Retoucher test feedback appreceated.

[moofactory]

Hi all, I was just in the clasifides and have submitted a test peice to one of the members here wanting a retoucher.

would appreceate any feedback, what ive missed? anyhthing thats not quite right? and how long would you expect what ive done should take?

Below is the origional
http://nowandalways.com.au/retouchpr...4origional.jpg

Quick retouch for proof
http://nowandalways.com.au/retouchpr...touchquick.jpg

This was a sharpen, levels, colour and contrast along with some minor quick retouching under the eyes. Everything elce was left as is.

The Full retouch
http://nowandalways.com.au/retouchpr...etouchfull.jpg

This was a joy to work on, I really love retouching.
The most time consuming thing about this one in particular was retouching all the strey hairs. Which could use some more attention even still.

The skin and wrinkles were an obvious thing to work on, after I did under the eyes at first I droped it back just a little to keep it still looking natural.

Her finger nails were awfull, they look as though her nail polish had been taken off recently, so I worked on the skin around her finger nails to clean them up a little.

I went around and fixed all the pilling on her jumper if youll notice the little bits of fluff around the edges of her arm and her chest.

Her eye colour has been increased slightly along with her lips and hair. Her hair my be less ginger in the blond than that though, I may have gone just a little to far with the hair colour but does really bring out the viberentcy of the overall image, her origional hair was very lifeless.

finally I did a slight darken in opposite corners of the image in the top left and bottom right to give the overall image some depth and to draw your eye to the center which is just something I personally like.

I really want to do this for paid work at some stage, I really want more examples in my portfolio.
If any one needs a retoucher for photos please email me:
moofactory at hotmail.com

[PatrickB]

Hi Moo,

I had a quick look at it and it seems like a pretty nice bit of work, I have just spotted a MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR mistake you made: The girl has two moles on each cheek and you removed them, do never ever remove them! This image is a obviously not some glamour photo for a magazine or something, it's a plain portrait of some young girl, maybe given to her boyfriend, parents whatever. And for those people the moles are there. Believe me, been there, done that, and learnt from my mistakes as I also usually removed them

Patrick

[Panpan]

Here's what I would try.

I would tone down the distracting highlight on the chair.

I would give her back her grey polychrome eyes. I prefer them to the monochrome blue you gave her.

I would open up the shadows, especially under her left eyebrow, instead of increasing the contrast. High contrast makes her look tougher. Soft light would better complement the delicate pose. (Her fingers are not interlaced because she's thinking of strangling. It's unfortunate in this context that her right eye is partly hidden from above, but that's the photographer's fault).

I would take out the fuzz from the right edge of her face, especially above the eyebrow. I would also smooth out the fuzziness below the eyebrows and, if possible, around the mouth.

I would correct the yellow cast around the mouth.

I would dodge and burn the hair to accentuate its highlights and shadows.

I would finish taking out the freckles, especially the freckle lines on and near the nose.

Patrick's point about the moles is well taken, but in this case you're showing off your skills. So I would still take them out but mention in the accompanying email that this retouch should be approved by the client between the quick and full retouch steps. For that matter, mention the freckles and the eye color too. (I personally think that the girl herself is not too fond of those indents and freckles.) The other thing about that indent retouch is that it shows; we can see a blur. I would try to minimize this problem.

Good luck!

[Craig Walters]

as Ro would say, entering nit-picking mode....

generally speaking, the eye is drawn to light and away from dark. the picture is primarily her face first, but in this case the hands are lighter than the face.

the cuticles still need some work.

you've a tiny bit of glistening around the inner eyes.

you did a great job on her facial texture. i wouldnt remove freckles. that's part of her, not a mistake.

i dont have a problem with her hair. retouching is not the same as glamour. same with the highlights on the chair. they arent really in the way.

retouching is what the person is looking for. stay away from adding glamour aspects. retouching is mostly removing what's not wanted, not adding extra for glitz.

....end nit-picking mode.

Craig

[moofactory]

Alot of these comments are appreceated, and yeah its to show my skils seeing I have no brief to follow. In a normal case i would probibly get a sample with red circles around areas that work is wanted on and instructions on what is wanted to be done. so anything thats not wanted would be instructed.

Obviously working on these in a job situation, i would briefly get some instruction on what to focus on after proofing.

Admittedly I did go into this with glamor retouching style in mind.
However I did follow instructions as to what was wanted to be shown.

One thing I dont think anyone noticed or at least not comented is her right cheek has some kind of scar right up to the bridge of her nose, I fixed this. however again the client may well not want that.. then again im showing that I can do it.

Im not sure what you mean by indents pan pan.

[Panpan]

Moofactory:
I have attached a copy of the photo that shows what I mean by indents. I realize now that I confused my right and left with hers in my earlier post . I thought the scar and the indent (dimple?) were the same feature, but you're right; they are distinct. That's where I saw the blur.

Kraellin:
Glitz means flashiness, tasteless showiness. Glamour is not glitz. Furthermore none of my suggestions are glamour, let alone glitz. In Katrin Eismann's "Photoshop Restoration and Retouching" she has a subsection on "Shaping the Hair With Light" to add sparkle and life to it. It's in the Portrait Retouching chapter, not in the Glamour and Fashion chapter.

[Craig Walters]

moofactory,

understood. obviously a lot is going to depend on the photographer and ultimately what the person themself wants. retouching is generally along the lines of fix the contrast, smooth out the skin tones, remove blemishes, fix any red-eye, maybe a bit of cropping, and things like that. it's generally a fairly quick process. the photographer has to keep his costs down while also giving the client something good.

the way i've seen photographers do this is that they take the shots, develop them, edit them for the simple things and send out proofs to the customer. the customer decides which shots they want as final prints based on the proofs. so, your work also depends on whether you're working with producing proofs or the finals or both. so, if you're working on producing simple proofs you dont want to spend a lot of time on these. your original post doesnt specify what the photographer is looking for here, so it's hard to critique other than to just critique it as a full retouch.

it also somewhat depends on the photographer's ability. if he can take decent shots to begin with, then your work is easier. and it also depends on the subject matter and what the photographer is willing to pay you for your work.

but in this particular case where you're trying to showcase your skills to the photographer, you might want to do more than one type of cleanup. maybe a simple retouch on one, then take the same image and do another with a more exacting retouch and maybe another with some basic glamour highlighting. in this wise you give him a choice and maybe find out more what he's really looking for and what he's willing to pay for.

as to how much time you shld spend on any one retouch is also going to be based on what the photographer is looking for. my guess for a proof in this case would be what you did with the first one. it's quick and doesnt take up any more time than about 15 minutes at the most. a final product might take that much or less or more depending on the image, the client and all those things listed above.

if this showcase print is only limited to one image then give him your best work and point out what all you did and try to get some feedback on what he's looking for in a retouch. the real trick isnt always the work but sometimes in finding out what the expected work really is.

good luck

Craig

[Craig Walters]

panpan,

thank you.

but whether we call it glitz or glamour or bongbong, the point i was trying to make is a retouch is generally a quick fix for simple things like cropping, contrast, blemishes and so on. a glamour edit is something a bit more upper level. so, highlighting hair colors and makeup and so on would seem to be something over and above a retouch....to me, anyways.

now, i know these terms and definitions in image editing tend to bleed one into the other and vary from person to person. we found that out in the may contest regarding what is a restore and what is a reconstruction. the same quite probably holds true for what is glamour and what is retouch and what is photo art.

in this particular case, where moofactory is trying to showcase his work, he may well be smart in doing hair highlights and a bit of glamour. on the other hand, the photographer may not want those things or may not care or may not be willing to pay for them. we dont know. there's no data to work on here. to me, hair highlights other than through adjusting other simple things like contrast, doesnt fit in the retouch category, but to others, it may well.

so i guess i'm saying that i would agree with you, but based only on what the photographer needs and wants and we just dont know how he/she is defining a retouch. so, where your hair highlights would certainly help the image, i just dont know if it's something that i'd include for a retouch. it IS a studio shot, however, so you may well be correct. in a wedding photo or something along those lines, it might well be different.

in fact, this raises some interesting questions. just how does everyone define a retouch?

Craig

[kiska]

Retouch, the basics = spotting, remove blemishes, soften wrinkles, tonal adjustments.
In my opinion, anything other than that would be considered 'special request' and would be charged accordingly.