Please critique newbie work...

[freddie]

Hi guys and gals,

As the title says, I'm a newbie. I've been reading various retouching tutorials, and have been messing around with Photoshop for a few weeks. I do not want to become a professional. However, I am sort of a perfectionist, and figure if I'm going to do something then I want to do it as best as possible. I'm looking for some honest and blunt critique to tell me how I can improve. Any critique is welcomed. Thanks.

[freddie]

Actually... the photos came out so small in my first post that its near impossible to critique. Therefore, here is the original high resolution photos:

Original:
http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/461/79756fashion.jpg

Retouched"
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/2...hionretouc.jpg


Thanks.

[jeljones]

Hey mate,

Hair looks way too blurred and you could do with some more texture on the skin. Eyebrows look good but the eyelashes look fake.

Good job with the colour of the iris.

Overall though, she feels a little fake. Almost like a painting. Have you blurred her skin?

[freddie]

Yes, actually I did use a gausian blur on one layer. What method do you suggest to retouch the skin? I plan on taking whatever suggestions are given and redoing it. I've read so many different tutorials out there, some good and some bad, that its hard to figure out the correct methods for doing things. However, I am trying. Thanks for the critique.

[jeljones]

Natalia Taffarel is a genius. She has a DVD which i recommend you purchase. Its all about healing on a high pass layer and dodging and burning.

The skin is flawless but keeps its texture. This is no quick technique though. It can and should take you hours.

Good luck.

[GeorgeNC]

This is very good work ... your client will be pleased. Learning to retouch is a journey ... you are off to a great start. Yes, there are many tutorials out there and many good teachers ... You just need to find out what works for you and go from there. Excellent job =)

[freddie]

OK... well...LOL... I had a first go at the dodge and burn technique. In the photo below, I used the DB technique exclusively. Since I was experimenting, I even dodged out a hair on the face (upper right hand side), which admittedly wasn't the smartest idea. But hey, its part of the learning process.

As you can see, I still have quite a way to go. I probably have quite a few more hours to get some of the blotchiness out. I did do some minor color adjustments just so I could get a halfway decent skin tone to work with.

My setup: I used two 50% gray layers set of softlight... one for the dodge, and one for the burn. I used white for dodging, and black for burning.

One thing I have noticed is that I sometimes end up going over something that I've dodged and darkening it again. Is there any way to help ensure that you don't "OVERDO IT" when doing the DB process, thereby saving time from having to go back and touch up work you've already done? I've played with the opacity and flow... but I still have difficulty at times when the photo is zoomed into the pixels to know when I'm over-killing it. Going back and forth from zooming in and out seems unpractical. Is there a better way at doing this?

Original:
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/8135/origcut.jpg

D&B retouch:
http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/5372/editcut.jpg

[jeremy1986]

it looks good but the hair line where she parts her hair sticks out, i would recolor it to match her face, i know that would occur naturally but the whole point of retouching is eliminating some of the flaws. The Hair is too dark in spots i would even out the brown tones and maybe add some highlights to increase the texture of the hair. Remember this is only what i would do, i am no professional so take anything i say with a grain of salt.