Retouch this Picture to your hearts content

[204studios]

Originally Posted by aartist

Normally I only do restoration work.
My first time working with a beautiful girl.
Gosh how I like them!

Maybe I should venture into retouching.
The girls sure do look pretty.
Thanks for the fun...

at first glance I'd say that the compression is a little strong resulting in artifacting reducing detail. I'd say to everyone who didn't upload a full res file somewhere other the retouch pro so we can all appreciate the work were doing. with that said I couldn't really tell how much skin smoothing you did or didn't do so i'll skip that. note: i used save for web, jpg at 25% size with a compression value of around 46.

Fly aways are great it seems like everyone who attempted the removal of hair did a great job.

You attempted to slim down the nose but because the shot was a 3/4 angle it takes a little more then just pushing it in with the liquefy tool. It looks odd. Adjusting the shape would take a combination of the liquefy and dodge and burn as much of the shape is subtle shading.

Great attempt at fixing the mouth. I wouldn't say there was anything originally "off" about the mouth.

The overall hue of the skin is a little too orange. Adding a channel mixer adjustment layer and decreasing the red slider, increasing the blue and green a bit. this takes a bit of playing as its not exact. Additionally reducing the vibrance or saturation.

the contrast of the photo is a little low for my taste but that just what it is... my taste. I like a little edgier and contrasty image.

...and that's my 2.5 cents!

Michael

[204studios]

Originally Posted by amica999

Thanks for the play. I am actually not retouching, but I thought I play for practice. Kindly comment if you please

Larger size here: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2522/...4292a279_o.jpg

Just uploaded there for comparison. Will take it down in a few days!

Overall excellent job! I only noticed a few areas that stuck out when viewed full...

around the eyebrows you attempted to clean up the hair and shape the eyebrows. you didn't replace the natural texture of the skin around the areas that you patched. it really isn't obvious enough to fret over. Other then that you left the scar or what ever it is on the models lower right cheek. this is not a huge deal but i did notice it.

i like the color treatment. I kept going back between a warm and cold tone. warm won with me.

Thats about it.

Michael

[ice7]

Originally Posted by 204studios

I have to say i like the "less baked" version alot better. I still think its abit to much. Perhaps reducing the saturation just a bit to reduce the red splotchyness <---i don't know if thats a word. perhaps adjust the red channel on a curves adjustment. but as I said before be careful as this can be tricky as I've found out!

You fixed most if not all the blemishes and areas of question except for the slight bags under her eyes. The skin looks alright. However, a full res version would give me the ability to look alot closer. I'm not sure how much texture you took away.

You cleaned up the flyaway hair very nicely.

This picture is a good example of how Less can be more in the end.

Good job

Michael

thanx, I have to admit I did't do a very precise job as I didn't want to spend more than a couple of hours playing with it. I wanted to get something more than the regular skin-colours, but I'll take a look at the red chan for sure. thanks for the feedback.
I'm attaching a few crops
(although some are compressed at 65% should give better idea about the skin texture)

[204studios]

Originally Posted by ice7

thanx, I have to admit I did't do a very precise job as I didn't want to spend more than a couple of hours playing with it. I wanted to get something more than the regular skin-colours, but I'll take a look at the red chan for sure. thanks for the feedback.
I'm attaching a few crops
(although some are compressed at 65% should give better idea about the skin texture)

Skin texture looks good. compression is hard to deal with but 65% seems to be acceptable. Nice retouch!

Michael

[aartist]

Michael, thanx for the critique.
I figured the color & nose would be the awful truth points.
You didn't disappoint me!

As for skin smoothing, not sure how that is done.
Oh well, I'll stick with restoration and leave retouching to others.

[Nasturtium]

Originally Posted by 204studios

V. artifies, artified, artifying, artification.

To make art.
To apply artistic techniques.

...

Yes, that is what I meant, that members of RetouchPRO were allowed to paint/filter my retouched version if they wanted.

... I would of fixed the bags under her eyes as perfectly smooth skin and bags don't really go together.

....

Thank you everything you said validated what I thought too. Except for what you're calling 'bags' that I missed entirely in my effort to go for a realistic look. I hate what I did with the catchlights and intend to study my stack of old Vogue magazines until I think I can retouch them convincingly.

[keira]

My try
Ty '204studios'

[Gmun]

Having a little fun.....thanks for the shot

[amica999]

Originally Posted by 204studios

Overall excellent job! I only noticed a few areas that stuck out when viewed full...

around the eyebrows you attempted to clean up the hair and shape the eyebrows. you didn't replace the natural texture of the skin around the areas that you patched. it really isn't obvious enough to fret over. Other then that you left the scar or what ever it is on the models lower right cheek. this is not a huge deal but i did notice it.

i like the color treatment. I kept going back between a warm and cold tone. warm won with me.

Thats about it.

Michael

Thank you for pointing out. I must admit I simply forgot to replace the texture under the brows. Have to watch out for this :-)

[mikedimples]

Thanks for the giant picture to play with. Seemed like a good dodge and burn practice. I'm still probably going to work on the skin color tomorrow - it's just not perfect yet. Also I'll fix the banding under the chin.

full size: http://a4.vox.com/6a0110184cd071860f01240b862c7c860e-pi

Critiques welcome!

[aeterius]

It's been a while since I've been to retouchpro.com. I'm currently building my retouching portfolio, so I had to give this one a try. Thanks for providing the original size for retouching, Michael .

Michael, if you don't mind I'd like to include your image in my portfolio. Of course with all credits. Would that be ok?

I didn't try to soften up the skin much, rather clean it up. I hope physical changes are ok with your model, because I did "some" tweaks .

The color isn't meant to be realistic, but kind of desaturated stylized.

Comments are welcome.

Here is a higher res version http://www.karma-design.de/retouchpro.jpg

Cheers,
Karsten

[mikedimples]

nevermind, I'm a raving lunatic.

Nice job Aeterius. Reminded me that I forgot to straighten the teeth on mine. I've also got to give mine a more pleasant expression like yours has. Mine looks pissed in comparison!

[MiningArt]

Another go at it. Brought out the rough instead of hiding it and worked on the makeup a bit.

[204studios]

Originally Posted by aeterius

It's been a while since I've been to retouchpro.com. I'm currently building my retouching portfolio, so I had to give this one a try. Thanks for providing the original size for retouching, Michael .

Michael, if you don't mind I'd like to include your image in my portfolio. Of course with all credits. Would that be ok?

I didn't try to soften up the skin much, rather clean it up. I hope physical changes are ok with your model, because I did "some" tweaks .

The color isn't meant to be realistic, but kind of desaturated stylized.

Comments are welcome.

Here is a higher res version http://www.karma-design.de/retouchpro.jpg

Cheers,
Karsten

Karsten,

Overall great job! clean, smooth and free of annoying flyaway hair. You fixed the mouth very well. it looks like it was shot that way. Not sure about leaving the laugh lines on the left side as the skin was smoothed alittle too much to make a laugh line believable. on the other side there's a very thin white line. it looks like the beginning of another laugh line. She smiles alot and this was the first time she had had her picture taken professionally so she was compensating her nerves by laughing at my jokes.

I'm very picky on the attempt to alter body parts but you rounded out her nose to the point where i had to take a second look. Nice job! very subtle but effective.

Michael

By the way... you can use this in your port with proper credit. Michael Herb www.204studiosphoto.com

[204studios]

Originally Posted by mikedimples

Thanks for the giant picture to play with. Seemed like a good dodge and burn practice. I'm still probably going to work on the skin color tomorrow - it's just not perfect yet. Also I'll fix the banding under the chin.

full size: http://a4.vox.com/6a0110184cd071860f01240b862c7c860e-pi

Critiques welcome!

Well I'll give you my thoughts on what you have so far.

Flyaway hair removed - Great job
Skin Smoothed with out totally removing texture - Excellent.
Laugh line on left side removed yet very faint white line on right left. Its a very faint but noticeable line when viewed full.
Bags under eyes not removed. What i have noticed is this is a choice left to the artist. Some remove and some don't. I'm one that removes them. I feel that a retouch of this kind is attempting to be as near perfection as possible. you know the kind of unrealistic perfection that supposedly gives young women complexes...anyways moving on....
Mouth Fixed - Good job
The blue ice look works for this image. There has been more retouches on the warm side including mine but i like the cool winter look.

Overall nice clean retouch

Michael

[204studios]

Originally Posted by daitri

well here is my try

When uploading it would be nice to see a link to a full res version so we can all see the details. its a shame to let you work go unnoticed with such a small picture.

[evas]

nice model, thanks (((-;
i tried more thinks and enjoyed

[mikedimples]

I really appreciate the critique, thanks for taking the time to write all that out. I agree on everything except for the "eye-bags." What I left isn't eye bags, it's the bottom of her lower eyelid, which helps the eye to keep it's round form. It's a generally a mistake to remove that, because it flattens the face too much and has a tendancy to look artificial. Leaf through some fashion magazines; even the totally flawless retouches rarely remove the bottom of the lower lid. Eye-bags are under and often overpower the lower lid crease.

Image from http://antiagingtreatments.blogspot....to-aviod-it.ht

[MiningArt]

Softened a little and removed the hair that was in her eye.

[MiningArt]

Removed a few blemishes.

[chas18052]

heres my attempt

[MiningArt]

Worked on the whites of the eyes and the lips a bit.

[MiningArt]

Worked on the stray hairs and took out more of the blue from the eyes.

[chippedchina]

I joined a few weeks ago and this is my first post. I've been reading quietly along for a while now, but could not resist working with your very high res image; I just had to give this one a try. Thanks


http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t..._uiM3M-O-2.jpg

[MiningArt]

Enhanced the eye lashes and lightened the forehead shadows. Still trouble with the whites of the eyes.

[MiningArt]

Smoothed skin.

[lynn55]

I did retouching photo for adjust color level, green with action channel mixer , luminosity mode, healing brush, and blur tool.

[lkroll]

Well, I didn't make her green. lol

She looked like she was experience a cold day, so thought, while she was outside in NY, that I would at least carve her profile in ice.

[MiningArt]

In old Savannah
I said Savannah
The weather there is nice and warm
The climate's of a southern brand
But here's what I don't understand
They've got a gal there
A pretty gal there
Who's colder than an artic storm
Got a heart just like a stone
Even nice men leave her alone
They call her "hard hearted Hannah"
The vamp of Savannah
The meanest gal in town
Leather is tough, but Hannah's heart is tougher
She's a gal who loves to see men suffer
To tease them and thrill 'em
To torture and kill 'em
Is her delight they say
I saw her at the seashore with a great big pan
There was Hannah pourin' water on a drownin' man
She's hard hearted Hannah
The vamp of Savannah, G-A
The call her "hard hearted Hannah"
The vamp of Savannah
The meanest gal in town
Talk of your cold, refridgerating mamas
Brotha she's a polar bear's pajamas
To tease them and thrill 'em
To torture and kill 'em
Is her delight they say
An evening spent with Hannah sitting on your knees
Is like travelin' through Alaska in your BVDs
She's hard hearted Hannah
The vamp of Savannah, G-A
Can you imagine a woman as cold as Hannah?
She's got the right name "the vamp of Savannah"
Anytime a woman can take a great big pan
Start pourin' water on a drownin' man
She's hard hearted Hannah
The vamp of Savannah, G-A
Spoken: Ooh! She's sweet as sour milk.

[MiningArt]

Increased the difference between the light and shadow. Worked on the neck hair a little.