Really Bad Photo

[Cassidy]

As background, my eldest with near flawless olive skin conscripted her brother to take photos to fill out her portfolio. With shocking lighting, really high compression and very little skill whatsoever, he managed to photograph her looking blotchy, overblown, overweight, you name it. I had heard that a camera adds 10 pounds and in this case I am pretty sure it did.

Anyway, getting to the point, I thought some of these photos could be worth playing with, so having the time this evening, I started playing and exploring channel changing and the picture I have ended up with looks far more like my eldest. Anyway, I thought I'd try and satin her skin a bit and was quite pleased with the results.

So any comments are welcome as to how this might be improved upon or otherwise

[NancyJ]

Looks to me like the version you were working on had too much compression - the skin is smooth (and the background too but the rest of the picture is grainy. The skin work is very nice (as much as its possible to tell on such a small image) but doesnt match the rest of the picture and so looks very obviously retouched.
If you're airbrushing or similar, try to add some noise to match the natural grain of the image.
One other comment I would make is that your daughter appears to have a very fresh natural beauty, but in your retouch she looks to be wearing heavy makeup. In this case I would definately say less is more, especially if this is a modelling portfolio, having naturally beautiful skin is a big plus for a model, this is one of her best assesets, it should be emphasised.
Another thing is the hair, there seems to be massive amounts of smudging on her ends and the levels look very distorted on her roots.
I cant tell on such a small image whether you've straightened her nose or if it was just a bad shadow, if it is the former, I wouldnt recommend it for a modelling portfolio. When retouching portfolio pictures its important not to change the physical appearance of the subject, only remove non-permanent blemishes and things that can be covered with makeup. Its important to give a true representation of the model.

[Cassidy]

Most definitely nancyj, the photo is very very compressed, less is more doesn't work too well with this photo given the pixelation. btw, according to my daughter she burned the ends herself, giving quite an unnatural look. With regard to the nose, unfortunately I cant see it

[NancyJ]

left: original
middle: my retouch
right: cassidy's retouch

Working on the small images you posted I had a go myself to demonstrate what I was talking about... hope it makes sense.

[NancyJ]

Originally Posted by Cassidy

Most definitely nancyj, the photo is very very compressed, less is more doesn't work too well with this photo given the pixelation. btw, according to my daughter she burned the ends herself, giving quite an unnatural look. With regard to the nose, unfortunately I cant see it

Not sure what burning her ends is - probably some young trendy thing I dont understand (is that what they call it when they bleach the top and dye the underneath/bottom black?)
What I was talking about is the smudging (see attached)
The nose thing is very slight, on such a small picture its probably 3-5 pixels difference but in the second image her nose is perfectly straight, in the original she appears to have a very slight bump on her bridge, as I said, its very small and could just be the lighting.

[Cassidy]

Nancy, thank you very much for your advice, the nose is a lighting anomally, however I think we have missed my original point. This is not a photo that will be added to her portfolio, this was purely an exercise by me to try and attain a satiny skin look. Your retouch definitely looks more natural.

[Kraellin]

pretty. had a go also.

Craig

edit: hmmm.... decided to add the original touch-up also (the 2nd image here).

[NancyJ]

Originally Posted by Cassidy

Nancy, thank you very much for your advice, the nose is a lighting anomally, however I think we have missed my original point. This is not a photo that will be added to her portfolio, this was purely an exercise by me to try and attain a satiny skin look. Your retouch definitely looks more natural.

Apologies for the misunderstanding, you did mention in your original post that the photographs were taken to flesh out her portfolio though