Some Images to mess about with!

[lewisjaywinter]

Hi there, I'm taking an A-LEVEL in photography at the moment, so heres some studio pics!
http://www.mediafire.com/?ab3wiws4iupc9

Here are some of my edits -
(I know one of them is a bit ott with the skin, but I wanted that hi-fashion porcelin skin look, used shadows/highlights and airbrushed the skin further!)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lewisja...ream/lightbox/
Thanks!

[lewisjaywinter]

anyone got any responses?!

[Tony W]

Just a suggestion but you may get a little more response if you also added a few images to your post so that people could view without leaving this forum before deciding to download.

Try Save for Web in PS and make sure size does not exceed 100k

[thehjj]

Originally Posted by lewisjaywinter

anyone got any responses?!

Did you ask a question?

[lewisjaywinter]

Okay thanks! Yeah I have uploaded like a preview of two of mine that i have retouched.

[Pari Retouch]

Good job!
I think some highlights got blow out especially on forehead
And the light crossing hairs are really eye catching.
Otherwise I really like what you did

[lewisjaywinter]

Hey pari!
Yeah thanks for your reply, to be honest its the first proper shoot that i've done in a studio, more of a test shoot! thanks for your response!

[nancywilliams]

You need to improve.. and am sure you will be

[Mike Needham]

As suggested some of the highlights are a little blown out, perhaps a few tweaks in RAW would sort that out, the hair strands could use some more work and you have lost some definition in the lips. From the original image though, it's come a long way and I like the overall changes, and lovely neutral tones complement the 'porcelain' skin.

[lewisjaywinter]

thanks for the tips! Yeah, unfortunately the shooting of this model wasnt really planned so she didnt bother to do her hair, have another planned for next week aslong as i can get the studio! :P

[edgework]

Not much to be done with such flat lighting, but I love hopeless causes.

http://edgework.tripod.com/IMG_1229.jpg

[jeremyO]

Here's my best shot: http://jeremyolson.com/retouching/retouch_IMG_1226.jpg

any comments/critiques welcome!

[Chain]

Heres' a 50% zoom of my attempt: http://i.imgur.com/Y484r.jpg (I went for a different crop).
Here I've added some more artistic coloring as well: http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/20...in-d3ik03p.jpg

Before/after: http://www.rognemedia.no/diverse/before-after.gif

[Chain]

Another one

Before/after: http://www.rognemedia.no/diverse/IMG_1278.gif

[SierraBella]

First off I want to say thank you for letting me/us have a go at your photos. This is one of my attempts I haven't finished for sure yet lol. I am still learning so I haven't yet accomplished everything I want just yet. I may play around with it some more but I couldn't wait to share what I have so far.

Chain I really love what you did with yours as well as everyone else!

[sansan]

gosh! amazing work by Chain and Edgework! I have much to learn from this as well ^_^

[Chain]

Hmm... maybe someone would find my PSD files interesting?

However they are 194 MB and 863 MB respectively so I haven't decided on the best place to upload them :=)

[SierraBella]

Worked a bit more on my image lol decided against the make up and a few other things.

[Chain]

Originally Posted by SierraBella

Worked a bit more on my image lol decided against the make up and a few other things.

I'm wondering if some of the skin in the face is starting to look too blurry? Also, it could use some sharpening (could be you just didn't bother to sharpen the small size upload, if so, it's alright).

[SierraBella]

Your right Chain it was getting a little blurry and I didn't sharpen the small upload lol. I was working on trying to bring back some of the skin texture but it's still not quite as visible as I would like especially in the smaller size.

[Chain]

I mainly used the healing brush on my skin, as that way I get it "cleaned up" without reducing the texture. Then I did a frequency separation with a 50% opacity band stop (blurred) layer inbetween with a mask on it to remove some "blotchyness". Some other minor adjustments as well (painting in some even color and stuff).
Sharpening it all when I'm done makes sure it is quite visible as well.

How did you fix up the skin on yours?

[SierraBella]

Healing brush and patch tool to start with surface blur to help with the blotchyness and then a high pass overlay of the original to try and bring back texture. I haven't tried frequency separation before. It's photoshop? Been working in photoshop a few years on various different things and never heard of it until coming to this site.

So I just watched some videos talking about frequency separation and OMG! I so wish I had known about this sooner lol. I can't wait to try it out.

[Chain]

Your High Pass overlay for bringing back skin texture on a separate layer is actually very close to the frequency separation technique (but less accurate).

Frequency separation basically turns your image into two layers. At the bottom is a layer containing the low frequency details (basically a blurred version of the image), and above that is a layer that contains the high frequency details (the "difference" between the blurred layer and the original). Blended together they should be identical to the original (or a VERY close match at least).

This allows you to edit the two components separately. You can clone/heal fine details like pores without affecting the general shades in an area, or the other way around. You can also decide to blur away medium size details afterwards on the underlying layer (perhaps on a duplicate layer not on full opacity, and with a mask). This can be called "Band Stop" as it removes a bad of frequencies.

You do not have to use Gaussian Blur (although this is the most common). You could use Surface Blur, Dust & Scratches, or other filters as a base for the separation.

Attached are my actions that automate the separation (for 16 bit images only, I will have to home to find up my 8-bit version), and some images illustrating a "band stop" (further blurring of the low frequency info).

[edgework]

If you want to go to the trouble to create an accurate skin mask you can use Lens Blur and avoid dark regions bleeding into your skin. Takes longer and the numbers for Lens Blur are not immediately analogous to Gaussian blur but it can make the final result a lot cleaner. I'll still smooth out the transitions with a mask but you can place the blur region much closer to hair, lips and background than with a less targeted blur.

[SierraBella]

Originally Posted by Chain

Your High Pass overlay for bringing back skin texture on a separate layer is actually very close to the frequency separation technique (but less accurate).

Lol that's exactly what I thought when I started watching the videos! I have had a chance now to try frequency separation and I am loving it. I very often end up with images that are very fake looking and having to go back with the original this is great though! I don't know why i had never thought about actually working my blurred layers or my highpass layers.

I have tried band stopping also since my last post I'm loving it! I use to use gaussian blur for everything but lean more often toward surface blue now. lol Now I want to go back and retouch all my old photos.

@edgework I had never thought about using lens blur and will deff give it a shot sounds like it could help a great deal in certain areas.

[Chain]

Good idea edgework. I just wish Photoshop would make a faster Lens Blur filter (I've seen much more flexible lens blur filters that are almost instant).

[Cupcake]

My try on one of the pictures.

Good work everyone.

[edgework]

And don't forget that frequency separation is just as effective at sharpening, though you'd want to use a much lower blur radius. Just turn off the low-frequency (blurred) layer and your original will become much crisper. I always start out with a 1 - 2 pixel radius on a decent sized shot (say, 9 x 12 at 300) and it brings out information that you wouldn't have believed was there. Nice remedy for the kind of softness lots of digital shots seem to have. They're not quite blurred or out of focus... just soft.

[Chain]

Originally Posted by edgework

And don't forget that frequency separation is just as effective at sharpening

Yep, it's my main sharpening method. It's the exact "opposite" of Gaussian Blur.
Attached are my sharpening actions... Might save you the trouble of making your own...

[Der_W]

<hijack>

But don't forget, that solely turning off the visibility of the LOW layer will give you the results you'd get with USM set to 100% amount and the radius you used for your initial GBlur split.
The frequency separation sharpening will just be beneficial, if you're enhancing the contrast of the HIGH layer as well (which is not the same as adjusting the strength slider in USM) or use any filter but the GBlur to create the initial split.

</hijack>