Photo Retouching - - Hello! My introduction here...

andreschneider · #1 09-19-2007, 09:07 PM

Hello everybody,

I just signed up on the forum and wanted to say hello... I also am posting a retouch I did and I wanted to know what do you guys think... Good, bad, terrible, great? What can I improve?

Thanks!

Andre

Original

Retouched

edgework · #2 09-20-2007, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by andreschneider

Hello everybody,

I just signed up on the forum and wanted to say hello... I also am posting a retouch I did and I wanted to know what do you guys think... Good, bad, terrible, great? What can I improve?

Thanks!

Andre

Original

Retouched

Doesn't look like you did very much.

This is a good thing. Restraint is one of the unsung Holy Grails of retouching.

You might consider doing even less. It looks like you took down the intensity of the pores, particularly along her right cheek. I'd say split the difference between where you were when you finished your basic retouching passes, and whatever it is you did to soften the pores. Of course, I recognize that is just a judgment call. However, check out the area above her left eyebrow, into the center of her forehead; I think that has definitely gone too soft.

There's more to be done, depending on the final intent. The bulbous area along her nose could be straightened; there is way too much going on in the whole area under her right eye, irregularities in value that a dodge & burn pass could help a lot. In fact, if you're able to divorce yourself from the work you've already put into it and just stare at it, as though you're coming to it cold, you'll see all manner of areas crying out for dodging and burning. And if you do three more passes, you'll eventually find a reason to go back for a fourth. Eventually you have to stop, but I'd say at least one good pass is called for.

Nice subtle color move from the original. Overall, good instincts and nice work.

superkoax · #3 09-20-2007, 12:27 PM

I must say that this was a very nice picture...your retouch was nice...I would def follow edgeworks advice here...he has the eye that we are training up

Welcome to RetouchPRO.com enjoy it!

I made my own attempt...I like it...maybe the red in the forehead was abit too much? i see that know...

cheers

gerry

stosh7 · #4 09-20-2007, 02:32 PM

Can't resist a pretty girl

Here's my take on it. I felt that the pores really detracted from the image so I used ByRo's degrunge technique. Also adjustged levels, curves, saturation to fine tune the skin color.

what do you think?

Stosh

AdamZx3 · #5 09-20-2007, 08:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by superkoax

I must say that this was a very nice picture...your retouch was nice...I would def follow edgeworks advice here...he has the eye that we are training up

Welcome to RetouchPRO.com enjoy it!

I made my own attempt...I like it...maybe the red in the forehead was abit too much? i see that know...

cheers

gerry

Hehe she looks radioactive

andreschneider · #6 09-21-2007, 08:45 AM

Thanks everybody for your input! I'll try to go back to the photo and apply the comments here, and I'll post it back!

Gerry, I think she's too yellow now... And I think she's too pale on Stosh's version... :-) But I'll play around with her a bit more and will post it here later!

Andre

superkoax · #7 09-21-2007, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adamzx3

Hehe she looks radioactive

by that you mean to much color??..hehe

SCHNEIDER: Ok, I was trying a different approach here...but I have made a new version cuting down on the yellow! and WOW, what was I thinking?!?!?!?!?!?? LOLOLOLOL!!!

So here it its!

better?

gerry

AdamZx3 · #8 09-21-2007, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by superkoax

by that you mean to much color??..hehe

SCHNEIDER: Ok, I was trying a different approach here...but I have made a new version cuting down on the yellow! and WOW, what was I thinking?!?!?!?!?!?? LOLOLOLOL!!!

So here it its!

better?

gerry

Much better! Must have been one of those I need to give my eyes a break moments

.. For my taste I would still tone it down a bit more...but take it with a grain of salt, I don't really trust my monitor, the ups man should be bringing my eizo within the hour

. (he better or else lol)

superkoax · #9 09-21-2007, 03:39 PM

Adam: Miss my Eizo! gave it away to my little brother! That screen was very good! So Eizo is the thing to use when retouching!?

gerry

edgework · #10 09-21-2007, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by superkoax

by that you mean to much color??..hehe

SCHNEIDER: Ok, I was trying a different approach here...but I have made a new version cuting down on the yellow! and WOW, what was I thinking?!?!?!?!?!?? LOLOLOLOL!!!

So here it its!

better?

gerry

Big improvement.

Try this: dupe your image and convert to CMYK. Set a curve adjustment layer in luminosity mode and pull your magenta quartertones down a bit, while anchoring your three-quartertones and shadows. Your color is okay, but you don't have enough detail going on. It's flat. This is always a good trick with flat skin tones. It will get a little squirrely with major moves, but for contrast tweaks, nothing works as well. (it has to be the magenta curve, and it has to be luminosity mode.) See what you think.

http://edgework.tripod.com/samples/contrast_curve.gif

(couldn't get the attach upload to work so I linked the curve here.

Note: when you convert to CMYK you'll lose all your detail in the red cloth. Mask it out of your adjusted layer when you pull it back to your RGB original.

superkoax · #11 09-21-2007, 04:22 PM

edge: Thanks for replying and giving me this tip! what you wrote here made me go whaaat?? But when I tried it i was like WOOOW! Big difference! thanks!

A couple of questions i sit with no is:

When changing from RGB to CMYK can I change it back to rgb without loosing my new curves effect?

And when changing this from rgb to cmyk and/or back again will I destroy elements within the picture?
Since I need to flatten the image to convert to CMYK I'm left with a flattened picture with no layers...

cheers

Gerry

pixel_monkey · #12 09-21-2007, 04:37 PM

Andre, I like what you've done so far. The idea of "less is more" is always favorable in retouching.

Quote:

Originally Posted by superkoax

Adam: Miss my Eizo! gave it away to my little brother! That screen was very good! So Eizo is the thing to use when retouching!?
gerry

Gerry, I'd never trust any monitor coming straight out of the box and do color work with it without having it properly calibrated. I use Pantone Eye-One Display 2 to do that job, but I believe that they discontinued this product and replaced it with Huey Pro and it's only half the price. As for monitors, I still prefer CRT over flat panel. I just can't get the true black out of the flat panel ones that I've come across. Maybe the top of the line flat panel monitors nowadays offer superior quality, but they probably cost an arm and a leg. I'm still using my good old LaCie Electron Blue CRT 22" display at home. It still serves really well after all these years and still very easy on my eyes. At work, we use Mitsubishi Diamond Pro CRT monitors.

edgework · #13 09-21-2007, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by superkoax

edge: Thanks for replying and giving me this tip! what you wrote here made me go whaaat?? But when I tried it i was like WOOOW! Big difference! thanks!

A couple of questions i sit with no is:

When changing from RGB to CMYK can I change it back to rgb without loosing my new curves effect?

And when changing this from rgb to cmyk and/or back again will I destroy elements within the picture?
Since I need to flatten the image to convert to CMYK I'm left with a flattened picture with no layers...

cheers

Gerry

That's why I said dupe it. Convert a copy of your finished RGB to CMYK for further tweaking. When you're done in CMYK, drag it back onto your RGB layer stack. It will convert automatically.

Yes. You will destroy some elements. As I pointed out, you will lose most detail in the red cloth to her left. The subtleties of the different shades of red are creating detail more than dark and light variations and those shades are missing in CMYK. That's why I said mask out the adjusted cloth. All you're interested in is the skin, and CMYK is a better space for fine tuning skin.

AdamZx3 · #14 09-21-2007, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by superkoax

Adam: Miss my Eizo! gave it away to my little brother! That screen was very good! So Eizo is the thing to use when retouching!?

I've been told by several people that the higher end Eizo's are the best lcd's you can get. They are internally calibrated and are tethered to the mac with a usb cable, so they dont use the video card to modify the color. I use the eye-one display2 to calibrate. I have the 24" CE coloredge, but the CG series coloredge are the cream of the crop ranging anywhere from $2000-$5000 , mine was about $700 cheaper than the CG and has near the same gamut. It does have some falloff when not viewed directly (like standing close, above the screen) if I ever freelance then the more expensive models could be a viable choice but I am very happy with mine, 1000 times better than my old 22" acer lcd!

Can't compare it to a high end crt...I can't even find those anymore.

Thanks edgework for the tip! will go down on my mental list of tricks!

MatthewMarshall · #15 09-22-2007, 02:22 AM

hay i think you did a great job!