Critique is welcome

[KriCoFOTODESIGN]

One of our newest retouching works. CC ist welcome and helpful!

sorry for my english, its not the best

http://www.kricofotodesign.de/retusche/IMG_6190.jpg

[skoobey]

Re: Critique is welcome

That image is way to much of a challenge for a beginner.

I like the color, but you abused inverted highpass (which I don't use EVER).

And, you messed the skin up quite a bit.

You DNB by pushing darks darker, and lights lighter in order to create contrast.

Start with the lightest and darkest, areas, don't be stuck with midtones.

[klev]

Re: Critique is welcome

I like that you tried to work on the lashes. I don't like that you applied so much in the way of adjustment to the overall image. It's obvious to me that it wasn't targeted when I look at things like the contrast in the hair. If you're transplanting hair to make it look fuller, you absolutely need to pay attention to lighting. Copy and paste just looks really unnatural, and you won't gain anything by fixing it unless you can understand the reason for my statement. The first issue is that the desaturated effect makes it look like her hair is going grey, which is not in line with the age of the model. I really prefer the color in the before image. I get that you were trying to fill in hair behind the ear, presumably to make it appear fuller? Right now it looks like a poorly done extension. That segment looks too much like the one next to it. It also doesn't appear to be in the same plane as the hair on either side of it. In some cases you might be able to fake that figuring that no one would notice if they weren't side by side. This case is too extreme, and you are showing them side by side. Typically pieces presented for critique would not take such shortcuts. I don't care for the color correction on the cheekbone. You desaturated a lot of areas around it, while increasing contrast, yet that has a slightly warm and flat feel. I would have to examine that to figure out what I would personally do, but what you have doesn't look right. I see the work on the brow, yet you could still get a smoother line across the top. You also need to watch the color of makeup. The original is probably closer to the intended lip color, and it's often important to respect that.

I would also caution that I see evidence of the typical surface blur and sharpen technique. The skin is definitely sharpened and with it, the finer hairs on the face are sharpened. This kind of work needs a much lighter touch for any real progress. Otherwise you'll merely get better at doing it this way, offering no real progress against the better individuals that are already out there.

[kkamin]

Re: Critique is welcome

It looks good but it is pushed too far. In my opinion, the "lighting" treatment can be highly stylized and produce perfect highlights and carve great contours but the model needs to look 100% real. I'd just scale it back a bit. Thank for sharing.

[DianaPolitical]

Re: Critique is welcome

So, this is overdone. I'll be honest, there is no magazine that will ever run an image this retouched in the fashion world. This look is strictly for the early 2000 commercial photographers that thought they were "fashion."

There is too much Inverted High Pass going on, making that ugly milky texture to the skin. Might as well just blur the skin. Try again, or take all your retouching down to 25%