critique please

[aussie]

I have just been made redundant so I have to put a folio together.

To cheer me up, I went out an purchased a new Mac Pro

Anyway back on track. I've decided that I would like to do more retouching so I thought I would put some examples in my folio but i would appreciate your opinions.

Attached is a picture - before and work in progress. My first request is how do you think my skin is going (as that is all i have done so far)? The only method I have used is D&B. Do you think the skin is even enough? or does it need more work?

[aussie]

just to let you know I haven't gone as far as removing/minimising the facial hair from her cheek & jar and hair on arm- that's my next mission.

Also, does everyone like to add a bit of grain to their images at the end to give them a little more of a film feel? if so how much?

[roger_ele]

Hi Aussie,

-Don't know if you meant to change the shape of her face, the ridge of her nose does not have the square edge to it that you gave her.

-I think the iris is too dark - has lost it's transparency

-dodgeing on arm is a little too much too hot, but my laptop monitor runs a little light so maybe that is just me ;-)

hope some of this is a help,
-Roger

[aussie]

roger - thnks for your comments. The more defined nose is apparently in but i have toned it down a bit. I have also toned the arm highlight down a little bit even though i didn't do much to it. The eyes - I was in the middle of doing when I posted the pic (as i wanted to run down and pic up my airport card ) that's why I just asked for skin critique as i was in the middle of the other items - but thanks. I have uploaded a new pic with the changes - but it is still WIP.

[Lasa]

Nice picture to work on..I'd take the skin smoothing further.

I smoothed out the skin, mellowed the freckles, smoothed out the black mascara inside/bottom, heal tooled the eyebrow, added a little more highlight to the eyes, matched the color tone in the arm to match the face (arm seemed a little yellowish)..added slight make up.. dark over eye, white under eyes, color on cheeks, mascara and lipstick, then added a overall hue/sat to add a little tan and saturate the colores.
Then finally added a slight unsharpened to the whole image it made the eyes pop and the skin regained its texture.

Yes I sometimes add grain (slight monochrome) if I over smoothed skin..

Lasa

PS: Are the lashes on the original part of the original image?

[aussie]

Thanks Lasa. I will retouch the skin a little more today - haven't got around to doing the extras that you have done yet. And yes thay are the original eyelashes. The only thing I have done to the image so far is D&B.

[aussie]

I have just realised there is a critique forum...sorry if i posted this in the wrong area even though it is retouching...just a newbie to the site

[aussie]

i have done some extra work on the skin then cropped + attached it so you can see it close up. (before & after shots). Comments please

[duwayne]

I think the skin looks GREAT! You have retained the pore structure (even enhanced it). And NO BLUR! Can you give us a step-by-step?

[prizo]

Originally Posted by Lasa

Nice picture to work on..I'd take the skin smoothing further.

I smoothed out the skin, mellowed the freckles, smoothed out the black ...
Yes I sometimes add grain (slight monochrome) if I over smoothed skin..

Lasa

PS: Are the lashes on the original part of the original image?

That looks great, Lasa.

[aussie]

okay. i've done a little more work but still a 'work in progress' - please see attachment.

Duwayne - all I have done is D&B... apparently that is all that is acceptable by the pros! It takes forever

[aussie]

just looked and the link i just posted and it looks patchy...maybe it's the jpg compression?? Also i haven't added the facial makeup/highlights/shadows yet...spending too much time with my two little boys (4 & 18 mths)

[imagae]

Hi aussie,

This is a great image to work with. One rule I have learned, and this applies to life beyond the camera as well. When the eyes are really dramatic, focus on that and let everything else sort of come second. Most notably the lips. Her eyes are the draw in this pic...so pale out the lips. It actually helps quite a bit! If everything is painted up the viewer doesn't know where to land. It ends up having a "clownish" look...

I used the healing tool to smooth out her skin and soften shadows (her nose). Burned the heck out of her eye make-up. cloned her lips and dodged them a bit. Also, eyebrows. Eyebrows will make or break a womans face..I swear by that! I groomed hers a bit with the cloning stamp. Thanks for your upload!

imagae

[imagae]

Hmm..weird. My attachment looks all blurry and wacky...not sure how that happened...

[aussie]

okay, i think i'm nearing the end of my retouch unless anyone would like to suggest changes

Would appreciate any input whether it be positive or negative

[Cassidy]

Not sure of the look you are going for, but to my eye, it looks very beige, but then I do like a bit of colour via additional curves or subtraction with a bit of desaturation. Looks a bit flat to my eye, but pretty well ideal otherwise. Cant help but feel it lacks 'pop'. Your original retouch contained warmth and invitation. Think if you are looking for 'sexy', then warm it up a bit else it looks a tad manequin to me

[aaRonology101]

this is a GREaT picture to use for a portfolio.

a picture like this can really show the level of retouching one posseses. theres nothing to crazy to fix, but enough to show a comparison for a before and after.

i attached 2 takes i took on the picture. one is just your standard retouch without any color, and the other is with a slight bump of adjustments.

have a look and let me know what you guys think ..

enjoy!

aussie - your picture is getting worse and worse as you are going along. you are losing the reality of the pic and turning it into something VERY flat, and fake. you are way over doing things. you have to understand that a good retouched picture has to look like its never been retouched at all. need to maintain certain shadows and highlights, and not turn things looking 2D.

your best one was probably the first one you posted. all you had to do was a little more D&B on certain areas, and you would of been fine, and done with it.

good luck with the picture, and remember to always have fun with it.

cheers!

[aussie]

Thanks guys for all your input - it's really a lot of help. I have gone back a few steps. Do you think this one has more 'pop' or shall i go back further?

[aaRonology101]

i still believe your image is way over done. you took away a lot of skin texture and also removed some shadow/highlights that should of been preserved. there are also areas that are very blotchy and spotty, which are clear signs of a tampered picture. like i said earlier, a good retouch is a picture that doesnt look like its been touched at all ..

[aussie]

aaRonology101 : I see where you are coming from.

Also the preview seems to be a lot worse than it actually is - I think this is due to profile conversion when saving for the web.

Will go back again and resubmit in the next day or so.

Thanks

[aussie]

Okay. I've taken everyone's comments (especially - aaRonology101 - who provided the most input) and have come up with the attached file.

Let me know what you think.

[aaRonology101]

nice ..

definitely heading in the right direction ..

=o)

[aussie]

Originally Posted by aaRonology101

nice ..

definitely heading in the right direction ..

=o)

thanks a lot :P

[Elamdri]

Something about the lips needs work. Also, the way you've retouched it, it seems more like a painting and less like a photograph. Unless that's the desired effect.