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[uniguide]

Hello everybody, i'm new to this forum, so far it looks the most professional forum about photoshop i seen until now so thumbsup guys!
let me know what you think about this retouching work of mine... please :)
I'm pretty new to the retouching world and i'm sure i can do so much better so comments would be highly appreciated! }$ I promise to do my best to learn from your constructive criticizm.

Before & After attached.

Thanx
Z

[swine]

i'll refrain from voting. Constructive critisim serves much more of a purpose than the ego stroking/poking that polls tend to be. Not a bad job. Few ares that need to be addressed, the back ground is desaturated, so are parts of the hair, and others are coloured still, the transition needs to be smoother. The skin at the side of the lips could do to be more smooth, as you've done with the majority of the face, as does the skin around the neckline, hairline and side of chin. There is a slight amount of red discolouration on the nose. Other than these points it's pretty good. has a nice 'soft focus' feel.

[pixel8]

Nothing special but OK needs more work around the mouth.

I wouldn't show it to your wife (if that's who it is) if I were you.

[karin]

hallo
I think it looks fairly good, certainly more eyecatching than original.
but swine made good points, especially about hair being partly desaturated, and skintone being uneven.
I am also new at this, and trying to learn as much as poss.
I tend to under-correct fir fear of overdoing it.

I'd love to know what your techniques were.
do you work in rgb?

karin

[Dewayne]

Not a bad job, but the only thing that kind of struck me was that the face looked a little too retouched compared to around the edges of the face and hair.

If you don't mind, I'll share a techique that I use to keep images from looking too "retouched". What I do is, first of all, correct any obvious blemishes (not features) in the image such as acne, etc. Then I duplicate the original layer and then work on the duplicated layer, using my healing brush to finish correcting the skin features (wrinkles, etc).

Once I have the duplicated layer corrected, I use the opacity slider on my layer pallet to lower the opacity of the layer bit by bit until I find an acceptable balance between the two layers. Some of the original layer will show thru just a bit, but will be softened and won't look artificial. Just how I do things, and hope this helps. As I said, not a bad job at all, though!

[uniguide]

wow your replies help me to view a step forwared, which is kinda what i was looking for. After reading your comments I've noticed where i could do better...
I should pay more attention to skin tones, transitions between retouched ereas and ereas i left untouched, smoothening hair, paying more attention to the neck..

You guys where a big help, and i appreciate it, as i said before - I learn only from experience.

Karin, u asked if i work in RGB - in this case i did it in RGB cuz i knew ts going to be presented on the net, but if you know your work going to be printed at some time it would be BEST if you create it in CMYK, simply because all printers convert your files to CMYK anyways.

Another thing, i guess I added the poll just for fun :)
If you have more comments please keep them coming!

p.s. - pixel8 shes not my wife :)

[tedc]

Frankly I prefer the original.
The hair shadows have been lost on the retouch. The eyes look flat and lifeless and the whole job needs redoing.
The greyscale background is a bit amateurish. perhaps a little colour added to it would enchance the image.
I like some blemishes left on faces, but softening them down a bit.

ted

[spazghost]

Wow, nice. You made her look hawt :D

Keep up the good work.

[kumar_vvr]

Very cool work man.Keep it up..Can i borrow the pic to try my own version..

[kumar_vvr]

If you like the pic and are interested,i'll post the technique..

[Scott20015]

$}

[Peepuls]

kumar_vvr, I am always interested in learning new things and new ways of doing ol' things. Please post your technique(s).If you like the pic and are interested,i'll post the technique..

[kumar_vvr]

kumar_vvr, I am always interested in learning new things and new ways of doing ol' things. Please post your technique(s).
My technique (ok not actually my original idea..but it works..) is to duplicate the original layer.The bottom layer is box blurred just till the skin tones are preserved.Now the eraser tool is set to an opacity of 30 or so..(i use 35),the rough and ugly parts are selectively erased on the top layer.That's basically it.

[az0000000]

If you like the pic and are interested,i'll post the technique..
Hi kumar,
I am a beginner, so imo you did nice job. I am very interested in technique you used to make skin smooth. This is what i am trying to learn at present time in Photoshop. Could you please be so kind to share with me how you did the skin retouch? Step by step guide would be super good, but anything will be ok.
Thanks a lot in advance.
Regards

[kumar_vvr]

1: Duplicate "background" layer twice to .."Layer 1" and "layer 2".
Layer 2 is on top of layer 1....

2:Gaussian blur layer 1.The amount of blurring is upto you..If you want too smooth skin..blur it more..What i do is that i Gaussian blur it just a bit and then blur it again using Box Blur.

3: Now select the eraser tool and set the opacity to around 30%.(I use 35%).

4: Selectively erase the layer 2 over the parts you want to be smoothed..

5: That's it.It's a very simple technique but very effective...

[az0000000]

Again, thanks a lot kumar,
I'll start testing it right now.
Regards :)

[az0000000]

1: Duplicate "background" layer twice to .."Layer 1" and "layer 2".
Layer 2 is on top of layer 1....

2:Gaussian blur layer 1.The amount of blurring is upto you..If you want too smooth skin..blur it more..What i do is that i Gaussian blur it just a bit and then blur it again using Box Blur.

3: Now select the eraser tool and set the opacity to around 30%.(I use 35%).

4: Selectively erase the layer 2 over the parts you want to be smoothed..

5: That's it.It's a very simple technique but very effective...

I’ve tried it. Looks ok, but something is missing. On your sample you have skin color the same everywhere even if n original sample skin color is different from spot to spot. The blur method you suggested me just adds a light blur to my image. I would like to know how have you done to have skin color same everywhere. I can se original sample have some red spots and stains. How you get rid of them and made skin not only smooth but color balanced as well?

[Dami]

az0000000, have you searched for and read any of the threads in this forum on "smooth skin?" If not, I suggest you check them out. There are numerous threads sharing many techniques for making the skin look natural, but flawless.

[juliephotography]

Uniguide- you did a real good job on the jaw line- you got rid of the double chin nicely. You just need to work on making the skin look more even and making a selection better, ie.- the hair. But you are definitely on the right path.

Kumar- really nice job on keeping the skin tones even, but I would have worked a little more on the double chin and I can still see a little redness where she had a blemish next to her mouth. What tecniques did you use?

[az0000000]

az0000000, have you searched for and read any of the threads in this forum on "smooth skin?" If not, I suggest you check them out. There are numerous threads sharing many techniques for making the skin look natural, but flawless.
Yes, i did search and read many threads. So far i find many of them quite hard for me a beginner. Now i am thinking where to start from...:|

[Dami]

Yes, i did search and read many threads. So far i find many of them quite hard for me a beginner. Now i am thinking where to start from...:|

Well, give it a try, and when you get stuck, show us what you have and we'll help from there.

[sPECtre]

Some use almost the same technique as kumar, but they erase totally the areas that need to stay sharp, or have details, like the eyes, so that the blur does not spill color in unwanted areas.

[Joy Foraker]

Kumar - that is sensational -- the glow you've added is perfect. So natural yet lovely. I'm interested to try your technique.

Is retouch your specialty?

[cukorm]

Here it is

[kumar_vvr]

Joy Foraker:Retouching is my speciality..well almost..Thanks for the compliment.

If ANYONE has any photo to be retouched please send it to my e-mail (kumar.vvr@gmail.com).I love taking challenges,so feel free to send any photos..

[az0000000]

Here it is
cukorm, you did that?

[cukorm]

yes az0000000. Do you like it?

[az0000000]

yes az0000000. Do you like it?
Yep, nice, did you use same technique as kumar used?

[kumar_vvr]

Guys check out my new thread on retouching..Used a similar technique i previously described but with few modifications..

http://www.photoshoptechniques.com/forum/showthread.php?p=157290

[cukorm]

Not the same but the similar.
1. I played with the curves a bit.
2. I hid the ugly spots with healing brush (hardness 100%, spacing 1%, angle -49, roudness 16)
3.I whitened teeth and eyes.
4. I softened skin. (duplicate layer, gaussian blur (8px), take the opacity down(cca 50%),with eraser erase everything but the skin of person you are retouching.

[az0000000]

Not the same but the similar.
1. I played with the curves a bit.
2. I hid the ugly spots with healing brush (hardness 100%, spacing 1%, angle -49, roudness 16)
3.I whitened teeth and eyes.
4. I softened skin. (duplicate layer, gaussian blur (8px), take the opacity down(cca 50%),with eraser erase everything but the skin of person you are retouching.
Big job i must say. I'll try that.
Thanks.
By the way, i quite often hear "healing brush" expression, but have no clue where to find it; can anyone tell me where for God sake i can find it in Photoshop? I am on version 6 by the way, could that be the reason?
Thanks.

[swine]

The Healing brush, along with the liquify filter were introduced in Version 6. You'll find it under the flyout menu left of the brush tool. it looks like this;

[az0000000]

Nope, here is my version, and tools palette. No healing brush there... too bad...
http://moldova.worldcarp.org/sfp_moldova_website/az/personal_data/tempo/nope.jpg

[swine]

maybe it was included in the 6.1 update... should still be available for free (I think) from Adobe. Too long ago for me to clearly remember tho... sorry.

[Bumnut]

Version 6 has a History Brush, is that what you're talking about?

[Scott W.]

my 2¢

[Bumnut]

To me, a lot of these look a little bit too airbrushed, I'd be curious to see how they look with a little bit of texture, or perhaps some noise on the skin. However, I've seen a bunch of magazine covers etc that look the same, too smooth to be real.

That said, I don't think I could do better.


I also heard that the most common use of photoshop in modelling photos is to remove body hair; bulimia / anorexia causes you to grow a fine layer of soft hair...

[az0000000]

Version 6 has a History Brush, is that what you're talking about?
Nope, the Healing brush.