My First Official Retouch!

[aiksing]

My first retouch! It was hardwork... but itz worth it!

A bigger version can be viewed here.
http://aiksing.webs.com/women_b4_after.jpg

Pls comment and give me suggestions to improve.

I downloaded skin brushes online, but, do not really know how to apply them properly so did not use it yet. Anyone have any idea on how to apply the skin brushes? I was thinking would be easier if there is a "piece of skin" kinda jpeg, then i can mask off the unwanted parts. haha

[TommyO]

Aiksing,
I had a quick moment to look it over and I like much of it. I do have a few comments:

- The overall chest area looks very smooth, almost too smooth. We like to see some skin imperfections in large expanses of skin. They can be used to draw our eye in that area. They can be blemishes or just color changes due to muscle tone.
- Examine your color values in her facial skin. It looks very, very yellow. I took the liberty of copying the image and pushing the vibrance slider in AdobeCameraRaw. That slider will show where you have over used a color. I have attached the result for you to look at. The reason being, our eyes are sensative to concentrations of color in an area. The overuse of yellow was quickly evident in the image.

[aiksing]

Originally Posted by TommyO

Aiksing,
I had a quick moment to look it over and I like much of it. I do have a few comments:

- The overall chest area looks very smooth, almost too smooth. We like to see some skin imperfections in large expanses of skin. They can be used to draw our eye in that area. They can be blemishes or just color changes due to muscle tone.
- Examine your color values in her facial skin. It looks very, very yellow. I took the liberty of copying the image and pushing the vibrance slider in AdobeCameraRaw. ....

Thanks Tommy, i think the yellow might be from my use of an overlay blending mode. I will check it out when i go home tonight and see if i can take away some yellow and repost the image again.

I will take note of the skin at the chest area also. Infact I am guilty of not touching up that area. haha. I think the smoothness is because of the curves applied.

Thanks much!

[aiksing]

Hi there,

I have toned down the yellows a fair bit using selective color. Tried viewing in AdobeRaw like and dun really see much yellow after pushing up the Vibrance bar already.

Please let me know if this is better. Pls ignore the background and the hair for now.

here it is : http://aiksing.webs.com/women2_retry_again.jpg

For the skin texture at her chest area, i added abit bit of skin texture. Not sure if there is a differene or not. I was feeling abit weird when doing tat, like at first i was tryin to smoothen everything to make it look smooth, after that i am adding skin imperfections to make it look less smooth, haha.

I noticed the way others finish off the skin textures, example, the first image here:
http://www.modelmayhem.com/po.php?thread_id=464118

Any idea how it was done? adding noise or burning? or adding skin textures?

Thanks!

gg zz.... nite...

[TommyO]

I like what you have done with the skin tones. It certainly corrected the yellow issue. The skin could now be toned to what ever value you like without tending to be too yellow.

Regarding the chest area, if you did not remove the texture there is certainly no reason to add any back in. You could play with a curves layer and mask to bring out a bit more definition. But, I see what you mean in that there just isn't much there. And even the curves adj. layer may not help either.

Thanks for posting your changes.

[mikedimples]

It looks like the person who you linked to didn't smooth the skin like you did, they selectively removed detail using dodge and burn at a microscopic level. Check the forums for "d&b" or "dodge and burn" if you're interested in learning more.

When you use a texture brush, there isn't any need to use a special blend mode or tool, just the plain old brush tool on a new layer. First you eye-drop the skin tone, then you VERY SLIGHTLY lower the value and saturation. This is your shadow color for the texture. Apply the texture shadow as needed (some textures may look better without shadow or highlights, test for yourself) Now on a new layer eyedrop the base skin color again and raise the value slightly. Apply the highlight over the same area as the shadow, with the same brush size or slightly smaller. If the highlight color looks too grey, add some yellow.

You can fine tune the texture by altering the opacity or masking out some of the texture layers. Skin textures and noise are a great way to give texture to a speedy retouch, but dodge and burn is by far my favorite way to smooth skin.

Lastly, you've made the #1 most common retouching mistake: making the scleras look flat/cold. Make sure you leave a nice soft shadow on them to show that they're spheres and keep the overall white temperature in the warm tones, unless the lighting is cool (your picture has warm lighting). This picture shows you what I mean about the shadows: http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/att...5&d=1246347000

Keep practicing! I'm looking forward to seeing your future posts.

[aiksing]

Hi Tommy and Mike,

Really appreciate your comments and sharing. I have read and understood your points. will work on them on my next try.

Thanks much!

More comments are welcomed