Photo Retouching - - Pageant Retouching - Warning - VERY Beginner

Jackson5mom · #1 12-27-2005, 02:38 PM

I'm learning how to do this to help out a friend of mine whose daughter is into the pageant thing. So, I'm practicing on a picture of my own daughter. Please ignore the lacking depth of field and PLEASE PLEASE help about teeth.

Thanks.

Frank Lopes · #2 12-27-2005, 02:51 PM

What do want to do with the teeth? Add the missing one?
Make them bigger? Whiter?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jackson5mom

I'm learning how to do this to help out a friend of mine whose daughter is into the pageant thing. So, I'm practicing on a picture of my own daughter. Please ignore the lacking depth of field and PLEASE PLEASE help about teeth.

Thanks.

Jackson5mom · #3 12-27-2005, 03:50 PM

Thanks Frank. I'm looking to fill them in. Thanks.

Frank Lopes · #4 12-27-2005, 05:08 PM

:-)

It was just a question... I didn't mean to imply that you should do it...
You should only do it if YOU think you should do it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jackson5mom

Thanks Frank. I'm looking to fill them in. Thanks.

crazypatsgirl · #5 12-27-2005, 06:43 PM

I will be honest and this retouch is not national level...do a search, there is alot to learn here. I do pageant retouching, and I have a custom brush I made for the eyelashes...and they are perfect. There is alot here, so keep practicing, practicing, practicing, and you will get there.

bart_hickman · #6 12-28-2005, 01:42 AM

You could spend a lot of time on somthing like this. I spent over 10 minutes on just the teeth (didn't do anything else).

I split the original into two layers. I used the background eraser to erase the parts of her mouth without clearly visible teeth on the top layer (first picture). Then inserted three layers between these two layers. A layer to paint the new teeth on (using clone). Then a lighten layer and a darken layer (these are for making fine adjustments to fix sloppy cloning--got this general idea from Flora. Allows for more controlled and natural-looking adjustments than painting directly.) (2nd picture shows layer palette). Third picture is the final result. If you want *straight* teeth, better get an artist! If tried anything like that, it'd come out looking fake.

Bart

Jackson5mom · #7 12-28-2005, 07:07 AM

Thanks for everyone's time.

briarrose · #8 12-28-2005, 07:10 AM

Filling in the teeth (depending on where you're wanting to fill in!) can actually be pretty straightforward. I just did the lower teeth, filling in two (I'm not sure that I would've made that choice as an artist--but I'm using them as an example of how to fill in missing teeth--and you can use your own judgement of how and when to do it.)

Just select the lower teeth, using the lasso tool, then feather your selection by 1 pixel. CTRL + C to copy the selection, then CTRL + V to paste the copy on a new layer.

I then used the transform tool (CTRL + T) to move the copy over where I wanted to position a missing tooth, and to rotate it slightly, as well. I flipped the copy horizontally, and then stretched the copy slightly, until I had a tooth sitting in the first gap I wanted to fill in, then applied the transformation by hitting "Enter".

I then put a layer mask on the copy's layer, by hitting the little "circle within a square" icon, at the bottom left of the layer palette, and painted on the layer mask, using a small, soft brush, and the color black, to "erase" the extra teeth on the copy.

I then hit CTRL + V again, to paste my original seletion on another new layer, and follow the same steps, (transform tool, then removing extra teeth with a layer mask) on the new layer, to fill in the missing tooth on the other side of her mouth.

The total time to do the two teeth, exactly as in my sample post, without doing anything else, was about 2 minutes.

You can modify the shadows or highlights on the "new teeth" (I didn't bother--but you definitely should!) by creating new layers and sampling colors from the other teeth, and painting in new shadows or highlights on the new layers, to add realism. (Set your brush mode to "color", and your brush opacity to 23% or so, when you paint, to keep from making the paint look too thick and unnatural.) (You can also use this method to reshape her teeth slightly--even them up a bit--just gradually paint the edge of the tooth away, on a separate layer, sampling continuously from nearby colors.)

Jackson5mom · #9 12-28-2005, 07:52 AM

Thank you Briarrose a million times over...that was a PERFECT explanation & I truly appreciate it.

Now, let's all understand a few things. First, my daughter is beautiful...absolutely perfect...wouldn't change a thing. In fact, the longer she stays little (toothless) the better. I'm using her picture to practice on...PRACTICE ON. And, I'm practicing for something that A LOT of people do. They don't retouch these photos to hang on the mantle and pretend their children look like this. It's a competition at pageants...in fact, the comp is usually called glamour retouched...It's more about the graphic artist than the child. They also compete with normal headshots. So, before you freak out, learn.

Cassidy · #10 12-28-2005, 08:13 AM

This subject is pretty subjective and fairly emotive, child protection issues etc., acordingly think it needs to be seen that this is a market, just like any market with demand and supply. Children are a very emotive subject. It is not personal. As pointed out by another, baby doll is the quest. Those of us who have children (me I have 6) find this type of artwork somewhat obscene, but despite that you are catering to a market where there is demand. Please don't take it personally, as it is not personal....and yes she is a perfect baby doll

briarrose · #11 12-28-2005, 08:38 AM

Glad to help! :-)

For what it's worth...pageant retouching is one of those subjects that really seems to get people going, whenever it's brought up here. There are, I believe several people on this forum who do pageant retouching, with varying degrees of skill--but it seems to be something that everyone has an opinion on! I honestly don't think that people mean to put anyone else down...but folks can get very emotional and protective when they think of someone wanting to "improve" a little cutie like your daughter, even when it's only practicing. (Just didn't want you to feel it was anything personal--it's a controversial subject. :-/)

(And your daughter IS a little cutie pie! She looks like a joy to be around--I surely do envy you! :-))

briarrose · #12 12-28-2005, 08:42 AM

Whoops--Cassidy beat me to the concilatory explanation! :-) (6 kids, Cass???? And you still have time to play here? You must be a time management whiz!!!

)

Cassidy · #13 12-28-2005, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by briarrose

Whoops--Cassidy beat me to the concilatory explanation! :-) (6 kids, Cass???? And you still have time to play here? You must be a time management whiz!!!

)

rofl briarrose, maybe this is my release, lol

briarrose · #14 12-28-2005, 08:56 AM

Well, I'm sure you've earned that release time!!!!

Flora · #15 12-28-2005, 12:34 PM

Hi everybody,

Jackson5mom,

Welcome to RP!

yes, Pageant is a very controversial topic here at RP .... and many members feel very strongly about it and, even though personally I don't like the idea of making sweet little girls look very grown up and heavily made up, I agree with what you said, pageant retouching is

Quote:

something that A LOT of people do. They don't retouch these photos to hang on the mantle and pretend their children look like this. It's a competition at pageants...in fact, the comp is usually called glamour retouched...It's more about the graphic artist than the child.

. Grafx, one of our Members, is a professional Pageant retoucher ... you might find this Thread quite interesting as there she gives important tips on the topic.

That said, I also worked on the picture of your very, very sweet little daughter ... actually on her teeth only ... using the copy&paste technique and the liquify filter.