Not a fan unfortunately. I think you need to spend more time learning and using the resources on the internet to better your skills.
Also among the resources you should use are the sample files you can find on the retouching boards on Model Mayhem in which the photographers give permission to use and practice. You should not be retouching old photos of famous stars taken by photographers. You do not have the right to use their images.
I can definitely remove the celebrity photos and add others. I am using pictures of people I know right now. I am in the process of adding models. What else do you not like??
I am in no way a retoucher, and much prefer an out-of-camera look, with the exception of a little softening / sharpening. But I will give you what I think:
#1 - The eyes have way too much processing, its far too obvious. The stray hairs on her forehead havent been removed, the blotchy skin coloring hasnt been corrected, and there is a very obvious blurring on her forehead above her right eye.
#2 - This is the best of all of them, simply because you didnt overdo it.
#3 - Uh, what happened to his head?? LOL. It reminds me of the movie Casino, where the guy gets his head put in the vice! He is also far too orange, and the droopy right eye (his left) has not been corrected, which is the most distracting part of the image for me.
#4 - Please, dont ever put a rainbow in a picture again LOL. Her skin is an improvement, but again too far with the lipstick....and serious about the rainbow.
Keep working at it bro... Like I said, I am a novice retoucher at best, but the one thing I have learned is that less is more - if someone can see you edited a photo, its too far.
Terrible work. The after is far worse than the before. The eyes are overprocessed, the skin is still rough, you zapped the shine out of her lip stud and her lipstick, and the overall image has lost all sharpness.
I can't see that you did anything but warm the colors and kick up the saturation. Not impressive. You left a bruise or splotch over her left breast. That's careless.
You cleaned up that bad complexion to a decent degree, but screwed up the colors and compressed the image horizontally, grossly distorting the face. Terrible work.
Horrendous postprocessing. Terrible job of cutting out that background (and horrible job of choosing a new background). The color and texture of her face are terribly unnatural, and the lipstick looks awful.
Your profile says three years of retouching experience. Your work doesn't reflect it.
I like your AVI, and that's about it
DON'T GIVE UP.....learn these two Programs
Photoshop
Illustrator
I sure you will look back on this and laugh your but saying what was I thinking
I do it all the time..........I look back about a year when I was self teaching myself
Photography, I still have a lot to learn and my portfolio is not the best
but it's a work in progress.....
STOP TAKING SHORT CUTS if this is what you want to do, take some classes
Friends and family will be nice so they don't hurt your feelings, but fellow classes mate will rip you apart but that's what makes you better........
tough up and learn.............
I don't know how to use Photoshop but I have someone that will teach me. I am going to keep trying. I know I can get better at this. I will be back in this forum eventually with better work.
MMRetoucher89 wrote: I never said I wasn't willing to learn. I only know how to use one editing program.
Which editing program is that? While Photoshop might be too expensive a proposition for many people, there are much lower cost (Photoshop Elements) to no cost (GIMP) programs that one can use.
Just a cursory Google search of "Retouching with......" or "Skin Retouching with...." with these and most programs will give loads of information and how to videos.
EDIT: It seems from previous post above that you wrote while I was writing this post, that you have photoshop or access to it. There are tons.....TONS....of resources on the internet. Glad to see you are going to give it a go. Hey everybody starts somewhere.
Don't forget also there are very good sample available for retouching in this section of the boards. Many are RAW files which you will usually need Photoshop to take full advantage of.
Sorry, Misty. Tough love. The first three aren't very good, but the fourth one is hideous. It looks like you printed her picture, trimmed it haphazardly with scissors, and pasted it on the most awful background image you could find.
But if you're serious about wanting to do retouch services, then follow the advice given by others above. Get a decent editing program and take advantage of the thousands of free tutorials available online. Work hard at it. Then come back and ask the forums if you've improved. As long as you get better at it, keep going.
I'd recommend Photoshop Elements. It's a lot of bang for the buck.
But the OP has a LONG way to go before she's ready to start offering editing/retouching services. It's not enough to know how to use the tools. One needs to be able to distinguish a good image from a bad one.
Orca Bay Images wrote: I'd recommend Photoshop Elements. It's a lot of bang for the buck.
But the OP has a LONG way to go before she's ready to start offering editing/retouching services. It's not enough to know how to use the tools. One needs to be able to distinguish a good image from a bad one.
Yes, what Orca said.
I bought what I thought I needed for my level of ability (which is still way off where I want to be) and started with Elements. It's pennies if you buy an early version from ebay. Or you can send me your address with postage and I'll send you an old copy of mine for free. You can also download a 30 day free trial version.
I only recently progressed to CS4 which I still have not explored fully even though I spend hours on it every week.
Anyway, the point is that like most things you have to invest the time and enthusiasm to progress and improve. The excellent Retouchers on MM will have clocked thousands of hours learning their trade.
Don't give up, and never stop trying. But be realistic about your current ability.
MMRetoucher89 wrote: How is this one?? Is this better?
That's markedly better work than your other material. IMO, it's a bit too warmed-up, but passable. You sharpened the image very well and chose a background (and other effects) that complement the sweetness of this couple.
Orca Bay Images wrote: That's markedly better work than your other material. IMO, it's a bit too warmed-up, but passable. You sharpened the image very well and chose a background (and other effects) that complement the sweetness of this couple.
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