*Critique myRetouch*

[CoreyByas]

my latest try. I'm all ears

[mrbassman]

Hey Corey,
I think you've done a very neat job, very publishable IMHO. But if I was to add/change a thing or two, that would be the skin, it looks almost washed out of detail, do try to bring out some pores and texture via split freq. and her left shoulder where it connects to the neck somehow drags my eye there as I'd probably give it a 30 maybe 40 degree angle via Liquify. I like the colour correction, very even all across, maybe a tad too hot on her left shoulder, although that is very minor. Well done, once again.

[suseque]

Hi there! Nice job, but there's something about her left eye that doesn't seem quite right. Other than that, nice work!

[shift studio]

Good work in many ways.
I'm not sure about adding more texture - maybe a bit in the highlight on the forehead.
There is a bit of uneveness in tones that could stand some love. - pinky chest.
Agree with comments about shoulders
Might leave some of the hairs around neck - I suspect the stylist intend that.
I find that you opened the camera right eye a bit, but she no longer appears to be looking at the camera. That should be fixed.

Keep it up.
--Shift Studio.

[CoreyByas]

thanx a bunch! I have to write this down because it all sounds good.

- Whats IMHO? just wondering
- Whats split freq? (bring out some pores and textures)
- ..."hairs around neck because hair stylist may intended that" I never thought of that before, interesting point
- Texture in skin, you know I was wondering because I see work that I wonder how they get skin to look so porous, every time, so nice looking. I have used that high pass kinda thing but that look tho

anways things to work on, thanx everyone
Corey

[mrbassman]

Hi again,

-IMHO: In My Humble Opinion,
- Split Fequency: To get more detail, stamp and copy the bg, put them in a group. Then call the bottom one 'lo' and the one up 'hi'. Go to your hi layer, open up high pass and look for the right radius to get enough texture. Then cancel it. (Yes, that's right, cancel it.) Afterwards, go back to your lo layer and Gassian blur it with the same radius as high pass earlier. Now go back to your hi layer, open 'apply image' , for layer copy, use 'lo' from the drop down menu, blending mode: add, click on 'invert' and make sure the scale is 2 and offset is 0. (This setup is for 16-bit, if your image is 8-bit, this won't work.) Click OK and change the blending mode to 'linear light' in the layers palette. Last, go back to your lo layer, white mask it and paint with black foreground on the places that you don't want. I.e. if you've checked for the skin on high pass radius, paint everywhere BUT skin, so it is only applied on the skin. Hope this helps..
Phew! Can't believe I've typed all that...

[eraanexact]

I think you went too far on her face. Especially her nose. And the eye on the right is too bright. The skin on her neck and chest/arms is better than the face, more natural. The ear on the right looks a little off. Maybe just darken the original one a bit. I like that you removed the hairs around the neck, they didn't add anything to the image.

Her face is a bit pinky/blue compared to the rest of her, that could use some more balance.

[CoreyByas]

thanx for the how to "mrbassman"...

thanx "eraanexact", thanx all for the valuable information!

[RobertAsh]

Hi,

I think overall it's a good job. Great job with the flyaway hairs. You took out enough of them to make the hair look neat, yet left enough of them in to keep it looking realistic.

Likewise, you did a very good job with the skin below her face. Looks really good, and looks natural. You can see its natural texture and only the blemishes are gone. I would have kept in her beauty marks, though, there are a couple of moles on her chest that add character.

I think the skin is too light on her face. I've never been a fan of changing people's skin tones except for strictly corrective purposes (e.g. under or overexposure). If you're wanting a spotlight effect I'd lighten the highlights less, darken the facial shadows more, and add a shadow area on her neck/chest to keep the lighting looking consistent. It's also a bit too smooth.

Also, her eyes don't look natural or real to me. Something in the retouching took away the subtle force and expression her eyes show in the original. Their shapes are changed subtly and that changes her expression and makes them look like they're floating or were photoshopped in. It's a subtle change but it's there. I'd recommend more subtle lightening of her eyes and not changing their shape or size.

If you want to enlarge eyes, the way I do it in Photoshop is:

1. Select the eye and a small amount of skin all around it.
2. Copy that onto a separate layer
3. Edit > Transform then enlarge the eyes exactly the same percentage amount (e.g. 3% or 5%) for both width and height.
4. If that makes them look too close then move each one exactly the same number of pixels away from the other.
5. Use the Eraser tool to blend in the edges of the excess skin I selected.

That insures that the expression in the eyes is exactly the same before and after. Only their size is a little bigger.

Depends on the end intent, though. If this is for a magazine then you're at the mercy (or lack thereof) of the art director.

[CoreyByas]

thank you RobertAsh, appreciate the input.

Good thing I am writing this down, lots to ponder over, thanx again.

[RobertAsh]

Hi Corey,

Very glad to have been of any help. As for writing things down I'd recommend saving the entire web page as *.mht (if you're on Windows). I do that a lot with forum input that I learn from, and I also use it to save comments I make that I feel will help others in the future.

Very glad to have met you, looking forward to much mutually helpful exchange!