retouch critique

[DWThomp]

I would appreciate your thoughts on this retouch. Photo courtesy of Christian Wright.

Steps were minor cloning/healing a few hairs. D&B on a softlight layer with 50% gray. Whiten teeth & eyes a little, small sharpening to iris.

All comments/suggestions are welcome.

Larger sizes can be viewed at http://ImageEvent.com/dennisthompsonphotography/cwphoto

Photo by Christian Wright.

[MatthewMarshall]

The editing under the eye is a little week. You can tell you have edited under the eye. Maybe work on that a bit more

[Swampy]

I'm with Matthew. The bride is obviously not in her 20s and you've taken away much of her "maturity". Might be okay for a fashion shot, but if this is for keepsake, it would look fake to me.

[ktg222]

Just wondering if you talked to the client about the extent of the retouch? Swampy is right, she looks like she is 20. Is that what she wanted?

k

[DWThomp]

Originally Posted by MatthewMarshall

The editing under the eye is a little week. You can tell you have edited under the eye. Maybe work on that a bit more

Thanks Matthew, but when you say weak - is that it's done badly or overdone? A little more d&b to even things out? Any suggestions?

Originally Posted by Swampy

I'm with Matthew. The bride is obviously not in her 20s and you've taken away much of her "maturity". Might be okay for a fashion shot, but if this is for keepsake, it would look fake to me.

Swampy - thanks for taking time to look. I don't really know how old she is, I'm guessing late 20's, early 30's. Never been real good at guessing ages tho. I didn't notice as much "baggage" around her eyes in the other shots I saw, tho they weren't as up close either. I thought the lighting exaggerated the lines and made her look older or tired. I probably did go a little far. Later tonight I may mask that d&b layer and bring it back a little.

Originally Posted by ktg222

Just wondering if you talked to the client about the extent of the retouch? Swampy is right, she looks like she is 20. Is that what she wanted?

k

The photographer liked the retouch and seemed pleased with it. Not sure if the bride has seen it yet or not. Thanks for responding.

[TommyO]

Dennis,
I would agree to slightly bring back a few lines around the eyes.

Also, to me, by removing much of her dimples and muscle tone around the mouth, her right cheek looks fatter. I prefer bringing those back a tad also. They are also part of her character, as well as maturity.

And... while you're at it... if you're going to remove all her freckles, then you may as well get the one just above the dress on her right "chest area". It was not distracting until all the other freckles were gone.

Otherwise, very nice.

[DWThomp]

Originally Posted by TommyO

Dennis,
I would agree to slightly bring back a few lines around the eyes.

Also, to me, by removing much of her dimples and muscle tone around the mouth, her right cheek looks fatter. I prefer bringing those back a tad also. They are also part of her character, as well as maturity.

And... while you're at it... if you're going to remove all her freckles, then you may as well get the one just above the dress on her right "chest area". It was not distracting until all the other freckles were gone.

Otherwise, very nice.

Thank you Tommy, I appreciate your comments. I'm posting another where I've brought back a little of her character. As for the freckles, I had left some of the smaller ones, but now realize they don't show up very well except on the original size. I did get rid of the one you're talking about tho.

[DWThomp]

Here is an update where hopefully I've brought back a little of her character.

The larger size can be viewed as Retouch_02 here http://ImageEvent.com/dennisthompsonphotography/cwphoto

[TommyO]

I think that one is fine. Let's hope she likes it also. As always, keep the others just in case. I find it hard to predict what a client will like, especially for an event such as this !
Good luck !

[DWThomp]

Originally Posted by TommyO

I think that one is fine. Let's hope she likes it also. As always, keep the others just in case. I find it hard to predict what a client will like, especially for an event such as this !
Good luck !

Thanks Tommy. The photog was happy with both. Yeah, I've kept the others, I'm kinda anal about my backups and files. Thanks again for your comments.