Please give some Crit

[GrantMcKinlay]

Hi there, this was my 1st attempt at serious retouching. What do you think, where can I improve on this?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/grantmc...1817/lightbox/

Thanks

[Solstice]

There is some red saturation along the neck that strikes me as the most obvious, it is competing for initial attention.

[GrantMcKinlay]

Ahh I see it, thanks man, will fix!

[mistermonday]

Grant, I started a markup but stopped after a few scribbles. Your image is really pretty small and perhaps somewhat oversharpened for web upload, so as I started to examine it, it was hard to tell if the problems I see are a function of the low res compressed image or if they are present in the high res version. A few things jump out:
- The red on the neck mentioned by Solstice
- There seems to be a prominent white halo along the top of the head. This could be a result of poor extraction / masking to replace the bg. Shadows on neck seem too strong / dark. Something off about part of the lips. The scratch on the wall is rather distracting and should be cloned out. A couple of lines on the neck look as if they should be a bit softer.
Again, it is really hard to zoom in and see the detail in the small image you posted, especially when the after occupies only half of the space.
Regards, Murray

[GrantMcKinlay]

Super mistermonday, I see what you mean, the dark edges on the neck area is a problem, the halo is a simulated light on the background, but if it hinders the image, I'll rework it. Are the lips too sharpened, the lips are too prominently sharp.

Thanks for your comments and time!

[girlsfather]

First of all - I like it.

What I see is that you increased overall contrast, but also lost contrast in parts of the face. (the face looks flatter now in the middle area - nose etc.)
Here some PWL could improve the picture.

In my eyes the background is a tiny bit too highcontrast/sharp.
(Maybe that is just because of the small web jpg?)
A little less would be more realistic...

[girlsfather]

Originally Posted by johnmarsh

what u mean by this i don't understand this

what is "this"?
could you please be more precise?

PWL = Paint with light
that is basically the Dodge & Burn Technique but used to sculpt
(my english is not that good, so I hope you understand...)
you could google for amy dresser...