Dont be nice!

[MatthewMarshall]

I edited this stock image (from sxc.hu), for fun. i have edited photographs for almost 10 years. I need you guys to be hard on me. Dont be nice at all!!! help me find my flaws.

[MatthewMarshall]

here are some at the photos 100% resolution.

[saby]

Hi Matt,

the flat colored skin was nicely saturated, a bit more than it needed(IMHO), the eyes got better shades, good work, more contrast on all, what else i could suggest

saby

[kiltacticon]

I am mostly going to admire your color shift. I like the cyan black dress alot against the more vivid red. Like the contrast.
As for flaws to improve on... After looking at the image a bit closer and at 100 percent res., The lips in that dark spot was a little soft and the outline little as a whole could have been neater on the opposite end. Is it possible to minimize the dark spot with out losing the shape of the lips?

Also on full res, the dress has two color spots.

[edgework]

Don't be nice, eh? Well, I don't want to be mean, but I'll strive for accuracy. That work?

First the retouching: you've left some of the crucial imperfections untouched, as in the harsh shadows on her chin, the veins in her forehead and the shadow along the side of her nose, which has actually gotten worse. The lines in her face should be softened.

As for color, you've determined that her skin is too pale, though, I'm not sure that's correct. She seems a pasty-faced type and some people just don't get out in the sun. But we'll say the tones need some weight. Your solution is wholly unbelievable.

In the center of her forehead, the original is reading 3C, 15M, 16Y. (CMYK readouts are cleaner, partiuclarly in areas where color really matters, than RGB). Those numbers are a textbook formula for caucasian skin tones, with Cyan coming in around 20% of magenta and yellow running slightly ahead of magenta. In your version, cyan has been eliminated altogether while magenta and yellow have increased to around 25%. This is more or less what has happened over the whole face, and it creates a hot orange that might be realistic after a nuclear accident but not for a pretty face like hers.

In addition, you've increased the tones without paying attention to the contrast, and so the shape has been lost. Gotta keep those highlights and shadows in the same relationship to each other. And what's with that dead zone running down the center of her nose, where a believable highlight used to be?

I wanted to increase magenta and yellow as well, but she's fairly deficient in cyan, though moreso in M and Y (hence her white/neutral hue). I played a couple of tricks on Photoshop, forcing it to give me a much more robust cyan/red plate, which allowed me to increase values across the board without throwing things out of whack. (I copied my red plate, made a duplicate of the file which I converted to CMYK, substituted my red plate for the awful cyan plate and converted back to RGB.) I probably could have done something similar with curves, but this was faster and works and guarantees that the additional cyan will be actual color, not something pumped through the green or blue plates (Selective Color, or Channel Mixer). Of course all that unexpected cyan ruins the reds elsewhere, so I masked everything but the skin in the revised layer back in RGB. Now there was a sufficient amount of cyan to allow the magenta and yellow to increase without throwing things out of whack.

Of couse I would do all my retouching first, then make the color moves. And, this is assuming we want to make her skin redder. That might not be the best way to go, letting contrast moves do the work. It's a judgment call.

http://edgework.tripod.com/samples/RedBench.jpg

[emilylt87]

One thing i noticed: either add in an earring or remove the hole in her ear. other than that i love it!

www.myspace.com/kissofglamour

[mayday]

I wanted to increase magenta and yellow as well, but she's fairly deficient in cyan, though moreso in M and Y (hence her white/neutral hue). I played a couple of tricks on Photoshop, forcing it to give me a much more robust cyan/red plate, which allowed me to increase values across the board without throwing things out of whack. (I copied my red plate, made a duplicate of the file which I converted to CMYK, substituted my red plate for the awful cyan plate and converted back to RGB.) I probably could have done something similar with curves, but this was faster and works and guarantees that the additional cyan will be actual color, not something pumped through the green or blue plates (Selective Color, or Channel Mixer). Of course all that unexpected cyan ruins the reds elsewhere, so I masked everything but the skin in the revised layer back in RGB. Now there was a sufficient amount of cyan to allow the magenta and yellow to increase without throwing things out of whack.

Of couse I would do all my retouching first, then make the color moves. And, this is assuming we want to make her skin redder. That might not be the best way to go, letting contrast moves do the work. It's a judgment call.

Edgework thats a great way of doing it, cyan is the key to holding the shape of the image. Great tip!

[plattepro]

Great Job, this retouch is amazing (I think the above covered ANY flaws) - Hey, I just voted for you in the Sept contest - Good Luck!

[CathyH]

Hi Matt, this is the mock up I did for myself a while back.
I hope this helps. I'm not a professional, but I'm learned a lot on this site.

[edgework]

Originally Posted by CathyH

Hi Matt, this is the mock up I did for myself a while back.
I hope this helps. I'm not a professional, but I'm learned a lot on this site.

Nice.

Would love to see the finished version as the same size as the original.

[MatthewMarshall]

Originally Posted by CathyH

Hi Matt, this is the mock up I did for myself a while back.
I hope this helps. I'm not a professional, but I'm learned a lot on this site.

The part when you say "a while back" sounds like you have edited the photo in the past. Its a very nice photograph. are you the original photographer or have you edited the image for sxc.hu? or do you just mean that this is the way you edit photos?

[CathyH]

It was in this threat http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/pho...touch-fun.html.
I'm not the photographer, just did it for practice.

I'll work on uploading it to a larger site.

[roundrock]

I love your color correction as well -- unnaturally oversaturated, yes ... but wouldn't the world be prettier if it looked like that? I think it's lovely. The lash enhancement and eyebrow cleanup are particularly good -- and did you strengthen the shadows/highlights on the collarbone, or did that come out with the overall color/contrast adjustments? Looks great.

A few details that I think could be improved - as edgework pointed out, you've killed the highlight on the bridge of the nose, and I think you could strengthen the cheekbones by brightening the highlights along the high edge. I think the creases/wrinkles beneath the eyes were left too harsh (don't want to get rid of them entirely, of course, but I'd soften them), and - as was already raised - the hole in the earlobe is a distraction. The biggest issue I had was the heavy lipliner - it's too dark and does not blend into the rest of the lips ... from the original, it looks like it was applied (in real life) with a heavy hand to begin with, but I think it becomes even harsher (esp. along the upper lip) in the retouch. I'd get rid of it altogether, use a new layer to redefine a clean, defined lipline (with a steady hand), and then use either the smudge brush or a gaussian blur to blend it into the lips, finally adjusting the layer's opacity as necessary. I can see (here and in other retouches that you've posted) that you're fantastic with makeup ... and as you know, applying it in photoshop should not be all that different than applying it in real life (hence the importance of the right shade, clean & steady lines, and a good amount of smudging into the rest of the lipcolor!).

[MatthewMarshall]

lol i had no idea you all had edited this photo in the past. im such a newbee here. thank you so far for all the ideas. I will have my new version on here soon.