[mrbeagle]

I tried to use some of the godmother techniques based on her video. Was hoping to get a little feedback on the skin retouch so far. She's right on one comment I read.. you're never done dodging and burning, man I have like 15 layers of curve adjustments already.

[KR1156]

calm down on your sharpening.

i can't even remember last beauty shot that i even sharpened at all. at lest globally.

[mrbeagle]

hmm how about this? I took off the sharpen layer....

[CathyH]

it is better without the sharpen layer, but her eyes need more work, the far one is to dark, and the other is still blood shoot and has some weird gray patches in them.

[mrbeagle]

here's another edit with the pores dialed down a tad and a tad whiter on the eyes....

[KR1156]

yea but theres still a lot of things needed to be fixed…

hair is clipped, skin is too yellow, lips also, 3/4's are really yellow.

some teeth are blueish, even though they lye in the under the sahdow, they should be more uniform in color.

front eye need major work, back eye is completely clogged, open up that heavy black you have going on.

those aare just the mojor things i see right away, why dont you just try cleaning up the blemishes, and color correcting things, as well as fix the eyes.

to me that would look better than such a heavy rtouch.

i'd rather have no retouching on my images than bad retouching. (i.e. fake skin techniques)

[Ziaphra]

Originally Posted by KR1156

GOOD STUFF HERE

i'd rather have no retouching on my images than bad retouching. (i.e. fake skin techniques)

I think this is uncalled for and quite rude.

[KR1156]

i also like to do these like 5-15 min images to practice.

take a couple of images, spend only 5min, or 10min, or 15min, depending on your speed, do quick cleanup, quickly mask the skin, do your D&B, and adjust color, and overall linearization to the image to your liking. then stop.

show to others to critique, if you have photogrpaher friends even better, and see what they say, this helps improve your eye, since you only have 10min to work on it, it tests your skills to see the main problematic areas, and what would improve the image best. just helps you to really see the image as a whole and not worry about every litle area.

[KR1156]

Ziaphra, i didn't mean that in a rude way, and it wasnt directed to that person's particular retouching or image.

i am working and typing really fast so i'm not making myself very clear at times, so a lot of my comments are a little cryptic.

i was just trying to make the point, that a lot of ppl on here also do, about skin techniques. when it looks obviously retouched, it doesn't look good.
-so, by not having that overly done rtouching, actually looks better, to me anyway. maybe i should have stated it better.

i'm sur most will agree.

sorry if you took that the wrong way beagle. but it wasn't meant that way!

[mrbeagle]

no that's cool, I appreciate the honest feedback.

[Ziaphra]

I do know what you mean but tactless comments (meant or not) via the anonymity of the internet still dig, especially when one is trying so hard to learn.

[mrbeagle]

my workflow on this one....

Duplicate background
Created a new layer for healing
Healed all the major blemishes, pimples, etc
Did some de-grunging
Started dodging and burning with curves layers (about 15 of em)
Desaturate adjustment layer
Selective color to bring down the yellows and reds

this was my first attempt at degrunging and dodge and burn so I'm still trying to get the hang of all the tweaks.

[Ant]

Originally Posted by Ziaphra

I do know what you mean but tactless comments (meant or not) via the anonymity of the internet still dig, especially when one is trying so hard to learn.

Who made you the Polite Police? stfu already.

[KR1156]

try the image again, this time using the same workflow, but excluding the degrunge step, and using only 2 curves for D&B. keep them in a folder, often, especially when starting out, your d&b'ing will be very heavy, you can bring the opacity of you d&b folder down a bit to like 70%, will bring back some natural look.

*use your desat layer to bring down the reds & yellows, no need for selective layer.

if you like to build some color back up, add a curve set to color mode to introduce some color back into the skin if it starts looking too desat. and flat. just watch out it doesn't look to monotone.

[Ziaphra]

Originally Posted by Ant

Who made you the Polite Police? stfu already.

..and you're another one...you are a talented but petty small minded person. Such a shame.