Critique please..beauty retouch

[PeterWright]

Hi guys

I have been working on achieving a high quality but beleivable look with this image. Essentially it has had some split freq work to smooth and even out tones, healing and cloning, colour adjustment (Global) and some work to the hair (Grafting) Lastly some D&B to carve out the features.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4065/...81f2ee67_o.jpg

Thanks in advance for any feedback..

Peter

[Mike Needham]

It's tough one to critique. Because of the detail, in the shot, it show up some flaws. The make-up of the model is far too pronounced and the 'hairy' nature of the human condition is too prevalent in the shots.

[PeterWright]

Originally Posted by Mike Needham

It's tough one to critique. Because of the detail, in the shot, it show up some flaws. The make-up of the model is far too pronounced and the 'hairy' nature of the human condition is too prevalent in the shots.

Thanks Mike - points noted. I am unsure about why the makeup is too pronounced, the D&B work was targeted to do this in order to emphasise the shadows and highlights in these areas. Why would we want a flatter look in this regard ?

[Godmother]

I can tell the use of the split... that shouldn't be noticeable.

When you chose the radius for the split you should take into account that you can't use the same radius on the whole face, you don't have the same kind of texture through the whole face, it doesn't make sense even in theory, even less in practice.

When you do it it looks soft but sharp: "selective shininess"

On another note, there's still, if we ignore the shininess, a lot of D&B to be done. What you look for when D&Bing is to make skin TIGHT not soft. Evening out transitions between shadow and light.

x

[PeterWright]

Originally Posted by Godmother

I can tell the use of the split... that shouldn't be noticeable.

When you chose the radius for the split you should take into account that you can't use the same radius on the whole face, you don't have the same kind of texture through the whole face, it doesn't make sense even in theory, even less in practice.

When you do it it looks soft but sharp: "selective shininess"

On another note, there's still, if we ignore the shininess, a lot of D&B to be done. What you look for when D&Bing is to make skin TIGHT not soft. Evening out transitions between shadow and light.

x

Thanks Natalia - very interesting.. can you explain how I use the split freq correctly to avoid this shininess ? Do I apply it several times or mask it ? I am tending at the moment to copy the HF layer back over the original and then work on both layers.

Would the D&B you refer to be larger scale general or smaller pore level work?
I have tended to find that if I am not careful then I reshape the face inadvertently and change the look - over retouch if you like.

Thanks again - I would like to understand better what you have said so I can put it into use.