Critiques - - need some advice

Elamdri · #1 02-12-2007, 01:59 AM

I'm doing this for a friend and could use some advice:

Original

http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/7844/anogn8.jpg

Retouched

http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/9694/an1zd2.jpg

CJ Swartz · #2 02-12-2007, 03:12 AM

Welcome to RetouchPro! What do you want to know?

Photo is of a pretty young woman -- the photo would have been better if she had been seated in front of a lovely background, or seated farther away from the wall (so that the shadow didn't show so much). Flash has washed out her skintone in some areas, and there's some red-eye caused by the flash being at the wrong angle.

Your retouch has blurred her skin a bit too much -- it would look more realistic if you cut it back a bit. Are you using Photoshop Elements, Photoshop, PSP or what? How familiar are you with using the program? What do you need to know?

I'll post a version I did -- I used a Levels adjustment, a color balance, the healing brush, dodge on an overlay layer, added color to her top (it was almost blown out by the flash), and I also added a bit of a blur glow. I also used the liquify tool to raise her smile a bit -- not sure if she would want that.

Elamdri · #3 02-12-2007, 05:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CJ Swartz

Welcome to RetouchPro! What do you want to know?

Photo is of a pretty young woman -- the photo would have been better if she had been seated in front of a lovely background, or seated farther away from the wall (so that the shadow didn't show so much). Flash has washed out her skintone in some areas, and there's some red-eye caused by the flash being at the wrong angle.

Your retouch has blurred her skin a bit too much -- it would look more realistic if you cut it back a bit. Are you using Photoshop Elements, Photoshop, PSP or what? How familiar are you with using the program? What do you need to know?

I'll post a version I did -- I used a Levels adjustment, a color balance, the healing brush, dodge on an overlay layer, added color to her top (it was almost blown out by the flash), and I also added a bit of a blur glow. I also used the liquify tool to raise her smile a bit -- not sure if she would want that.

Thanks for the welcome.

I use Photoshop CS2. I'm slightly familiar with it, I took a course in high school and am taking one now in college. Really, it's more a hobby than anything else, but it's something I really love doing.

I didn't take this photo, I was asked if I could take a look at this and touch it up a bit. I know the flash situation is bad, thats one of things I was asked to try and fix.

Comparing the 2: I really like elements of both. How did you get the skin to look like that, I tried, but as you stated, it doesn't look very real, too blurred. One thing you didn't do was adjust the nose (That was a big request, so I did my best on it), BUT I ABSOLUTELY LOVE WHAT YOU DID WITH THE LIPS. Also, how did you soften the color of the nose? The one thing I really don't like is the overall..."yellowness" of the photo. It just looks weird to me I guess. It feels sort of "washed out" compared to my re-edit. I'm going to make some changes and repost a new version.

Elamdri · #4 02-12-2007, 05:41 AM

Here is a new version. I haven't fixed the nose yet in this one, but thats because I can't figure out how to get that even skin tone you got to apply to the nose.

http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/9360/an2ut6.jpg

CJ Swartz · #5 02-12-2007, 09:38 AM

Elamdri, sorry about the "washed out look" -- you have the benefit of actually knowing the woman's skin color

while I was only going with an average range of numbers. Your second version is looking better - show it to her and see her reaction.

I used Select -> Color Range to select the skin tones of her nose (used quick mask to add/remove some areas, and you could just use the quick mask to start off with since it's a small area to work with) and then used levels to adjust.

I used the Liquify filter to raise her bottom lip -- used the move pixels tool (moving from left to right just underneath the bottom lip with a small width size. Not sure if I could do it again without messing it up, but thought it worked this time.

Lots of us force a smile for the camera, and it doesn't always look like our natural smile -- again, I don't have the benefit of knowing.

Lasa · #6 02-12-2007, 10:56 AM

I suspect that the original image isn't the actual original somebody has already tried to work it...before you got it...the nose color dif. is too abrupted..the forehead has some color but the rest seems bleached out..flattened...you have over softened, beside pixilated stuff..

If you asked them I bet you could get the original..probably a lot easier to work.

There are a lot of little things you could do to change the picture..but if you just need to color correct it some.. add a warm photofilter at 50-65%

Lasa

Elamdri · #7 02-12-2007, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CJ Swartz

Elamdri, sorry about the "washed out look" -- you have the benefit of actually knowing the woman's skin color

while I was only going with an average range of numbers. Your second version is looking better - show it to her and see her reaction.

I used Select -> Color Range to select the skin tones of her nose (used quick mask to add/remove some areas, and you could just use the quick mask to start off with since it's a small area to work with) and then used levels to adjust.

I used the Liquify filter to raise her bottom lip -- used the move pixels tool (moving from left to right just underneath the bottom lip with a small width size. Not sure if I could do it again without messing it up, but thought it worked this time.

Lots of us force a smile for the camera, and it doesn't always look like our natural smile -- again, I don't have the benefit of knowing.

Ok, I think I got the nose to where I like it, tone wise, thanks that Color Range thing really helped. Never used that before.

This is the final edit:

http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/7316/anfinalub9.jpg

I don't know if I'm gonna take it any farther, I'm happy with how it is right now, In case you we're wondering, this is actually my gf

She wanted me to do this for her, she just doesn't know she's getting it as a surprise Valentine's Day gift.

Thanks for your help, and I really like the forums. I'll make sure to try and keep active.

Elamdri · #8 02-12-2007, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lasa

I suspect that the original image isn't the actual original somebody has already tried to work it...before you got it...the nose color dif. is too abrupted..the forehead has some color but the rest seems bleached out..flattened...you have over softened, beside pixilated stuff..

If you asked them I bet you could get the original..probably a lot easier to work.

There are a lot of little things you could do to change the picture..but if you just need to color correct it some.. add a warm photofilter at 50-65%

Lasa

ooh, I like what that does for the skin, but..not so sure about the rest. I'd have to mask off the rest of the image, especially the teeth, they look a little coffee stained.

As for it previously being retouched, no, just a bad camera I think.

I'll go play round with that photo filter one, thanks.

EDIT: oooh, yeah, it looks good, and actually, I only had to mask the teeth.

Cameraken · #9 02-12-2007, 04:01 PM

Hi Elamdri

Welcome to Retouch Pro

Maybe something like this?

Ken.

Elamdri · #10 02-13-2007, 03:03 PM

Final Product, Used a bit of Lasa's warmth filter idea, looks fantastic in my humble opinion. Tweaked the color of the lips just a bit, to make it warmer with the rest of the image.

Vikki · #11 02-13-2007, 04:10 PM

Elamdri, one of the main problems with this image, is that the "original" appears to have been reworked/messed up. The eyes are extremely over sharpened and the skin has been pushed around. The overall appearance (no matter how good the skin turns out) will not be a quality retouch. It is not natural for some areas to be over sharpened, while others are blurred/smudged.
You really need to post the original.

Elamdri · #12 02-13-2007, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vikki

Elamdri, one of the main problems with this image, is that the "original" appears to have been reworked/messed up. The eyes are extremely over sharpened and the skin has been pushed around. The overall appearance (no matter how good the skin turns out) will not be a quality retouch. It is not natural for some areas to be over sharpened, while others are blurred/smudged.
You really need to post the original.

Honest to god, the original image posted above is the original image. If its been worked on in any way, I was never told, and I don't have anything the predates the original image posted. I don't think it has been edited, because she doesn't own any photo-editing software.

This photo is the stock image, and the ONLY difference between this one and the original is that I cropped this one to make the original. This image is as far back as I can go, and besides the crop, there is NO difference between this image and the original

http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/5...bles189sg1.jpg

Vikki · #13 02-13-2007, 05:46 PM

I guess another possibility, for such a bad image, would be a very poor camera. Whatever the reason, I think the image needs a great deal of work to match up the soft and sharp areas.

BillFrey · #14 02-13-2007, 06:40 PM

I thought the original picture posted must have been processed also. The lack of quality is nothing that I've seen before.

I just looked at the exif and found the camera model. $50 model, bad reviews on quality, everyone likes how small it is.

http://www10.epinions.com/pr-Oregon_...Digital_Camera

Elamdri · #15 02-13-2007, 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillFrey

I thought the original picture posted must have been processed also. The lack of quality is nothing that I've seen before.

I just looked at the exif and found the camera model. $50 model, bad reviews on quality, everyone likes how small it is.

http://www10.epinions.com/pr-Oregon_...Digital_Camera

Oh wow, thats really neat, I didn't know you could find out all that stuff by the image. Learned something new today.

Yeah, I figured the camera is bad, you should see some of the images she wants me to mess with.

In fact, here is a MUCH better example of how bad her camera is. I've never seen a whitewash like that before. I was thinking about getting her a new Camera for her birthday, but I want one too, so its going to come down to how much money I have when the time comes.