Skin Retouch - inspired by GodMother's video

[pixelzombie]

Originally Posted by mrbeagle

ok I'm back for more....
I went for a whole different workflow this time trying to take some of the advice in the thread (thanks all by the way!)

soooo I dialed everything way down (well tried to). It's funny this morning I swore that was the best retouch I've done. I came back tonight and looked and it and I could see it was blotchy as hell. I see what you guys mean about leaving and coming back after a few minutes.

anyway, here is a new before after with the same image.

thanks

what was the workflow that you used the 2nd time?

[mrbeagle]

ok here is the latest round based on Chris's comments. I'm still not exactly sure how to best color correct the skin. I tried following the cmyk points on her forhead and cheek but it just looked too red so I tried to eyeball it which probably isn't correct.

[cricket1961]

You can probably get away with desat the face with it set to desat blend mode at 50%. THen adjust the color from her cheek to a good balance and add some sat back in. Watch out for the teeth whites though.
Also, I just noticed that the bottom lip has a blue cast on it from the corner over.
The color of the latest is going over to the green side.
I assume you are doing the diagonal line and lashes later? The left eye looks better. The left eye might be a little to sharp, or it can just be because it is a jpg.

[Hello_taipan]

i tried to retouch lips lately (forum princess ice contest XD ) the result was so good it ended in the trash can. SOoo..., i tried many ways :

i started with a path with the pen tool to get a nice selection, then Hue/saturation which im not too fond of. so i tried color balance and even selective color in desperate atempt.

The thing is this: that does change color of the lip, ok. the result was fake and flat lips which i tried to enhance painting highlights and accentuate the shadows. what i got was a good look for new orleans carnival but not much of a pro retouch result...

what am i doing wrong ? where do i get warmer/cold ?

[cricket1961]

Not a huge fan of a direct saturation/desaturation move either. But did you try using a sat adj layer sset to color or saturation?
Better results nearly all the time.

Chris

Originally Posted by Hello_taipan

i tried to retouch lips lately (forum princess ice contest XD ) the result was so good it ended in the trash can. SOoo..., i tried many ways :

i started with a path with the pen tool to get a nice selection, then Hue/saturation which im not too fond of. so i tried color balance and even selective color in desperate atempt.

The thing is this: that does change color of the lip, ok. the result was fake and flat lips which i tried to enhance painting highlights and accentuate the shadows. what i got was a good look for new orleans carnival but not much of a pro retouch result...

what am i doing wrong ? where do i get warmer/cold ?

[Hello_taipan]

just tried color/saturation mode... that works fantastic.
thanks a lot chris

[cricket1961]

glad it worked for you Taipan

Chris

[superkoax]

chris: You are amazing contributer to this site...thanks for sharing, man! Everyday I visit to get tips/hints on how to do stuff!


cheers

gerry

[superkoax]

here is my attempt...

curves, softlight layer coloring, Clone, heal, d&b...around 20 different layers...

anybody have anything to say...please say it! I'm open for suggestions good or bad

gerry

[JMB]

I think you could just let a lit bit of her overseer appearing....

But the whole thing is pretty good
I like it!

=)

[edgework]

Originally Posted by JMB

I think you could just let a lit bit of her overseer appearing....

But the whole thing is pretty good
I like it!

=)

The problem with a "pretty good" job is that the stuff that's left (that oh-so-crucial 5% that separates "pretty good" from "perfect") stands out all the more, all those things that the eye is drawn to, that you don't want calling attention to themselves.

The diagonal artifact along the top her nose is the most serious and blinds all to the nicely done cheeks and forehead. It's the first thing you see, and after that the game simply becomes a contest to find what else has been missed.

The shadow along her right eye has way too much going on. Needs to be simplified. There are actually four different levels of shadow there, forming an interesting little design in themselves, but not one you want competing with the work you've done.

That dark spot at the tip of her notril will attract a red pen like flies to dead meat. The shadow area under her nose is a little too obvious, also.

There are some irregularities along the top of her lip.

I see some stripes under her bottom lip.

As for the overall smoothing, I think it's gone too far. The comment that usually accompanies a shot like this is "Knock back" rather than "Remove," or "Smooth." Sometimes a sharp edge is there because it defines a shape. It's important to know what to keep, as well as what to remove.

That harsh shadow along the right side of her nose and mouth is there because her face has an actual contour that has been lost in your version. The problem is as much one of lighting as it is of wrinkles and irregular surfaces. Even though you want to compensate for the lighting, you want to keep a sense of that original shape. Likewise the stuff going on under her eyes.

One thing I like to do (at a step early on in the retouch process) is to simply obliterate everything with the healing brush, then pop the original wrinkles and shadows on top of the retouched layer and blend them in at a greatly reduced opacity. it's always a judgment call as to what goes, what simply gets reduced, what gets blended.

For example, there is a stray wrinkle beside her nose branching off from the main shadow. Clearly, that should go. Likewise the overly complicated edge of the shadow at the corner of her mouth. "Simplify" is the term usually used. As for the wrinkle/dimple on her cheek; it should definitely be knocked back, but an equal case can be made for doing it your way.

Overall, I think there is a much more interesting shape to her cheek in the original, imperfections notwithstanding. The muting of both highlight and shadows has lost that. It's gone flat, not just in terms of color and value, but in the actual Z-axis, the dimensionality of it. In the original, her cheek actually curves out towards the viewer. Those are some high-end cheekbones in there! You've kept some of that shape, and done a decent job of smoothing (though I'm seeing more texture in the original, albeit irregular texture) but, as I said before, I just think you've gone too far.

Good effort.

[JMB]

The problem with a "pretty good" job is that the stuff that's left (that oh-so-crucial 5% that separates "pretty good" from "perfect") stands out all the more, all those things that the eye is drawn to, that you don't want calling attention to themselves.

I see your point edge, aim always for the perfect! I'm learning that

[Hello_taipan]

ok, been reading aaall posts from shellby byro chris godmother etc etc. i collected aaaall posts about skin retouch..i guess..So i came back on this image (first version didnt satisfy me) ..sorry for those who got tired of seeing it.

tell me what it lacks, what i forgot. (anatomy, contrast, technique whatever..)
and what u think of the photo too (centering/crop/lighting/composition..)

3 versions : original, retouched, and detailed.

[KR1156]

there's just something about that bulging eyeball. (present in the original)

-if you try to reduce the size of the eye, it will not match up with the left one, and look totally fake. Maybe if you match the white parts of both eyes to a relatively close density, the right eye won't stand out so much.

just a suggestion.

**if you care about this shot, and really want to clean it up, try getting rid of these strays, it will make the image look cleaner.

[superkoax]

the hair is what I see as an immediate thing here...when you get that under control the "framing" of the face would be calmer...IMO...

gerry