Beauty retouch

[Laura_]

http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs30/f/20...hingsMagic.png
I really don't like it and I don't know why, I hope you can tell me something. Please notice again that my English is really bad (so say it easy) 'cause I'm Dutch and I'm 14.

[JD Spears]

Beautiful job! The retouching, that is. Just a quick tip to the photographer; bring the light in closer to the model. "The larger the light in relation to the distance from the subject the softer the quality of light" Dean Collins. I know your not the photographer, I just had to get that off my chest. Personally, I would just make it a little brighter and go in tight and fade some veins in the eyes.
Great job though. If it wasn't for Photoshop and talent like yours that image would have to go in the can.
JD

[Laura_]

Originally Posted by JD Spears

Beautiful job! The retouching, that is. Just a quick tip to the photographer; bring the light in closer to the model. "The larger the light in relation to the distance from the subject the softer the quality of light" Dean Collins. I know your not the photographer, I just had to get that off my chest. Personally, I would just make it a little brighter and go in tight and fade some veins in the eyes.
Great job though. If it wasn't for Photoshop and talent like yours that image would have to go in the can.
JD

Yes, I don't know what the photographer was thinking either. Wich photographer takes this model for a beauty shoot and gave her no make-up? Can you explain "fade some veins in the eyes"?

[JD Spears]

The tiny veins in the whites of her eyes are a little distracting and make her look a little tired. I'd get rid of them but not to the point that it would look unnatural.

[Laura_]

Oh, thanks I didn't noticed that.

[Gonzaga]

I almost feel stupid to say anything else but "WOW" to the work of that quality done by a 14 year old girl. In fact there isn't a lot to criticize here. I would just brighten the midtones a bit to make her face shine a bit more. You can also equalize the dark tones above her right eye a bit - really minor.

Awesome work - I'm once again impressed.

Cheers ... Andreas.

[Laura_]

Originally Posted by Gonzaga

I almost feel stupid to say anything else but "WOW" to the work of that quality done by a 14 year old girl. In fact there isn't a lot to criticize here. I would just brighten the midtones a bit to make her face shine a bit more. You can also equalize the dark tones above her right eye a bit - really minor.

Awesome work - I'm once again impressed.

Cheers ... Andreas.

Thank you
If I did this for a client, I would follow your advice. But I'm a litlle lazy right now xD

[Live the Lie]

you have done an excellent job so far. I agree about the veins and what everyone has said so far. The bright light on the right side by her head is a little distracting. The cheek has a highlight that stops more abruptly, and since the rest of the image is smooth it is slightly unbalanced. The highlights in the hair, maybe just one one side, need to be brought down by a touch since this contrast is leading your eye there, instead of on her eyes. But that is just nit picky stuff. Honestly i don't think anyone would care otherwise. Very impressive job, and i like the layout of your website.

[Laura_]

Originally Posted by Live the Lie

you have done an excellent job so far. I agree about the veins and what everyone has said so far. The bright light on the right side by her head is a little distracting. The cheek has a highlight that stops more abruptly, and since the rest of the image is smooth it is slightly unbalanced. The highlights in the hair, maybe just one one side, need to be brought down by a touch since this contrast is leading your eye there, instead of on her eyes. But that is just nit picky stuff. Honestly i don't think anyone would care otherwise. Very impressive job, and i like the layout of your website.

Yes, I've noticed the light before but..
abruptly? slightly unbalanced? I feel really stupid
Thank you, thank you.

[stopa]

Laura. Good job. Face is to red, or shoulder is to yellow. Flip the image if you are tired of staring on it.

[Live the Lie]

Don't feel stupid, no picture can attain perfection. And when working on an image there is always one more thing, but the good part is you haven't overdone it so far, which is so easy to do in photoshop or paint.

[Laura_]

Originally Posted by Live the Lie

Don't feel stupid, no picture can attain perfection. And when working on an image there is always one more thing, but the good part is you haven't overdone it so far, which is so easy to do in photoshop or paint.

Great words.
Yes, that's the fault most people make when they retouch. Especialy overblurring thing. I did it too at the beginning.. Haha, you really don't want to see my first retouch xD

[Laura_]

Originally Posted by stopa

Laura. Good job. Face is to red, or shoulder is to yellow. Flip the image if you are tired of staring on it.

I think it's the shoulder.
I'm going to change it thank you

[dvool]

Great job.

Her hair and her eyes look great.

Her skin is almost too blurry / soft.



Here are two easy suggestions to improve the image:

Darken the background.
There is not enough contrast between the model and the background.


Crop the right side of the image closer towards the model.
It is more interesting than placing the model "dead center."


That's my opinion anyways.

Good luck.

[Laura_]

Originally Posted by dvool

Great job.

Her hair and her eyes look great.

Her skin is almost too blurry / soft.



Here are two easy suggestions to improve the image:

Darken the background.
There is not enough contrast between the model and the background.


Crop the right side of the image closer towards the model.
It is more interesting than placing the model "dead center."


That's my opinion anyway.

Good luck.

I think your version is to dark.. and really low quality (can't stand it).
But I agree with the crop.

[paisajca]

I really love the skin texture on yours, I think its just a little too dark and the skin tone a little pink, I think if you reduce the redness will be perfect my idea:
http://img365.imageshack.us/img365/7...touchinai5.png

[JD Spears]

Originally Posted by paisajca

I really love the skin texture on yours, I think its just a little too dark and the skin tone a little pink, I think if you reduce the redness will be perfect my idea:
http://img365.imageshack.us/img365/7...touchinai5.png

I'm thinking some of the difference in taste might actually be at least partially due to a difference in monitor calibration.

[bazza64]

Hello Laura,
Basically you did a very good job, it all comes down to personal choice. As others have said and I agree, when is a photo finished? it can drive you crazy.
I feel you had to much blur on her face making it look to "pasty", I prefer to have the skin looking as natural as possible, here is my effort.

Lightened the photo.
Removed as many blemishes as possible with the clone and healing tools.
Softened her jaw line.
Removed wispy hairs around hair line.
Lightened her eyes (eyeballs and pupils).
Readjusted her makeup (lips, eyelids, cheeks).
Applied "surface "blur (radius 10,threshold 12) and adjusted opacity to suit, created white layer mask to sharpen eyes, mouth, nose, hair & background etc.
Lastly, I applied an unsharp filter (20,60,0).

That's about it, I hope this helps, I could have spent more time on it but as I said before, when is enough, enough?
I agree with other peoples comments, it should have been copped of centre and slightly to the right.
Barry.

[Laura_]

Never blur a retouch... it's always horible to blur.

[Laura_]

Originally Posted by paisajca

I really love the skin texture on yours, I think its just a little too dark and the skin tone a little pink, I think if you reduce the redness will be perfect my idea:
http://img365.imageshack.us/img365/7...touchinai5.png

Looks great Thank you.

[JD Spears]

Originally Posted by Laura_

Never blur a retouch... it's always horible to blur.

Who blurred?

[flice]

Originally Posted by Laura_

Yes, I don't know what the photographer was thinking either. Wich photographer takes this model for a beauty shoot and gave her no make-up? Can you explain "fade some veins in the eyes"?

A photographer that cares about the models look and skin texture rather than making it easy for the retoucher...
You did a fine job and I bet that was what he was counting on. So everything is good.

[Laura_]

Originally Posted by JD Spears

Who blurred?

bazza64 blurred it..

[secretagents]

I downloaded this pic the other day and I ended up working quite a lot on it. It's waaay of topic as it is "artifications" I finally did but I thought I'd show one of them anyway as I find it is rather good overall. Starting from the original of course. And thanks for sharing decent quality starting material.

[Laura_]

Originally Posted by secretagents

I downloaded this pic the other day and I ended up working quite a lot on it. It's waaay of topic as it is "artifications" I finally did but I thought I'd show one of them anyway as I find it is rather good overall. Starting from the original of course. And thanks for sharing decent quality starting material.

The skin is okay, but this is a beauty image.. I think the background would better come out in a fashion shoot. I also think that the skin tone is a bit wheird. But maybe that's just because of the low quality (and as you might know, I haaateeee low quality)
But good try.

x Laura.

[juliansea]

Laura,

You did a great job. Would you or someone reading this please tell me how to do a touchup job like this. I am fine using the healing tool but I still don't understand what else you all are doing to the skin. Please untie some of these knots for me.

Thanks.

p.s. Be gentle. I'm a newbie!

[Laura_]

Originally Posted by juliansea

Laura,

You did a great job. Would you or someone reading this please tell me how to do a touchup job like this. I am fine using the healing tool but I still don't understand what else you all are doing to the skin. Please untie some of these knots for me.

Thanks.

p.s. Be gentle. I'm a newbie!

Well, actually only healing brush tool and some sharping on the skin.

[Insensitive.]

I think the photo was crappy to begin with. And laura while you dont like the artsy-ness of Secret's photo, you should ask him how he got his much more even skin tone, alot of people including you werent able to take care of that pasty nasty skintone she had going on at the left side of her mouth. If you could somehow merge that into your work while keeping skin texture, it would be great. But as i said, the photo was a bit poopy to begin with, so you did a great job, just the uneven skintone and darkness are what stand out to me.

[Dutch Rich]

Nice job, three things:
1. Bring back the highlight on her nose at somewhere between 80% and 95%.
2. Darken baby hairs above ear.
3. Stuur je CV op als je 18 bent.

[gr8pics]

Laura, none of the others in this thread have posted any version better than yours, theyve just ruined it completely, IMO

I find it a bit annoying that some amateurs express them selves in a way like they are experts, which they clearly arent. Modesty is the key here ;-)

I have never seen such nice work from a young person like you before, you got the eye for details and definitely a great talent you should work more on for the future.

Cheers Chris
www.christerdahl.com