Photo Retouch & Coloring

[imann08]

This still could use some work but I'm not sure where exactly. I did another one here http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/sho...t=13315&page=2 and it came out much much better than this one did. This one just doesn't look as realistic as the other one turned out. Right now, I'm blaming it on the original photo. Is there anything that could be done to improve it. Go ahead and mention anything you want from color choice to anything else. Thanks.

Isaac

[Swampy]

Looking good imann...

The tie is too saturated for the rest of the photo. It just pops off the page.

[imann08]

I noticed that. It's frustrating cause the image is much darker in photoshop than it is in the jpeg that I upload. The tie looks much more suitable in the ps file. I do have to cut it back a bit regardless though.

[Peter S]

I noticed that. It's frustrating cause the image is much darker in photoshop than it is in the jpeg that I upload

Have you got you colour profile set to sRGB, this tends to get closer results to PS when posting to the Web, also have you calibrated your screen???

I agree about the tie, looks a little too stark compared with the rest of the pic. The skin colour looks a little off to me as well, but its not bad.

Peter

[Peter S]

Had a quick go at this. The skin tones still not perfect but still not too bad.
Coloured with Akvis Coloriage Plug-in, lots of noise still in there to remove like I said this was a very quick job.

Peter

[imann08]

I appreciate the feedback. I agree with the tie and tried to bring that back.

Peter: With the color I'm just sticking with a gray suit and the black and white tie cause I think that was the original color. I tried blue originally but moved away from it. I think you went too far with the skin color. I also think that the lips look like they have lipstick on them. I'm trying to get away from that. This stuff is so subjective though that it makes it difficult. I'm posting another one but I didn't really change much other than the tie.

My main concern was that it looks much much older and artificially done than my final attachment on the link I have on my first post here. I wasn't sure if this was my fault or if it is due to the photograph. They are only a year apart.

Thanks
Isaac

[Peter S]

Well I did say it was a quick job.

The skin tones look better in this though.

Just a couple of points
I don't think you have followed the Jaw/cheek line properly there appears to be skin colour slightly on the background. A little tidy up would fix that.

And there are signs of oversharpening on the shoulder to the right.

To the left a clean up of the background near the coat edges is needed, it looks a little overblurred.

These are really small points - great job

Peter

[imann08]

I have actually noticed everything you just mentioned I just didn't do anything about it yet. Believe it or not I didn't blur this picture at all. I do need to touch up things a bit though. Color, shading, and highlighting are not strong points for me right now but I'm slowly getting better at it. I'm still a little skeptical about the lip color but it isn't horrible. I don't know if you saw the one in the link that I posted but it is noticeably different than this one. The other one is far more crisp and lifelike. I guess there was only so much I could do with this one.

Isaac

[Cameraken]

Hi Isaac.

My try.
I toned this one right down. Lowering the saturation further than I would normally.

The cyan content in your picture (and the last one) is a little high. Add a curves adjustment and increase the reds very slightly.

Ken

[bart_hickman]

The color looks okay to me--the thing that doesn't look right is his face is the only thing colored. Maybe if his hair had some color to it it would help?

Bart

[Verywierd]

I just reworked your effort. Skin tone adjustment, a little texture in the skin, softened/cleaned the edges and suit. Several layers of selective sharpening.

However, the main adjustment was enhancement/changes in shadow to fit the portrait and single directional lighting.

[imann08]

Bart: There actually is some color in the hair. It's a dark brown. The reason I didn't put it in the jacket, tie, and shirt collar is because it seemed to look fine to me without it.


I'll respond to everyone else shortly.

[imann08]

Ken: I think it's sort of ironic that the initial problem of my last picture was that it was too yellow. Now I'm getting told that I went too cyan. It's hard to get that exact amount that is wanted by others but I think I am pretty close. I think you went a little to far on the contrast but who knows. Part of that looks good I just think it may have gone too far.

VeryWeird: I think you went too red on this one. I don't like expressing my opinion on this stuff because I don't want to seem like I think I know what I'm talking about but I think you went overboard. I learned an awful lot from you on that first one though. That's why I am much closer to start off on with this one. I think that based on people's opinions and what they do to change things I have gotten to a point that is so close that it is only personal opinion that separates us and not me just being plain wrong. That's a good thing to me. I'm going to keep practicing and improving though. I just got pictures of my grandma, mother, and uncle (which this picture is of), back in 1945. After seeing the ones that I did my uncle wants me to color that one so I'll see what I can do. I also got one of my gradfather's senior picture which would be about 1936. Should be fun and I'll show you when they are done.

[Verywierd]

Originally Posted by imann08

VeryWeird: I think you went too red on this one. I don't like expressing my opinion on this stuff because I don't want to seem like I think I know what I'm talking about but I think you went overboard. I learned an awful lot from you on that first one though. That's why I am much closer to start off on with this one. I think that based on people's opinions and what they do to change things I have gotten to a point that is so close that it is only personal opinion that separates us and not me just being plain wrong. That's a good thing to me.

It's your picture and should suit your taste and requirements. Also monitor calibration may differ. Do what you think is right. I was going for something like this (though not quite so extreme):

http://www.time.com/time/personofthe...vers/1992.html