Beauty re touching advice and help please

[Mark von Kanel]

Hi All.

Ive decided not to carry on with Project 52 in the strict sense of the idea, i noticed that the posts i was making were not reaching the audience for the specific help that i needed.

So ive decided to post a new thread for each idea titled in a way that will attract those that have the skill set that i need to learn from.

This is a head shot of the bride at a Romanian, wedding i attended it has its problems and i want to make it as good as is possible. So im going to watch a load of tutorials and start retouching. Any ideas on what i need to do to the image in your opinion are gratefully received.

So please give me a good CRITICAL critique on the image, i need you to be as picky as you can so that i can improve my PS skills.

This is OOC apart from a crop

[JR1]

Over exposed, washed out, distracting background especially the part hands on the bar on the right.

Crop

[ajohnw]

I think you may have problems getting rid of the reflection on her forehead. Looking at the tones on her arms I suspect this is mixed lighting as well and the veil is off white which a spot white balance will correct.

What you might do is a bit dependent on the software you use.

John
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[Shadowman]

1. Background is too busy, distracting highlights from various sources.
2. Shadow beneath left arm is distracting.
3. Too much exposed armpit.
4. Cropped arms.
5. Fingers of another person shown.
6. Head in unattractive position causing creases beneath the chin.
7. Hot spot on forehead.
8. Veil position not very flattering.

Very pretty model, I'd crop much closer including the shoulders and perhaps lose the veil.

[GeoBonsai]

The bride in your image is absolutely gorgeous! Great capture of a happy moment.

From a woman's perspective, my suggestions are to:

• Crop closer using rule of thirds.
• Darken background.
• Lighten face.
• Reduce sharpening on face; especially on shine on forehead.
• Paint light on veil (it's essential to the wedding shot)
• Adjust tone on shoulders to better match tone on face.
• "Heal" the vaccination mark on her left arm (I forget to do this).

I would guess a guy's instinct would be to include more of the top of the brides dress. Hopefully there are other shots of the bride's very pretty dress.


Something like this:

[ajohnw]

I had a go. One major problem is that some of the whites are way too bright and probably clipped. Quickly I did this



In order

In the GIMP
Used a healing brush on the reflections on the forehead and nose.
Weak blur brush on the areas changed.
A tiny bit of dodge/burn on the same areas with a fuzzy edged brush

Rawtherapee
16px square spot white balance on the veil.
Sharpening of a sort protecting skin tones.
CH adjustment to shift the orange skin tones on the edge of her arms
A large decrease in brightness in LAB
Moderate/heavy increase in chromatisity in LAB
Not happy with whites so spot balanced on the dress and then shifted the colour temperature manually. Whites can be a pain. Artificial materials vary in how they come out from a camera and our eyes don't notice.

Really a raw file is needed because I suspect the whites are clipped. (filebin ?) Further work is needed. Moderating the facial shadows is the main thing really to damp down the creases. If the brightness is correct I don't think the background matters really. This isn't a studio shot and it doesn't detract.

I have to get a duck in the oven so after that I will probably have a go at the shadows.

John
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[ajohnw]

Again quickly using a detail decomposition and a blur at several detail levels on the creases.



I hadn't made too good a job healing out the reflections on her nose so used a smudge brush to spread it a little but still not right really.

I toned down the can on the bar too. Best spot that sort of thing when taking the shot.

Personally I feel you have already used thirds well. It isn't a studio shot.

Maybe I should have done some below the eyes too.

John
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[Mark von Kanel]

Hi All.

Thanks for the responces, so far nothing i hadnt expected, Geri, although i am a guy... (at least the last time i looked ) i have in fact already headed towards your crop, Johns comments about the armpit and cropped arms were pertinent.

The rest is slow going in that ive decided i need to do something with the background d and to do what i want i need to select the hair....WHICH IM FINDING BLOODY DIFFICULT!!

All of the other stuff im going to try different methods until i find the one that i like.

John, thanks for your version, im working in PS, the white bal is slightly off but using the close crop im not going to alter it until i get the background sorted.

[Shadowman]

The bride in your image is absolutely gorgeous! Great capture of a happy moment.

From a woman's perspective, my suggestions are to:

• Crop closer using rule of thirds.
• Darken background.
• Lighten face.
• Reduce sharpening on face; especially on shine on forehead.
• Paint light on veil (it's essential to the wedding shot)
• Adjust tone on shoulders to better match tone on face.
• "Heal" the vaccination mark on her left arm (I forget to do this).

I would guess a guy's instinct would be to include more of the top of the brides dress. Hopefully there are other shots of the bride's very pretty dress.


Something like this:

Nice edit.

[tao2]

Agree with all above re. clutter...

Using Zoner Photo Studio 15

reduced exp. half a stop
+1 contrast
+2 clarity
Temp 5600
saturation 115
vibrance 105
clone stamp+iron for background and skin imperfections.
sharpening 80, radius 2.4, threshold 2
crop



PS looking at the exif - ah'd use A prio and a much lower ISO. Almost always use A prio anyway (use a lot of manual lenses).

[Shadowman]

Agree with all above re. clutter...

Using Zoner Photo Studio 15

reduced exp. half a stop
+1 contrast
+2 clarity
Temp 5600
saturation 115
vibrance 105
clone stamp+iron for background and skin imperfections.
sharpening 80, radius 2.4, threshold 2
crop



PS looking at the exif - ah'd use A prio and a much lower ISO. Almost always use A prio anyway (use a lot of manual lenses).

Nice edit.

[rpcrowe]

There are several ways to improve a portrait...

First is to use Photoshop as your editing tool. Do a Google search with "Photoshop beauty retouching" as the search parameters and you will get a plethora of relevant hits. You will also get a bunch of hits with search parameters of "Photoshop beauty retouching actions"

Second is to use Portrait Professional www.portraitprofessional.com I still use Portrait Professional 9 but, it is up to version 12 now. Sometimes the default values somewhat overdo the retouching but, you can easily reduce the values. It is a very quick and easy way to retouch faces. You can download a free trial but cannot save the retouched photos unless you pay and register.

Third is to use the Perfect Portrait Module of OnOne Perfect Photo Suite 9. Although, I have Perfect Photo Suite 9, I have not used the Perfect Portrait module. www.ononesoftware.com/Suite9

[IzzieK]

Manfred, our moderator posted this link a few days ago (?) for correcting skin tones:

http://www.graphicconnectionkc.com/s...orrection.html

then the rest is as already been said.

[Rob Ekins]

My quick attempt.

PS6
Open as RAW file.
Auto WB worked well.
Reduce exposure.
Open as Smart object.
Select gown and veil desat reds and yellows with eye dropper in H&S layer mask.
Select skin, desat as above.
Flatten when happy.
Duplicate layer.
Sharpen.
Using layer mask brush back in the skin so it soft leaving the eyes, mouth, and gown sharper than skin. Flatten when happy.
Duplicate layer.
Dodge shadows around mouth and under arms.
Select B&W layer mask using screen as your blend mode. Adjust opacity to suit. In this case B&W layer is at 32%.
Brush colour back into hair, lips and eyes.
Crop.
Use the Spot healing brush to knock out some of the bright spots in the BG. (I missed the flash reflection next to her head)
Convert to Jpeg for web.

Hope this helps.

[Mark von Kanel]

Thanks Robbie, im still working on my attempt but busy at work so not much time to watch the tutorials, hope to have my attempt finished over the week end, like what youve done with the background.

[Mark von Kanel]

Ok here's my first go, what do you think? i havnt sharpened it yet

[Shadowman]

Much better composition. I'd be tempted to clone out the armpit creases on right arm.

[ajohnw]

Pretty good Mark. You haven't gone too plasticy. When you sharpen you might think about just applying it to hair and eye detail. Maybe a luminosity mask. Or a brush of course. It's often not a good idea to sharpen skin tones on this sort of image. It can undo what has been done and will bring up the orange tint on the edge of her arm.

I'm still inclined to feel it's a touch to bright. Darkening will probably bring up her face more. I can't help having a play.



To me that looks more human but I haven't seen the lady. Nothing complicated done just applied this curve. The dot is concentrated on the main colour mix that was in the orange area on the arm. RT give colours were clicked not just a luminosity indicator so I have to guess which place will be best, It needn't be dragged down that much or could be taken further.



It's interesting to me that this has blended in the orange and it now looks more natural. A problem with PP - all things done inter react.

John
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[shreds]

Just now needs to lose that mirror edge reflection behind her which distracts and you are getting there.

Certainly all the background clutter especially THAT drinks can and straw were dreadfully distracting.

[IzzieK]

Two different edits and both are good and acceptable now without the distractions around her. +1 to John's comments.