Looking for critique...

[Ken Rogers]

This is a picture of my friend, posted with his approval.

The big job here was shadow removal, done with the clone stamp. I had some real difficulties around the hair. The difference between the shadow and the hair was almost negligible. Now I'm not sure if the hair is too flat, or too "Kramer".

I also removed red-eye, whitened the white parts of the eye, removed eye redness, removed some mild acne, adjusted overall levels of the image, removed some of the redness of the skin, and lastly, ran it through NeatImage.

Please give me your critiques...

Ken

[leuallen]

Hi Ken,

Good start. As for the hair, it looks cut out and pasted in. Cure: use Blur tool about 50 dia, and 50% opacity and go arround the whole outline, hair, ears, jacket, etc.

The saturation looks a little high. I reduced it by about 16% and adjusted the colors somewhat.

Reduced the double chin using a 50% softlight gray dodge and burn layer. Fixed the off color from the dodge and burn by using a brush set to color, opacity 20%, and picked a color on the cheek until I found one that looked natural.

Finally, cropped tighter and tilted slightly.

Larry

[Ken Rogers]

Wow, that looks good. I agree, too much saturation. I did run over the edges with the blur tool, but not enough. I'll take your suggestions.

Ken

[Duv]

Hi Ken

Good Job!!

In addition to Larry's points, I would always check to make sure your skin tone corrections are in gamut. Larry's is, your's isn't. If you prefer your tones (I like them) maybe try changing the opacity over the original. My own preference would be to tilt the head even more so it looks less of a mug shot but maybe that's personal. Hope that helps.

Cheers

Dave

[maureeno]

I sure like Leuallen's version but could you change the background a wee bit to add some form of texture or a vague pattern? Excellent save all round .

Maureen

[Ken Rogers]

...make sure your skin tone corrections are in gamut...

Duv, thanks for the advice. Could you expand on your suggestion above?

I'm not sure if I've got the hair looking right. I think there may still be some shadow. I just can't make out shadow from hair. I used a temporary levels adjustment layer to create a contrast between the two for the purpose of selection. Anybody know any good tricks?

Ken

[Duv]

Hi Ken

When you do a color correction, it's a good idea to go to View: Gamut Warning. This will highlight areas of your image that can't be reproduced in CMYK and often means it can't be produced in RGB either. The result is something that can be totally unacceptable whether you go to prepress or inkjet printer. I often turn on Gamut Warning and adjust colors until the grey dissappears or is significantly reduced.

Cheers

Dave

[Ken Rogers]

Thanks, I wasn't aware of that.

Ken

[twinkissed]

Originally Posted by maureeno

I sure like Leuallen's version but could you change the background a wee bit to add some form of texture or a vague pattern? Excellent save all round .

Maureen

I agree. More of a smoky color would I think bring out the rest of the photo. Perhaps about the color of his eyes. Sometimes a simple background color can improve some of the foreground colors in my opinion. The tan seems to be a little red which to me brings out too much red in the skin tone and the tie.

[creartist1971]

Hello,

tried a bit to improve the image. I thought it could be nice to put another background behind this gentleman. A bit of lights and shadows added - finished.
I did some more on the fascial improvement too, corrected the skincolor a bit and gave him a little diet ;-). Finally I put a gaussian blurred copy of 30% opacity over the finished image.

Hope you like it.

Happy New Year to all of you,

Tanja

[Kraellin]

i mostly agree with leuallen's assesment. the only point in question would be having removed the double chin. it does make him look better, but i wouldnt really be comfortable doing that unless specifically asked to do so.

i also like the idea of a better background.

and, just as a fashion tip to your friend, he shld comb his hair more flat on top. he's got a nice head of hair, but he has a long/tall rectangular face and the extra height of the hair exaggerates this. in other words, lose the 'kramer'

nice job, everyone!

craig

[Ken Rogers]

Tanja,

I think that looks absolutely terrific. This gentleman was running for congress, but was unsuccessful. I blame myself entirely for this, due to my poor levels adjustment and horrid over-sharpening ( Just kidding...) Still, I'm sure he'd like to have your version. Can I forward it? BTW, nice website.

Kraellin,

Funny you'd mention the "Kramer" hair. The original had a very dark shadow behind the hair, and it was difficult for me to distinguish between hair and shadow. When making my selection of his hair line, I created a temporary levels adjustment layer to add contrast, but it only worked to a degree, and I wound up having to make a few assumptions and guesses.

Ken

[Kraellin]

ken,

actually, it was you in your first post that mentioned 'kramer' hair. i was just following suit

craig

[creartist1971]

Originally Posted by Ken Rogers

Tanja,
I think that looks absolutely terrific. This gentleman was running for congress, but was unsuccessful. I blame myself entirely for this, due to my poor levels adjustment and horrid over-sharpening ( Just kidding...) Still, I'm sure he'd like to have your version. Can I forward it? BTW, nice website.

Hi Ken,
thank you very much for your comment! I appreciate it so much!
I'd be honored to please you/your friend with my version. Let me know how it looks on the writing desk :-). And also thanks for the comment on my site

If I can be of any help let me know.
Best regards to you all, Tanja

[Ken Rogers]

My apologies... When I said "running for congress", I meant "council". Not quite as high profile!

Ken