Hey guys, Here's my first real, decent attempt at retouch. Far from perfect, I know, but I'm relatively happy. I've been staring at it for too long, so I'd like some critique from an objective viewpoint!



and her skin:


Things I don't like:
-The hair. I'm not experienced enough to deal with the flyaways and things, so I didn't even attempt to do the whole lot. I cleaned up some of the right edge, but I pretty much ruined the image when I went further.
-There's still a funny shadow on her chin from where I took out her hair....
-Her hand....forgot about the veins in her wrist!
-I should have darkened her eyebrows a little >.<

I'm undecided on the eyes.....too fake?

Ok....Go nuts!

i like what you did. i like the eyes alot. id say pretty good for a first attempt.

Thank you The lashes were individually drawn x.x (no MUA, model and I both forgot mascara...stupid, stupid Lexi)
I do want to get better though...I want some harsh feedback. I know what I need to fix up for next time through my eyes, but there has to be things that I haven't picked up!

Looks great for a first attempt! I'd say sharpening the eyes would be a big improvement - try it using smart sharpen with a higher radius than usual, and mask it in.

Just a tiny bit too bright on the scleras; it's beginning to look like they're emitting a faint light. If you want to keep the current brightness, burn in some shadows to make it look more like a sphere. I'd also cool down the sclera warmth.

Very helpful, thanks

Excellent first attempt.  A few things you may want to play with.

First, try smart sharpen in LAB mode at 80-120% before any additional work.  It does amazing things for eyes, skin textures, hair, etc..

For the fly-aways, clone stamp, clone stamp, clone stamp.  Sample the background and work with the flow to soften the edges of the area you are covering.

Use the clone tool again to restore the missing wedge in the pupil of the eye.

Use the healing brush to clean the sclera and try to keep them as natural looking as possible.  Too white and without shape will remove the expression.

Create dodge & burn layers and play with them a bit to enhance the sclera and also the contours of the face.

Duplicate the base layer, add a layer mask & flood with black, switch it to soft-light, and unmask the highlights in the hair, etc... using a soft white brush with 20% opacity and 30% flow..  It makes the image pop.