Retouching fun

A.N.Other

A.N.Other

A.N.Other

Soldato
Joined
6 Nov 2005
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The gf is graduating this weekend and she asked me to take some photos of her, so I thought it was time to get my retouching skills warmed up again. Thought this one went pretty well, so I figured I'd show you lot :D

Overall change: (after --> before)

2.jpg


Closer of the face: (after --> before)

3.jpg


Full before here (though quite a bit or RAW processing). Full after here. They're pretty chunky at 2.25Mb despite the JPEG compression - cropped from a Mamiya digital back. Flicking between them in layers in PS gives the best comparison, but it might work in browser tabs too :)

It could also do with evening out the skin tone on her arms, but hey ho.
 
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I'd say you have gone down the right path, but too far. She has started to look just a shade plastic.

She is a pretty lass and doesn't need much 'touching up' :eek: I would suggest you leave just a bit of skin features showing as it will make her look like a real person.

I do like what you have done with her eyes though.

So summary:

Forehead - pretty good
Eyes - great
Area around the eyes (lids and the bit under her eyes) too much PP
Cheeks/mouth - a bit to much

I've just realised that you didn't actually ask for comments - so sorry if I have spoken out of turn.
 
Nah, she's not the gf. It's just an image that was posted on a retouching forum. I agree that she doesn't really need any photoshop treatment, but it was only for practice and it's difficult to find a high-res image online.
Hodders said:
I've just realised that you didn't actually ask for comments - so sorry if I have spoken out of turn.
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Not at all. Comments are always welcome :)

I disagree that the skin looks plastic per se, though, as the process I've used is designed specifically to retain the skin texture, which is obvious when you zoom in. Compare that to a standard 're-touch', where most would just blur the skin. The fact that I've removed a lot of the imperfections does make her look slightly un-natural, though, I agree. I also agree that I probably went a little far with the area under the eyes.
 
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I think the reason that she does seem a little plastic is because you have put both images side by side and this really highlights the process work. If you were shown the processed shot alone it would be less obvious and is a very good piece of processing! Nice work!
 
To me, the touched up version looks as if its lacking detail where as the original just looks more natural. The touching process has wiped out the impressions and expression on her face.
 
The closer picture still has some texture which makes it look genuine and clean, great work. When zoomed out she looks plasticy I'm afraid, but not too much on this monitor at least.

You main improvements would be around the arm where she seem to have jaundice or scars.
 
photoshop said:
To me, the touched up version looks as if its lacking detail where as the original just looks more natural. The touching process has wiped out the impressions and expression on her face.
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I agree. She looks airbrushed if I am honest. I would like to see something more between the two. I like the tones in your new version though. One other thing; she naturally has quite patchy skin colouring and that is more noticable in the edited version. :)
 
Thanks for the honest critiques :). Haven't been keeping up with the forum properly over the last couple of days - last push to uni finals :/
 
I think its ok, if you want to solve the problem of it lookng a bit plasticy, then add a low opacity noise layer. Also look into adding a 50% gray layer on soft light, which allows you do develop shadows on the face.
 
ChroniC said:
I think its ok, if you want to solve the problem of it lookng a bit plasticy, then add a low opacity noise layer.
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This works but I prefer also doing a low size gaussian blur on the noise layer too, else it looks too sharp for my liking.
 
lol its funny if you switch between the two, her eyes grow! Good stuff though, only thing extra I'd do is tidy up some more of those loose hairs out of place.
 
Yeah, I try to be fairly subtle with that normally. Whilst I agree with you, I think if you're not careful you can make the skin look a bit too hot, which I'd say is what you've got there.

Nice version, though :)
 
LOL no not hot, you're quite right. I just meant bright.

"Modern Statistics for the Life Sciences" is currently addling my brain, I apologise :(
 
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