Skin Tutes result. Am I getting there?

heatherfeather

I have been doing some of the tutorials.... How am I doing?
1. This one has a slight desaturation for some fun.
This is the after:
This is the last one I worked on, and I like the results the best of the three...


the before :



2. The after:

The before:

3. The After:

The before:


Anyway... I didn't quite understand ALL of the tutes, but I figured out the high key low key bit and used that pretty well. It is way simpler than I expected.

Do you think the skin tones are too plastic? Seriously, guys, let me know how I did.

I have to do a wedding with this same girl (my sis) at the end of May, so I need to get some skin touchups figured out better. I won't be doing all of the pictures touched up to this extent, she just needs some nice portraits for her wedding.

Comments and constructive criticism are extra welcome. :ear

Blurmore

Only 3 looks a little plastic to me, mostly because the hat shadow line is un naturally soft. If you are using a layer mask I'd just paint less mask over this area. They all might benefit from some general softening too, duplicate background layer, gaussian blur at like 20-40 pixels then kick the opacity down to like 25/30 percent.

Travis

I agree with the above post on #3 being the only one that looks a little too far. Allow a few of the lines to "gently" show through. Overall, though, you did a fantastic job, especially with the coloring on #1.

jeffreaux2

Travis wrote:

I agree with the above post on #3 being the only one that looks a little too far. Allow a few of the lines to "gently" show through. Overall, though, you did a fantastic job, especially with the coloring on #1.

Me too!!!


BTW very nice compositions!!

Swartzy

Good job Heather. Yes, the 3rd is a bit much on the face (as it doesn't match the rest of the photo) but you done good. Sometimes the yellows/oranges are intensified if you are using a "multiply" layer ..often times it needs dialed back a little.

davidweaver

...I like #3 best.

Opinions.....

:-)

Travis wrote:

I agree with the above post on #3 being the only one that looks a little too far. Allow a few of the lines to "gently" show through. Overall, though, you did a fantastic job, especially with the coloring on #1.

evoryware

I like #1 the most. I actually do not think #3 needed at lot of skin retouching at all, especially on her left side but I like the way the colors in the after pop.

heatherfeather

Blurmore wrote:

Only 3 looks a little plastic to me, mostly because the hat shadow line is un naturally soft. If you are using a layer mask I'd just paint less mask over this area. They all might benefit from some general softening too, duplicate background layer, gaussian blur at like 20-40 pixels then kick the opacity down to like 25/30 percent.

Thanks for the encouragement & pointers! I am going to figure this out if it kills me!

heatherfeather

Travis wrote:

I agree with the above post on #3 being the only one that looks a little too far. Allow a few of the lines to "gently" show through. Overall, though, you did a fantastic job, especially with the coloring on #1.

I totally agree with you about three... it is just a bit too far. But I think it will be easy to pull it back a hair.

Thanks for taking the time to comment!:D

heatherfeather

jeffreaux2 wrote:

Me too!!!


BTW very nice compositions!!

Thanks for noticing that! There is more to life then photoshope, I guess! (thank goodness!)

Rhuarc

Wow, nice work! What tutorials did you use to do these?

heatherfeather

Swartzy wrote:

Good job Heather. Yes, the 3rd is a bit much on the face (as it doesn't match the rest of the photo) but you done good. Sometimes the yellows/oranges are intensified if you are using a "multiply" layer ..often times it needs dialed back a little.

Thanks Swartzy.... Now I need to go get out my photoshop manual to understand what in the world you just said. :giggle But I am sure it was good advice, !:giggle

heatherfeather

Rhuarc wrote:

Wow, nice work! What tutorials did you use to do these?

On the little words above the threads on diggrin, the tutorials link is listed inbetween Reviews and Gallery in white letters. See it? Its right there.

heatherfeather

davidweaver wrote:

...I like #3 best.

Opinions.....

:-)

I like that one too, especially after I stared after it for an hour... dodging and burning till the cows came home. Now I have to re look at it and re-evaluate. Thanks for taking the time to comment! Everyone's preferences are different, and that is what makes life fun!

heatherfeather

evoryware wrote:

I like #1 the most. I actually do not think #3 needed at lot of skin retouching at all, especially on her left side but I like the way the colors in the after pop.

I like #1 the best too. (mostly due to the light, but I do have to admit the processing turned out really nice too.)

I guess when to retouch is the next thing to learn!

Thanks for the time it took you to comment!

Ike615

good work. You should check out christy schuler tutorials. She has a great and very easy way to fix up skin that can take less than a minute. She also has ome pretty awesome symmetry, eye, hair, and contouring tutorials. Link is here: http://www.christyschuler.com/retouching.html

heatherfeather

Thanks Isaac... sounds fun! I will do that!

heatherfeather

heatherfeather wrote:

Thanks Isaac... sounds fun! I will do that!

Isaac-
I just did the first basic skin touchup tutorial- that was stinking easy! Thanks so much for that link! I love how much easier it is to follow with the video rather than deciphering someone's description. Really cool stuff! When I get through downloading the rest of the videos and finish my file, I'll share an example of my attempts at lady's technique! Pretty cool stuff!

DRabbit

Ike615 wrote:

good work. You should check out christy schuler tutorials. She has a great and very easy way to fix up skin that can take less than a minute. She also has ome pretty awesome symmetry, eye, hair, and contouring tutorials. Link is here: http://www.christyschuler.com/retouching.html

Good info there!