Critique Retouch

[CoreyByas]

I did this retouch. I used a photo supplied by a thread on this site & I can't find/remember where I got this. I was just trying for a general retouch, not glamour.

Off the top of my head, some of the things that was done;
- hair(s): added & darkend
- touched up eyes
- lips lightened & enlarged a bit
- arm liquify
- skin blemishes fixed/softened/tried to bring back skin texture
- lighting effect
- added a little blur around outer part mainly

I plan to post this outside this site. Just for diplay. They will be watermarked. I need to find where i got this so credit can be given as well.

[grannysdc]

Your photo came from here: Glamour retouch challenge here!!!!

It looks pretty good .. the one thing that stands out is the whiteness of the eyes and the dark shadows left under the eyes.. Learning Make-up application might help your Retouching some and enhance the Models.

[CoreyByas]

Thanx, a bunch for critiquing/help. I have been trying to do some make-up application but I'm finding it a little difficult when it comes to applying & colours to use. I'm sure I will work out the kinks though. I do wonder about the whites of the eyes at times. Darkness under eyes, good. Thanx so much!

Oh, thanx for knowing were it came from too!

[0lBaldy]

Hi Corey, hope you enjoy your visits here even if this critique seems a little rough, don't let it put you off.. it is only my little way of trying to help you improve..

I will only point out some major things that stood out to me.. Splotchiness, discoloration, unevenness of skin color and tone and missed areas..

It is all in the details...

[Markzebra]

don't agree with all of those markups unless you want to polish even more of the life out of it. In some areas you have already gone too far

[0lBaldy]

Yea, you are probably right Markzebra.. I looked at it at 4 in the morning after a long day and had my magnification at 200% when I went over the picture.
I may have been to critical and might have just been seeing some low res artifacts.. T'was a long night and I didn't get my nap yesterday!
What I saw in the forehead and nose was blotchy spots, beside the nose a reddish pimply area, the neck and chin area looked purplish to me, the arm and chest had rough color transitions and looked a bit splotchy, the lips looked undone and that bright spot beside the eye was distracting to me...
Sooo, If I was to harsh... I apologize to Corey.

[Markzebra]

Actually you went too far all over, she needs more texture, looks honestly like a blurring or high pass or something over the whole surface has gone on. You have removed all form and texture from the wrong places ie under the eyes - the objective isn't, or shouldn't be to just arbitarily without looking, polish everything until its featureless shop dummy.

[CoreyByas]

I don't mind the harshness. I just would like to get it right. I wish a lot of other people would say something. Around here I get, thats good (or what ever), so there things I'm not sure what I need to work on. Some of the things you guys have said I've never heard that before. So finally! Thank you, really! (I am trying to find larger images to practise on too.)

[Markzebra]

Thats a good attitude Corey, your welcome

[TommyO]

Corey,
The hard part of critiquing is trying to determine what someone has done, where they stopped, and what level of retouch they were trying to achieve. That may be why you sometimes get vague feedback.

However, you did tell us this time that is was a "general" retouch. But, we don't know what that means either. I can guess that you were not trying for perfection.

With that said, yes, you went a bit far on the skin for a "general" retouch (even for a glamour retouch). I can see where her face posed some challenges. Her skin there is much different that in other areas. So, you're stuck between fixing it to match or leaving the texture alone.

I will say that your overall goals for the image were good and you knew where you were going to target the corrections. That's all good. I would simply work more on the skin techniques you use, as well as self critiquing your work as you progress. No sense in spending all that time on an item, simply to find out later you could have stopped 2 hours earlier. The same goes for the eyes... too white. So, there is ample opportunity to save some time on those "general" retouches !

[CoreyByas]

Thanx for your input, appreciate it!

[SEP Studios]

Your fleshtones have red hotspots. One goes from her left cheek to the side of her nose. There are more on her forehead, lip, and a bit on her left arm.

View the red channel on your file, you'll see them clearly. They show up as white blotchy areas with 0% tone. You want to have at least 1 or 2% tone in these areas, maybe more.

In RGB, its very noticeable (at least to me). However, if this image went to print it wouldn't necessarily be a problem because CMYK has such a smaller gamut range. A SWOP standard proof would be in order if this were a professional assignment.

Otherwise, I think a little of the character of her face has been lost, probably from changing the contour of her nose. You want to resist changing the structural aspects of a face, unless that's one of the parameters of the job.

I agree with some of the comments on the skin smoothness, but would also add that it looks a bit over-saturated. You also picked up a bit of dark halo on her left shoulder.

Scott

[CoreyByas]

Thanks for the help! I sure hope the next one will be better! hehehe