be changing the original look of the image.

I agree that choosing hazel was a good idea in that it leaves much room for interpretation. Makes the whole thing much more interesting and more fun, too.

[limey-g]

Well I found that entering the contest a most rewarding experience .
Being a keen photographer all off my retouching up to now has been on coloured images . I have never attempted to colourize something before and to be quite frank I had no idea how to go about it.

So the words " trial & error " comes to mind in describing my first attempt.
I look forward to learning not only from the forums but also in entering other contests to make me think outside the box and my normal retouching fields.
Geoff

[Nanls]

Originally Posted by Lorraine

T,

It's the hazel eye color. I'm still not sure about that. The second most difficult decision was to remove or not to remove those stray flakes of masacra on her skin under her lashes. I decided to remove them.

Lorraine

I'm with you Lorranie. Since these contests are suppose to mimic real life, I had to consider that any time I colorizing an image I will always catch "small" imperfections and fix them as part of the project. Two or three minutes worth of extra effort goes a long way in keeping a client happy and improving the image , which of course reflects on me and my businesss. Any more than that and I would consider it a different project.

~Nancy~
____________________________________________________________
www.PhotoArt123.com

[Lorraine]

Nancy, thanks so much for your professional opinion of the mascara removal issue.

Lorraine

[soleah]

I thought the whites of the eye have to reflect some color so I spilled some just a tad.

Lorraine, re mascara removal. Very subtle

[Marthig]

Hi all !! It's been a long time that I don't participate in a contest. I liked this one very much and had a good time working with that eye. Saw the stray mascara you mention but I decided to go strictly by the rules, didn't even use another eye for the colour, just used the usual "adjustments" "hue/saturation" and though tried to use a brown to green colour (similar to mine) I just could not see it I kept seeing the colour in a greyish / blue-green range and that's what I did. Only using the adjustments controls.

I have an intriguing question. The houses reflected in her eye, should they have the eye colour or their own ? I left it with the eye colour. But I think that in real life those houses should have their own colours ?

I fell inlove with the quality of that photo, so nitid ... beautiful really.

Would like to know what you think about those houses. Good luck to all !! :x

[T Paul]

Lots of great entries so far and this contest is just about over. So if you are still working on your entry, don't forget to turn it in!

[Cassidy]

Originally Posted by T Paul

Lots of great entries so far and this contest is just about over. So if you are still working on your entry, don't forget to turn it in!

Surprised the attention to detail of so many in this room that so many left the meaty bit in the corner of the eye, flesh coloured instead of a healthy red, making my decision hard

[cazubi]

I had no time this month for the contest, but I think the challenge of the "simple eye" was really interesting. It's amazing how much detail is in such a small area. Nice work everyone.

Cathy

[NancyJ]

I'm sorry I just cant vote on this one. As with all contests, there are some good, some bad and most are perfectly plausable - to choose just 5 would have to come down to personal preference and that just not right imo. So I'm just going to do a run down and mini critique on each entry. No way could I pick 5 and then put them in order of who is best.

1. BobJones: Nice skintone, though a little flat. Iris is too flat and a little green around the edges - but not so much so that it looks like its supposed to be there. Strong streak of blue under the eyelid going across the whites of the eye. Grey Veins

2. CathyH: Very striking iris, a little too striking. Too much blue in the whites of the eye and in the shadow areas of the skin. Obvious attempt to vary skin colouration but a little too heavy-handed. Nice attempt to put colour into the eyebrows - very few did that.

3. Doug_Colwell: Lovely iris, great detail on the veins. Skin is a little too pink for my preference, very little difference in the colour of the inner rim and skin

4. Bart_Hickman: Iris is way too saturated - looks like a colour contacts commercial. Skintone is flat and the same as the inner rim. Whites of the eye are grey. Overall, very highly saturated

5. Philip6653: Kinda dark and grey. Nothing jumps out as overly wrong - just a little lacklustre

6. Cassidy: The colours didnt take to the iris very well and the flecks of blue dont blend well with the luminosity. Whites of the eyes look good, just a little too much voer with the pink in the left corner

7. Lorraine: Nice work on the iris, the skintone is a little flat, but by no means the worst. The only thing that really bugs me about this one is the whites of the eyes are a muddle of pink and blue and dont match up with the greyscale.

8. Cupcake: Clearly more than just a recolour. Too much blurring and soft focus. The edges around the iris are too sharp. Whites are a touch too blue but other than that the colouring is mostly good. Shame about the other alterations.

9.irshgrlkc: Oversharpened. Iris - radial gradient? Too perfect to be natural. Veins look like they were drawn on in crayon. Skintone is good but harmed by the over sharpening.

10. Godmother: I hope that was supposed to be eyeshadow. More blurry soft focus. And why the twinkle? The lower lid is a little splotchy and the corner of her eye is purple. Has potential to have been a good entry, if you stuck to just the colour.... though I would like to buy that eyeshadow.

11. Chillin: Skintone is a little too varied, with too much blue in places. Iris has good variation, but looks a little yellow to me

12. Limey-g: Very flat all over and you went over the lines a little. But theres clear attempt to vary the iris colour. Not a bad attempt for a first try.

13. Nanls: Very good colourisation but a little dead. Something I just cant put my finger on. Did you sharpen it or alter the brightness/contrast?

14. Lilsp: Nice iris, maybe a little too soft and blended on the colour variation. Skin is a little pink in places and a dirty yellow in others

15. Karin-l: Skintone - love it. Maybe too pale for some people's tastes but I think its beautiful - very delicate. Veins could have used some work and there could have been some more variation in the iris. Theres also a little bit of colour bleed on the bottom left of the iris but thats just nitpicking. Its a superb piece.

16. Philbach: Very flat colours all over, with a few non-comittal pink viens coloured in. Colour erased from highlight - not sure why.

17. Printmeister: very nice skin colouration, the inner rim is a little orange though, Whites of the eyes also are a little grey/blue. Nice iris colour and reflections.

18. Makeovermagic: Very dark iris and very strong solid edge. But the fleshy parts of the eye are a good colour. Mostly a good effort, but overshadowed by the inky iris.

19. Mike_Warren: Dont take this the wrong way but I think you may need to calibrate your monitor. The eyebrows are green there are purple/blue patches on the skin, mostly under the eye. The colours on the iris are too saturated and dont blend well

20. PhotoB: Another candidate for a slight monitor recalibration. The upper lid is purple. Would like to see some more variation in the iris.

21. woodenbender: Good attempt at skin colour variation - a little mucky green in the shadows. Iris colour is a little too saturated but the colour choices are good.

22. Soleah: The iris colouration is lovely. The whites are a little too yellow - maybe thats what I see when I look in the mirror in the morning but its not what I expect to see in a photograph - if you know what I mean Skin is a bit pink in places

23. and to prove I'm not a bitch - this is what I tihnk about mine
NancyJ: Nice soft skintone variations, very delicate and pretty. Iris could use a little more colour variation and a little more comittment to which colours. The inner lid could do with being a little more pink. Evidence of pinking to the veins but could be stronger without looking 'crayola'.

24. Chelm: Another murky one. The colours look ok, but just too dark. The whites are a little too blue and the inner rim should be a little pinker than the rest of the skin.

25. Lonk: Very grainy sharpening. A little murky like some of the others, but the skintone is good. The iris colours dont blend very well and dont match the luminosity imo. Very delicate vein work.

26. Marthig: Flat colours. In fact I can only really see 2 colours in the whole picture, the green iris and very pink skin. Harsh edge on the iris. Maybe a few yellow flecks in the center

I cant believe this post isnt too long yet. Well I hope that no-one gets upset but I wanted to be fair and given everyone an honest critique - missing out anyone would be worse than anything I could say - IMO.

[Doug Colwell]

Well done Nancy! Probably more worthwhile than a vote.

[CathyH]

Thanks NancyJ I appreciate the critique.

[Doug Colwell]

Congratulations Lorraine!

[Cassidy]

Congratulations Lorraine, well done

[irshgrlkc]

Congratulations on the win Lorraine. Let us know how you like the NuLOOQ, I've been thinking of getting one myself.

Big thank you to Nancy for taking the time to critique everyone, it was so helpful.

[Lorraine]

First, I want to thank Nancy for her in-depth critique.

Thank you all for your comments and partcipation in these contests.

Lorraine

[Nanls]

Congrats Lorraine,
Great entry and wonderful technique!!!!
~Nancy~

[PhotoB]

Congrats on the beautiful entry Lorraine. And thanks for the mini-critique Nancy. I actually did the purple eye-lid on purpose. I though the hazel in her eye jumped with a little eye shadow. But good to know I took the colorization too far. I did model the eye color after my sons eyes which are hazel- a dull grey hazel, but becasue they don't fit into any other color- we call them hazel.

[NancyJ]

The problem with purple eye shadow is you really have to commit to it and be bold - otherwise you look tired/punched

[Marthig]

Congratulations Lorraine !! A well deserved first place.

Now you HAVE to show us what can be done with the prizes you will get

NancyJ, I am glad you took the time to make and post your review. It is the first time since I participate in these contests that I get some feed back. Not nice but I agree, so it's something I will have to look for when colourizing for real.

Regards to all

[Lorraine]

Thanks Nan, PhotoB and Marthig.

Lorraine

[Gary Richardson]

Just realised I hadn't looked over the January contest entries since I got back, my apologies to all.

As usual a number of high quality submissions, and in my opinion harder than usual to judge.

Congratulations to Lorraine on her excellent winning entry, and equal congratulations to all who took part, they were all great.

[soleah]

Well done, Lorraine. Congratulations!

NancyJ, honest critique! I agree that it's better than a vote.

[Lorraine]

Gary and Soleah,

Thank you

Lorraine