Beauty Image Crit?

[selfloved]

I've been trying to do the 'unretouched retouch' style. I just started playing around with it so it isn't super fine tuned, but I like where I'm heading with it so far. I'd really appreciate your input on it and if you have any additional comments, that'd be great as well.

BEFORE
AFTER

General ImagetoImage Grab Bag Workflow (from memory)
> healing x general clean up
> local d&b
> controlled frequency splitting
> smart sharpening
> slightly blurred noise (guassian noise x low range blur afterwards) x erasing run off
> blowing up a layer with guassian (to a high radius) for a glaze and erasing run off
> grouping everything and reducing the opacity of the group to 77 - 84% to bring back some of the original hydration (naturalness) of the skin
> (color correction) - masking in borrowed colors from the original and masking in sub hues and saturations of those colors and playing around with the saturation sliders until everything matches, but with natural variations in some of those hues so it's not 100% uniform, but clean
> global d&b from slight, to gradual, to major to enhance some shadows or creating more stylized shapes
> (for this particular image) color adjustments via royal purple x gold gradient map with some saturation mixed in later on

If this isn't working (method wise) and I should be doing something different as well, let me know.

Thank you so much in advance. You guys are fantastic. Always eager to learn.

[klev]

Re: Beauty Image Crit?

I would avoid gradient maps for most things. Colors as they are represented in photoshop don't really work that way, although it didn't turn out that badly here. You need to pay more attention to the shapes in the face. I mean you mention an "unretouched style", which I would assume means subtle. It looks a bit odd near her mouth. At full resolution that's probably much worse. If you want it to feel unretouched, you should pay attention to facial structure. This is also evident around the eye. That convex region isn't naturally so angular, and I don't really feel that making it that way in post added anything to your image. Going toward the lower eyelid it's again very awkward and flat.

I would also avoid anything where you feel you have to back off that much. I mean it's just a sign that it was overdone initially. You may end up there, but you should pay a lot more attention toward the beginning, especially in maintaining some transition.

[selfloved]

Re: Beauty Image Crit?

I would avoid gradient maps for most things. Colors as they are represented in photoshop don't really work that way, although it didn't turn out that badly here. You need to pay more attention to the shapes in the face. I mean you mention an "unretouched style", which I would assume means subtle. It looks a bit odd near her mouth. At full resolution that's probably much worse. If you want it to feel unretouched, you should pay attention to facial structure. This is also evident around the eye. That convex region isn't naturally so angular, and I don't really feel that making it that way in post added anything to your image. Going toward the lower eyelid it's again very awkward and flat.

I would also avoid anything where you feel you have to back off that much. I mean it's just a sign that it was overdone initially. You may end up there, but you should pay a lot more attention toward the beginning, especially in maintaining some transition.

^ Noted. I'll be more conscious of anatomy and I'll take it easy with my layering. I completely understand what you mean. This is great critique that I can apply so I can knock out the kinks because I'm so fond of that style, so I think I'll benefit from studying anatomy more, definitely.

As for the bit about color, what would you recommend? Just anything else opposed to gradient maps? I've never heard about that before. That's an eye opener for me.

Your critiques are always fabulous, thank you

[klev]

Re: Beauty Image Crit?

As for the bit about color, what would you recommend? Just anything else opposed to gradient maps? I've never heard about that before. That's an eye opener for me.

Your critiques are always fabulous, thank you

I've used all kinds of stuff. I find channel mixer helpful as well as selective color. I use channel mixer for really big moves where I need to maintain some differentiation, as in I don't want everything to look the same color.

A short answer about gradient maps would probably be that given the way that they work, I don't think they're a great match for times where you want skin that looks warmer or cooler, yet you don't want the feeling of a single dense color painted over everything. That's not really what happens, but it certainly feels that way when looking at it.

I look at skin, and the highlights don't reflect a lot of the blood vessels. You have light returned that is similar in composition to what fell on the person, so that color is quite different. The same tends to happen toward the low end. In the middle you still have variation. Some people reduce that midtone variation in favor of a visually monochromatic very tan look for dramatic effect. I'm not a huge fan of it, but they pull it off by maintaining those differences at the high and low end.