# portrait of a girl.



## Pleasetakeitkind (May 29, 2008)

Thoughts and suggestions are welcome.


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## Wild Style (May 29, 2008)

composition = great

a bit over exposed though.


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## Pleasetakeitkind (May 29, 2008)

Thanks. I like to push the highlights as far as i can while still preserving detail.


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## Alpha (May 29, 2008)

Have you posted this before or just a photo of the same girl? Because I distinctly remember retouching her face.

She's very pretty. Looks like Claire Danes.


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## Pleasetakeitkind (May 29, 2008)

In fact you are correct. Due to my serious lack of available models, and urge to learn. I have found myself spending hours going through old pictures and editing them. If you remember this particular shot was a mess to begin with.


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## Diabolus (May 29, 2008)

First thing I look at are the eyes. You could spend a lot of time in Photoshop correcting the problem, but I think it would be better to take new pictures with better lighting. 

If you get her eyes to pop, this would be a winner.


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## Senor Hound (May 30, 2008)

I hate to sound critical (cause I do like the photo), but what about airbrushing out some of the complexion issues on her left cheek and below her lower lip?  The photo is great, but if you want it to look professional (like if you're selling the photo), then most IMO would do this.  If you're wanting it to be more artistic, and for your own collection, you may want to leave it as is, cause it does add a sense of character.

BTW, this is no jab at the model or the photographer.  Everyone has blemishes, especially in higher-key shots, and it looks like the blemishes are not near as noticeable as they COULD be.

Sorry if I seem negative. but I just am giving out my two cents.  Please don't be upset at me.


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## Pleasetakeitkind (May 30, 2008)

Senor Hound said:


> I hate to sound critical (cause I do like the photo), but what about airbrushing out some of the complexion issues on her left cheek and below her lower lip? The photo is great, but if you want it to look professional (like if you're selling the photo), then most IMO would do this. If you're wanting it to be more artistic, and for your own collection, you may want to leave it as is, cause it does add a sense of character.
> 
> BTW, this is no jab at the model or the photographer. Everyone has blemishes, especially in higher-key shots, and it looks like the blemishes are not near as noticeable as they COULD be.
> 
> Sorry if I seem negative. but I just am giving out my two cents. Please don't be upset at me.


 
Here is the original. I used alot of skin smoothing techniques, but didn't want to make it look too plastic.


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## Alpha (May 30, 2008)

The processed shot appears over-exposed and is a tad too warm. She needs less processing on her left-face and more on her right. She also needs work on the eyes, under-eye, lips, chin, and neck.


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## That One Guy (May 30, 2008)

Pleasetakeitkind said:


> Here is the original. I used alot of skin smoothing techniques, but didn't want to make it look too plastic.




what about b&w with an orange filter in post?


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## Senor Hound (May 31, 2008)

Pleasetakeitkind said:


> Here is the original. I used alot of skin smoothing techniques, but didn't want to make it look too plastic.



Wow.  I don't want to sound bad, cause she's such a pretty girl, but her complexion has seen better days.  Maybe she was nervous or something, a lot of times that will bring out red bumps on the face.

You did a good job with the post processing after seeing the original.  It does look a little plasticky, but I always like the faux look in glamor photography.  Its supposed to be slightly unrealistic, but as long as its believable (which it is) I don't think you've gone too far.


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## Alpha (May 31, 2008)

Senor Hound said:


> You did a good job with the post processing after seeing the original.  It does look a little plasticky, but I always like the faux look in glamor photography.  Its supposed to be slightly unrealistic, but as long as its believable (which it is) I don't think you've gone too far.



I don't want to sound bad. But really...and this time I'd actually like you answer...what are you talking about?

1) This does not look plastic. It looks overexposed. This is plastic.

2) This is not glamour. It's beauty.

3) Glamour is not characterized by fake skin.

4) Beauty retouches are not supposed to be slightly unrealistic. They're supposed to be believable and flawless.


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## John_Olexa (May 31, 2008)

Alpha said:


> 1) This does not look plastic. It looks overexposed. This is plastic. /quote]
> 
> 
> I'll say!!


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## 3of11 (May 31, 2008)

I like it.  I would remove the red vein in her eye though.


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## kombizz (Jun 1, 2008)

needs better exposure


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## Senor Hound (Jun 1, 2008)

Alpha said:


> I don't want to sound bad. But really...and this time I'd actually like you answer...what are you talking about?
> 
> 1) This does not look plastic. It looks overexposed. This is plastic.
> 
> ...



4)How can something that's flawless be believable?  This is a contradiction.

3)And all of the glamour photography I'VE seen has women with flawless skin, which IS FAKE LOOKING!  No one really thinks the women look like that naturally.  Its very obviously PPed.

2 & 1)I'll admit that my description of the photo may be incorrect, but I still think the face has a plastic look to it.  It looks like light is bouncing off of it moreso than would in real life, sort of like plastic would.

Seriously, dude, you need to take a chill pill.  Try some deep breathing, or some yoga, cause you have way too much hostility.  This need to feel better than others isn't helping you any.  I'd hate to think what your family feels like when you talk to them.


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## Alpha (Jun 1, 2008)

Senor Hound said:


> 4)How can something that's flawless be believable?  This is a contradiction.
> 
> 3)And all of the glamour photography I'VE seen has women with flawless skin, which IS FAKE LOOKING!  No one really thinks the women look like that naturally.  Its very obviously PPed.
> 
> ...



Taking this one to PM


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## manaheim (Jun 1, 2008)

My reaction to the corrected shot was nearly all positive. I saw the shadow of the flaws in her face but I felt it was ... interesting. Like it made her interesting to me. She's clearly a very attractive girl, and the perfect skin is often kind of boring... of course her starting complexion was a bit TOO interesting. :er:

I agree the end result looks a touch overexposed, though, so maybe the same process with just a bit of attention to that... the overexposed look may just be coming from your process of smoothing her out.  She seems a great candidate for a simple airbrushing... might be less severe.


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## manaheim (Jun 1, 2008)

Here I took a REALLY quick crack at it... have a look.  If I did this in 5 mins you could probably have some amazing results with some more time.


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## Senor Hound (Jun 1, 2008)

manaheim said:


> Here I took a REALLY quick crack at it... have a look. If I did this in 5 mins you could probably have some amazing results with some more time.


 
That's really nice, manheim!  Would you care to share with us how you did it?  If not, I understand (secret recipe...lol).


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## manaheim (Jun 1, 2008)

Senor Hound said:


> That's really nice, manheim! Would you care to share with us how you did it? If not, I understand (secret recipe...lol).


 
Thanks for the kudos. 

Sorry, I meant to explain that but was rushing because my wife was coming in the door with McDonalds!   mmm... fud.

I did a super-simplified version of an airbrush technique...


Open in Photoshop.
Copy entire image and past as a new layer (call this TOP)
Temporarily make layer TOP invisible.
Go to the lowest layer (we'll call BOTTOM)
Select Filter->Noise-Dust & Scratches.
You kinda have to play with the settings to see what works best without being ridiculous.  On this shot I did Radius: 7, Threshold: 1  What you are doing here is making a blurred skin layer that you will use later.  Don't worry about the fact that everything is blurred- you'll see.
Click ok when satisfied.
Make layer TOP visible again and return to it.
Select the Eraser tool. (make sure you have cursors set to precise or hit CAPS LOCK to make them so (you'll see a circle instead of an eraser looking thing)
Set the brush size to something that you can work with on the image without making it so big to bump into the wrong parts of your subject (you want to be able to run it over her face without hitting the edges of her features)
Set the opacity of the brush to 50% or so so it's not a HARD erase.
Now erase her skin.   This is the tricky part.  What you are doing is erasing away the blemished skin to expose the blurred out skin underneath.  What I do is not so much click and drag as click individual circles of erasure one at a time.  This leaves an occasional full or partial blemish which makes it look more believable (IMO).
You will need to steadily reduce the size of the brush as you get into some of the tighter spaces (such as the top of her lip, the bridge of her nose, etc.)
Try not to hit anything other than her skin, and try not to hit the edges of her features (like the edge of her face) as it will result in a blur of her face with surrounding backgrounds and such.
A more advanced method of this would be to do the dust and scratches using and adjustment layer so you can tweak the settings on that later, but I'm not going to go into that here. lol

There are a slew of other little tricks as well, but this gets you the basic effect fairly quickly.  For more snazzy tricks just google on "Photoshop airbrush tutorial" and you'll get a ton of examples.

I hope that was all clear enough- let me know if any of it throws anyone off and I'll try to clarify.


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## That One Guy (Jun 1, 2008)

Alpha said:


> Taking this one to PM



i have to admire this attitude. instead of "airing it out" on the OP's thread, you chose to do it in private. very considerate  :thumbup:. thanks

manaheim- i do like what you have done and i also like the fact that you shared your "secret recipe" here  thanks


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## manaheim (Jun 1, 2008)

^^^ np.  Very glad to do it.  Glad you liked the results.


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## returnofa5i (Jun 1, 2008)

heres my edit


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## manaheim (Jun 2, 2008)

^^^ that one seemed a little over the top imo.  Maybe if it were a little less soft.  Still, excellent tricks.  I assume this is the same thing you did with the children of the corn in the other post?


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## returnofa5i (Jun 2, 2008)

manaheim said:


> ^^^ that one seemed a little over the top imo.  Maybe if it were a little less soft.  Still, excellent tricks.  I assume this is the same thing you did with the children of the corn in the other post?



somewhat different, but yea I have my techniques lol


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## noescape (Jun 2, 2008)

I just did a quick edit... I went crazy with the clone tool. I tried to keep her natural skin without exessive smoothing.. it looks more natural and IMO compliments her a bit more...


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## Pleasetakeitkind (Jun 2, 2008)

Haha, Alpha has already taken this image and made it awesome. It was more of a hey "this is my try".


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## noescape (Jun 3, 2008)

Uh huh- that was my contribution!


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## manaheim (Jun 3, 2008)

Pleasetakeitkind said:


> Haha, Alpha has already taken this image and made it awesome. It was more of a hey "this is my try".


 
ummm... you asked for thoughts and suggestions.


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## Alpha (Jun 3, 2008)

I'm trying to see if I can find my go at it. Though I have a feeling that it wasn't my best work.


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## manaheim (Jun 3, 2008)

Alpha said:


> I'm trying to see if I can find my go at it. Though I have a feeling that it wasn't my best work.


 
I'd love to see it.


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## Alpha (Jun 3, 2008)

Here's the other thread. 
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=108789

I _am_ good 

Shoulda done a better job with the crease under the lip though and the vein in the eye.

This was my previous edit:


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