Critique, Advanced Beginner, Glamour Retouching

[phogasmic]

Hi All,

Would really appreciate a honest hard hitting critique here. This is a picture I took for a friend and did some glamour retouching by clearing up the skin, adding some eye lashes. Please let me know if I was too heavy handed, and also what other things I could do to improve the pic. Thanks

1. Performed preliminary tone correction using Curves.
3. Went over the skin with the healing brush.
5. Selected areas of the face I wanted to blur using the Pen Tool.
6. Ran a Surface Blur, aggressive settings
7. Added a Curve Layer set to Multiply so that I could paint in depth on the face.

Among some other things, I can't really remember.

[twopoint0]

Phogasmic-

Overall, she looks pretty good. My first gut reaction, (that's the one that counts), was that the flesh is too smooth. Most art directors would want to see the grain of the skin remain intact. They may also ask to see the cord/muscle things in her neck subdued. I like the highlight/shadow "shape" in the face!

-Steve

[BagLady]

Hi Phogasmic and welcome to RP!

I think that you've overdone it with the smoothing... Your friend has very nice skin and needs little retouching! I would suggest using the D&B method which gives a very natural look...

Here's a link:
D&B technique: http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=272#

If you're after a smoother, less natural look that retains skin texture:
Degrunge technique: http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=213

Other techniques: http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=209

I agree with Stevekoshalap and like the contrast that you've given the image, but would not apply it to the neck.

Ciao!

BagLady

[Verywierd]

Apart from the excellent advice given by Steve and Baglady, I would work to smooth out and slightly increase the contrast of the hair on the right side of her head (you know, like those shampoo ads). The picture is high key and has very shallow depth of field, so the only frame for her face is the hair and is therefore a major feature and so deserves some attention.

[phogasmic]

Wow, all of you have given me some of the most helpful advice I have ever received. I should have started coming here ages ago. I am going to redo this and use all of your tips. I would greatly appreciate if you all will come back and take another look.

[BagLady]

I'm so happy to hear that we were able to help out! I also wish that I had discovered RetouchPro sooner... Check out the various threads, experiment with new techniques, ask questions and have fun! I'm looking forward to seeing your new and improved version!

Ciao!

BagLady

[bazza64]

Hi Phogasmic,
I agree with Stevekoshlop, first impressions, her skin is way to plastic, go to the layer with the surface blur and slide the opacity slider down to zero and slide it back up slowly so that there's only a hint of blur.
If the "before" photo of this lady is untouched then she has naturally beautiful skin, and a few pen or mouse clicks with the healing brush solves the very minor blemishes she has.
Any other other adjustments can be done with d&b, curves layers etc., in my opinion this lady does not need any blur or median filters.

Her hair is to untidy, it should have been brushed before, you want her face to be perfect, treat her hair the same.
Search through the previous posts in RP for the sites that have free eyelash and eyebrow brushes.
Her neck muscles are detracting from her face, she needs to be more relaxed.

One more tip, it looks like you've almost set your lens to macro to get that shallow depth of field. To me her face looks slightly ballooned not a natural 1:1 ratio. I use nothing less than 130mm lens to take a portrait, I simply move backwards or forewards to get the subject in frame, and I can still use a large fstop to get get a shallow dof.

As a suggestion take a portrait if possible with 35, 50, 70, 100 & 150mil lens and you'll see what I mean about 1:1 ratio.

As usual, Verywierd and the BagLady have given you some good advice, maybe I've missed the point on the way you wanted to take the photo, I can only comment on what I see and what I would have done. I hope you take my suggestions in a freindly way, that's the way they were given, were here to help each other.

Barry.

[TommyO]

Pho,
All the above...
also, it would help to have more detail about your workflow. Otherwise, we are simply guessing about how to help you. And, we also need to know a bit more about what look you were trying to achieve. Otherwise, we must assume a "traditional" glamour retouch in which you went too far. It may not have been too far for something else.
Thanks for posting and looking forward to seeing your modifications.

[phogasmic]

Originally Posted by bazza64

Hi Phogasmic,
As a suggestion take a portrait if possible with 35, 50, 70, 100 & 150mil lens and you'll see what I mean about 1:1 ratio.

I used a 50mil for this shot and was practically on top of her. I am going to shoot her some more this weekend. I will try some with my 70 - 200 to see what you are talking about. Thanks.

You are all right about the skin, I suspected I went over board with the surface blur. It is probably not necessary in this case. I am going to revisit this one this week.