Teen Acne retouch (original pic inside)

Ankh1 · #1 09-24-2007, 06:29 AM

Hey guys!
First off, i LOVE this place, its so packed with info, its a shame its not as active as it should be!

Anyway, i came across this pic, thought it would be an interesting retouch. The guy has acne, once i cleared all that up, i found his skin was very blotchy and uneven...i really struggled here, even in my final outcome i still feel its blotchy!

Sorry the qulaity isnt that great, its really annoying for a forum where the quality of the pics count, that we are restricted to 100kb

I was going for a very clean, healthy look.

Here is the original pic if any of you care to have a shot at it

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/1...ebeforezw3.jpg

Please give me some crits on the image

thankyou

Maakx · #2 09-24-2007, 07:44 AM

my take on this
http://img219.imageshack.us/my.php?i...ezw3dondq8.jpg

Juergen D · #3 09-24-2007, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ankh1

... even in my final outcome i still feel its blotchy!

I don't think so! I feel that the not so perfect look may be more "natural"

Juergen

CathyH · #4 09-24-2007, 11:01 AM

Hi Ankh1, nice photo, but I think you went to far, it is very soft skin, almost like a girls face. I agree with Juergen leave some texture to make it more natural.
Here is the start of what I would do to it.
remove large blemishes with the healing tool then Dodge and burn out the dark patches. That will leave the pores and skin texture.
I also removed some of the magenta color and upped the yellow.

Ankh1 · #5 09-24-2007, 11:15 AM

Cathy, i LOVE your version its very natural. I like allot!

I was going for the mega perfection look, but i can still see how i went too far!

What i still struggle with, is SEEING what im doing, At the time i thought it was okay, now a few hours i look at it again, and it looks way too much! lol.

brafla6 · #6 09-24-2007, 11:21 AM

Here's my take on the whole thing.

critique/criticism please!

http://i20.tinypic.com/rlcjtu.jpg

oltenius · #7 09-24-2007, 11:46 AM

My try.
Dan

CathyH · #8 09-24-2007, 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ankh1

Cathy, i LOVE your version its very natural. I like allot!

I was going for the mega perfection look, but i can still see how i went too far!

What i still struggle with, is SEEING what im doing, At the time i thought it was okay, now a few hours i look at it again, and it looks way too much! lol.

Thanks.
I have the same problem with SEEING. What I find that helps is to save the file and look at it again the next day, it helps to have fresh eyes.

madclark · #9 09-24-2007, 12:50 PM

I personally think your retouch looks great. Levels and sharpness are improved. The colors look realistic and I think the acne retouches work well. I'm one of those people who prefer a more natural look, especially with men, over the grain perfect retouching in beauty ads.

One thing you might try. Do all the acne retouching in a new layer with the healing brush set to "Sample All Layers." That will allow you to keep it separate from the main image. You can then blend the opacity with more control for enhanced realism. You can then even add another layer with even grain over top of all of that to further even the skin tone and you can have opacity control with that as well. I can see some division between skin that has been healed and parts that you've left alone.

Something that may be contributing to the skin seeming more blotchy is your sharpening. It seems to be accentuating it with jpeg artifacts. Use a mask and pull back the areas that are most blotchy.

And one other small thing. I would maybe make a Curves adjustment to bring down the heat on your highlights. Either that or add another layer to tone down the sheen on his forehead and nose.

Hope it helps.

madclark · #10 09-24-2007, 04:40 PM

Well I think the skin is still a little overdone but the combination of uneven tone from acne and bad makeup made it tricky. Here's my take on it.

themusicpoint · #11 09-24-2007, 05:48 PM

Great job, I like the super perfection look, it reminds me of final fantasy

Show me More!!

Mass :-)

Daviskw · #12 09-24-2007, 07:20 PM

One more version just for fun

Butch

duwayne · #13 09-24-2007, 07:52 PM

Here's mine - I used a method I've been working on for sometime. Just started a new thread describing it.

Ankh1 · #14 09-25-2007, 04:19 AM

Guys - If your gonna retouch the picture, at least leave me some crits first, rather than retouching and asking for crits urself lol.

Madclark - You helped allot, thankyou! I will give it another shot useing some of the techniques you mentioned.

Cathy - If im ever on a paid job, i always leave it a day before i send it off as a final.

Duwayne - you did a good job on the acne, but the skin seems to have too much texture for my taste, also the overal picture has this 'hazey/blurry' look to it, which i would tone down.

Daviskw - I really like your version, similar to what i was going for. I would tone down the eyes, and maybe left a lil more shadow.

Ankh1 · #15 09-25-2007, 06:25 AM

Ok, heres my more 'realistic' retouch.

Madclark - I tried useing the healing tool sampling all layers, but i didnt notice any difference, how does it effect all the layers exactly? I remove the blemishes first, so its right of the bottom of the layer stack.

I used very little smoothing this time, and more stamp tool.

What do you guys think of this one?