High key portrait retouch help needed

[feppe]

I'm doing retouching as proof-of-concept for myself on some portraits I've taken. I'm not very experienced with portrait retouching, so I would really need some input on how this looks.

I'm going for a delicate look, high-key, slightly desatured with a bit of glow, without obliterating skin texture. The overall look should be painterly or paintbrush-y.

Any constructive feedback very much appreciated, as well as input on how to make this better!

http://www.harrijahkola.com/img/Alla_I-Edit.jpg

[nebulaoperator]

I like it in general. Still some confusions about what you are trying to achieve.It seems you want to get bit and best out of all. painterly and paintbrush to me do different things. Here is a sample of ,,kind of painterly,, retouch in particular portrait . Your retouch looks rather airbrushed.
http://www.amydresser.com/port.html she is well known retoucher/artist.
I think photo needs a crop. Shadow transitions are quiet harsh. Maybe right shoulder needs a liquefy it is too big for my taste.
Something is I really like about his photo just can't find the right words

[MacBurg]

Hi Feppe, you could try out an action I made that gives a slight glow/lighten/warmth while protecting fine details, its used as more of a creative move after you've fixed tones and colour in your image.Grab it here -

http://www.mediafire.com/?65osr74m8bnoz6m

At the first stop go to your Channels palette and click on each one to look for the channel with good contrast, or more areas of white where you want more glow, then click on Play back in the actions palette. You can adjust the lightness and warmth after running the action by changing the Hue/Sat/Brightness levels of the solid colour layer. You can also add more or less glow while the action is running at the "Gaussian Blur" stage.

[feppe]

Originally Posted by nebulaoperator

I like it in general. Still some confusions about what you are trying to achieve.It seems you want to get bit and best out of all. painterly and paintbrush to me do different things. Here is a sample of ,,kind of painterly,, retouch in particular portrait . Your retouch looks rather airbrushed.
http://www.amydresser.com/port.html she is well known retoucher/artist.
I think photo needs a crop. Shadow transitions are quiet harsh. Maybe right shoulder needs a liquefy it is too big for my taste.
Something is I really like about his photo just can't find the right words

Thanks for the comments!

To clarify, I'm looking to achieve a 50s/60s pin-up effect, Alberto Vargas, Gil Elvgren, etc.

I punched up the shadow transitions deliberately with a blurred posterization effect to get, well, a punchier image. I'm getting a bit too much harshness, and need to soften the transitions especially on her left shoulder and cleavage.

Macburg, thanks for the action. Retaining skin texture is really tough with this type of post-processing, so I'll play around with your action!

[nebulaoperator]

Originally Posted by feppe

Thanks for the comments!

To clarify, I'm looking to achieve a 50s/60s pin-up effect, Alberto Vargas, Gil Elvgren, etc.

I punched up the shadow transitions deliberately with a blurred posterization effect to get, well, a punchier image. I'm getting a bit too much harshness, and need to soften the transitions especially on her left shoulder and cleavage.

Macburg, thanks for the action. Retaining skin texture is really tough with this type of post-processing, so I'll play around with your action!

Check this tut out. http://www.planetphotoshop.com/pin-up-effect.html