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What more to correct....
After reading and asking, learning and failing I would like to ask your input on what could be done to enhance this image. My first serious attempt to a beauty retouch...so be gentle..  Before  After  and a cropped version  Jan 31 13 08:12 am Link needs to be moved to the critique forum. more work under the eyes, hair needs work then finally some contrast bump and style. Jan 31 13 08:24 am Link ow..posted in the wrong forum, please move to the correct place.. tnx for your input m8...more contrast? Okay, i thought it was already too contrasty.. Jan 31 13 09:00 am Link Stray hairs could be addressed. The real issue with the image isn't the retouching, it's the poor lighting. Jan 31 13 09:04 am Link u need to do a lot of d&b , to even out skin do that first and then ask again  not saying this is good, but did it so u have an idea about even out skin , keep on working on it did this in 30 minute normally is 2 hr and up now u can work on ur lighting and shadows and final touches like color corect ect . just stopped cause is your image but just wanted to give u and start hopes it helps Jan 31 13 09:05 am Link -The hair (top and neck) -Overall skin texture and color (there are a lot of small lighter and darker areas all around) -lighter areas around brows -fix the eyelashes, there is a lot of assymetry there -Nose form -Lips expression and bottom lip "separator" in the middle + fix the texture -Some saturation issues in the right side of the face -The color of the hands and of the face are slightly different (hands are blueish) -The nails looks a little bit creepy, try to paint them or give more brigthness and dessaturation to the frenchie. -Overall color cast and illumination?. I think that there is too much blue there, or its only my imagination? and the image is a little dark. Hope it helps . I'm just starting with beauty retouching too, so maybe there are more things to corret apart of the ones I mentioned.Jan 31 13 10:13 am Link I think it looks very good as a natural-style, "unretouched-looking" portrait - but it would not cut it as a beauty retouch for a magazine - for the reasons mentioned in prevous posts. It would need more work to be on par with a typical magazine beauty retouch. BUT for a standard consumer portrait client, I think it's very very nice. Maybe a tad more work under the eyes, just to even out the makeup a little. Maybe a little more contrast or lighting of the face (as much as that's possible to correct in post). Jan 31 13 10:22 am Link If this is your first try at beauty, it's a decent start. I don't really do beauty, so this is a good chance for me to learn a few little things. Here are a few points I noticed, and how I would deal with them (this is from your cropped version, #3). 1. Looks a little underexposed, so some overall adjustments for brightness and color. I just made curves adjustments. Somebody mentioned that the hands look a bit blue. I fixed that by painting on a blank layer in color mode. Sample the skin tones from the face, paint over the hands at 100% brush opacity, then lower layer opacity to about 50%:  _______ 2. Look closely at the lights and shadows above the camera-left eye. I'm seeing a little indentation (and it probably is -- skulls have all kinds of dips and bumps in them). A little D&B will even that out:  _______ 3. There's an odd little black arc in the camera-left eye. Not sure if that's a natural blemish or something you inadvertently did, but either way, I'd take that out:  _______ 4. In addition to that, I would define the irises a little more (lighten the lower part of the iris and darken the rim a little -- both can be done on a blank layer in soft light mode). The sclera also look a little heavy on cyan to me, so I toned that down with a hue/sat layer:  _______ 5. Under the camera-right eye, that line bothered me a little, so I took that out. Healing plus some D&B:  Jan 31 13 03:09 pm Link Highly appreciated guys for taking the time to give your feedback or even do a bit retouching on the image. Not for a magazine but just my first try on D&B...spend a few hours on it...not easy for a simple photographer like me so it's obvious I need a lot more practice hours and more courage, seems I am a bit afraid to go a step further but I really enjoyed it so far. After finishing I really thought it looked really good on my Mac.... Stray hairs, overall tone and exposure/brightness,blueish hands @ pixel dimension...compared to your image my retouched one looks like I have done nothing yet....  ouch...(after a few hours), I really like the overall skintone and skin-evenness but I miss the skintexture, it's too even/plastic for me but the tone and brightness I love. @Alejandro...muchas gracias I understand most of your remarks but could you elaborate on what you would change in the noseform? @ ME thanks m8..."looking good as an unretouched..." after spending half a day on it...  @Peano 1.great tip about the blank layer in color mode 2. the black arch is from the reflector below the model... 4. in your first image I really like the crispyness of the eyes compared to mine, did you sharpen it or only use the blank layer soft lightmodus David? Today I am gonna try to fix all the mentioned flaws. Starting with a new RAWconversion to get a better tone and exposure I guess would be the first thing to do. If anyone wants the RAWfile I would be happy to supply it, and appreciate to get the layered PSD for learning purposes. Feb 01 13 01:08 am Link richy01 wrote: Oh you misunderstand me - there are a great many clients who DO NOT WANT pictures that look like magazine makeup ads. They want the "unretouched" look, which is actually retouched, but still looks just like the person - only better. It is not that easy to retouch a photo and make it look like you did practically nothing to it. Many people either do a shit job of blurring the skin, over-whitening the eyes, changing the eye coloration to something out of a Mars nuclear meltdown, removing all traces of wrinkles or lines on a 50-year-old woman, etc.; or they turn what is supposed to be a "natural-looking" portrait into a magazine ad - with beautifully done work but nothing like the reality of the subject and totally unsuitable for their needs. Feb 01 13 06:24 am Link richy01 wrote: Just used the soft light layer. It probably looks sharper because of the darkened rim. Feb 01 13 06:25 am Link Started from the cropped version and just used some script and plugin to do that in less that 2 minutes.  and this one for a more ''perfect'' look  I know most people hate to work with plugin and script but when you work with tone of pictures that need a little improvement you cant spend more that 2-5 minutes each. Feb 01 13 08:13 pm Link Those plugins are not people who are trying to do a real beauty it just looks bad. Skin looks unhuman in the examples posted so far. Feb 01 13 09:13 pm Link Wouldn't you get rid of that seam in the middle of her lower lip? Feb 01 13 09:18 pm Link  Here's my quick take of the retouch... -Color correct the skin; seem a bit too magenta... -Dodging & Burning the skin fix imperfections. I typically have multiple layers but overall it consist of; an overall light shift (more light towards the right for some direction), Global D&B (Facial Brush stroke), Medium D&B (like under the eyes), Small Pixel D&B -After D&B, usually check skin color again. Areas that may need some color filled in again. -Slight sharpen on Hair, Lips, and Eyes but not the skin texture. I guess its really a personal taste. I personally don't go for drastic D&B contrast. I may lowered the saturation of the lip color a bit more and just continue fine tuning the image. My advice would be to always keep moving as you edit and not work on one particular spot. Kinda like art in general; work big scale and shape what you need and then work into finer details. Subtle changes will overall make a drastic change in the final image. (when you start compiling numerous layers of adjustments) Really depends on long you want to invest retouching an image. You can really put 2 minutes into it or take hours. DK Feb 01 13 10:04 pm Link doublepost Feb 01 13 10:05 pm Link R G wrote: +1 Though calling it skin is rather generous. Feb 01 13 10:41 pm Link Thanks David, the enhanced contrast between rim and iris "sharpens" it very nice. @Cosplay, thanks for your effort but it doesn't look good to me. I prefer the skintexture in DK's image and the overall tone however I would probably use a curve to make it a bit lighter +1 Aaron Great tips posted, thanks...still working on the newer version Feb 02 13 01:18 am Link |
