New and need a skills critique

[Sheri Medford]

Hi, I am Sheri. I have been working on photos for about a month and I posted some before and afters in my gallery here. I would appreciate if I could get feedback on them. What is good, what is bad. It seems to me I need to work on not over doing it and my bluring got out of control a bit I think. Especially with the heads against the sky backgrounds, the feathering I did made the transition between the head and background blured. What should I do about that?

I am studying seriously with this website and Lynda.com. for photo retouch and restoration so I am looking for a direction to pursue that will take me to a higher level. So critique away! I haven't learned yet how to do some things here, is there anyway to put a link in here to go directly to my gallery so you don't have to do it the hard way?

I am learning alot, but I need to know what to really focus on to get better in a specific way, not too general. I need to get from newbie to great in as short of time as possible. I need to know what it is I don't know, what I am missing.

Thank you for any help you can give. It will be truely appreciated!

[Cameraken]

Hi Sheri

Your link is not working. Could you please repost it?
Or do you mean here?
http://www.retouchpro.com/gallery/sh...0&ppuser=24595

Ken.

[PatrickB]

Quick and dirty:


Sheri's Portrait: The eyes are far overdone, she's an alien The wrinkles around her mouth should stay I'd say, simply for the reason they make her whole shape more reasonable. Hard to explain but the smile seems to dim without the wrinkles and make her chin look harder somehow. And a bit more color might make her look younger

Lisa & Molly: A tad overdone, yes. Lower it a bit and it's just fine. But it's got some touch of green, don't you agree?

Marriage: Good to work to me, nicely cropped and I also like the blur in the background.

The last one is a little small to say anything...

Attached my suggestions (to the left)

[Sheri Medford]

Ken, Yes I wanted that link. To place it there, do I go to the gallery and cut and past from the URL to the post, or is there a secret way to do it?

Patrick,

I do see the green now. I think the hardest part for me learning this is going to be seeing the subtle color changes and also doing things subtly enough! I am going to start over on the headshot and go back and correct on Lisa and dog. Thank you. It would be impossible to learn this on my own with out this site, plus I have Lynda.com movies which are helping. Still I haven't got the eye yet. I've done a lot of graphics but its not the same, much more to pay attention to in photos! but I love it.

[PatrickB]

Sheri,

I know what you mean talking about "getting the eye", ever read my very first post here

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/critiques/8492-old-retouch.html

[Sheri Medford]

Patrick

I read your post. I hope over time I can see the subtle changes better. I can see when something is overdone but it is hard to remember all the "numbers" to help me double check as I go to see if I am on the right track. I need to make up a check list of things to watch for as I go through the process. Another problem might be that I am so used to looking at overdone faces on TV and ads or underdone snapshots that I need to spend more time analyzing what I see on this website.

I will spend some time redoing the headshot. I need to make sure I check the numbers for a color cast. The Lisa & Molly that has a green cast, had a blue cast to begin with. What is the best way to correct that? anyone have suggestions for me? I so appreciate your help.