Would like a critique

[wolfie4wvu]

This is my first post on here and I would like to know what professionals think. Of course everyone around me thinks it is the best but, I am a little skeptical. Some hints on how to smooth out the skin tones would be helpful. Of course, as you can tell I didn't have a whole lot to work with on her. I had to use his cheek and mouth.

[imann08]

I've never gotten into putting things back together like that myself but it looks like a hell of a job. I'm impressed.

If you want to know how to smooth out a skin here is a method that you can use. I wouldn't overdo it though. That is what I am guilty of so I know it's not a good idea. Here is the method. I am assuming you are using PS.

I'd start by creating a duplicate file and merging all layers you have created so far in the duplicate file. Create a duplicate layer of the merged layer.

Use the Healing Brush to go over the skin, staying away from high contrast areas such as the eyes, mouth, hair, border between the skin and cloths, etc.

After you are done with the Healing Brush, add an overlay neutral layer and add some noise to that. The amount is up to you but be conservative with it. Keep it fairly low.

Use the lasso tool with about a 10pt feather to select areas of the image that you want to smooth. Turn off the healed layer and Copy Merged and Paste. You will be copying the original layer and Neutral layer and placing them on top of the Neutral layer.

Turn the Healed layer back on and adjust the opacity of the layer you just pasted in. You can adjust it depending on how much of an effect you want the healed layer to have.

This allows you to smooth things out without blurring the important things and gives you a lot more control over the Healed Layer. It also allows you to give it more of an effect in one area over another.

Hope this helps. You already did the hard part. This part just takes a time but isn't difficult.

[Kraellin]

wolfie,

welcome to RP.

i think you did pretty well overall and it doesnt surprise me you got some compliments on this.

however, i think you missed on a few areas and i think you need to do a bit more cleanup. the hardest area was probably the woman and the reconstruction needed there. it's a tricky one. there are some clues you can use, however. notice her mouth. you missed on that one a bit. and this is a bit speculative, but i also think you missed on the jawline, camera right (her left side).

i like how you did the missing hair. i did it differently, but i still like yours also.

you got most of her upper left side ok. it's the reconstruction area where i think you need to look at again.

for him, you did nicely. there is a bit of cleanup on his face yet, particulary his upper right (camera left) forehead. it looks a bit dirty yet.

i also think you could smooth out his dress. seems a bit smudgy and uneven. not bad, just smooth out some of the blotches/patches.

oh, and her face is a bit 'dirty' yet also. that needs some cleanup yet.

i'm attaching my work on this. i ONLY did her. nothing else. and that took over an hour to do. reconstruction is tricky work. i mentioned clues. use the existing mouth to do the missing parts. notice the highlights on the lower lip, the darker areas, the shape and so on. i had to do this several times.

but the jawline is the hardest part and the clues are less there. but, there is one big one, that area half way up where it's redder than the rest of her skin. this usually tells you it's very near a shadowed area, in this case the jawline. i tried to put the jawline just under that area, therefore...or at least pretty close to it. dont worry about it too much, though. it is speculative. even mine is speculative and may not be exactly right. the other clue is her other side. notice the curve of the cheek and jaw over there. this will give you some idea of what the other one shld be like. this is also one i had to redo several times till i was happy with it.

i also did something on this picture that i've been doing a bit more of lately. you may hear others talk about making your corrective actions on blank layers. this is a very good practice. well, lately, i've been using multiple blank layers and doing one part on one blank layer and another part on yet another. this allows me to go back to just one small area and correct just that layer/small area. this started because paint shop pro doesnt like smudging airbrushing on the same layer. it's just a thing with psp. so, i started putting all my airbrushing on a separate layer from my clones and smudging and that developed into putting separate areas of the image on separate layers. it's a bit more work, but it gives you a bit more control.

i didnt do any color balancing on this image at all, except i did airbrush some facial color back in on some areas that were a bit off.

most of the work i did was cloning and push (heavy smudge in photoshop) on separate blank layers. i did do a bit of airbrushing on the hair as well.

it always amazes me how little alteration it takes to make a face look wrong, to change the look of someone. so, go carefully, watch the detail.

and like i said, overall you've done a nice job...so far. it's just not done yet and i think you missed on the two areas mentioned, but not by much and even one of those is open to speculation.

so, there ya go. hope i wasnt too cruel here

craig

[wolfie4wvu]

for the the critiques. This was my first major reconstruction. I have done a few others that can be seen on my website but this one was a completely over my head to begin with. I was happy with what I had done and gave it to them. They were happy as well but, I told them I was going to keep working on it at no cost to them just as practice and would let them have what I finished.


Thanks again....

[Ziaphra]

I just had to try my hand at this. A great deal of cloning, copying and smudging! To me this originally looks like it was a portrait painting so I have tried to keep true to that. I haven't paid too much attention to her clothes as I was more interested in reconstructing her face.

[wolfie4wvu]

I am humbled....


That is unreal. I hope I can get to that point sometime.

I know I have a lot to learn....but man that looks unreal Ziaphra...

[Ziaphra]

Thank you. You will get to this point and better as you go on.