First Touch Up - Ish Thing

[verdantsound]

Hi, After reading and looking around on the net I decided to give it a try.
This is my first time. Any C & C would be welcome. I was wondering what you pros would have done. Should you choose to edit the original image yourself, if you could tell me the steps you did, it would be appreciated.

ORIGINAL:
http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/811/img7896srs2.jpg


EDITED:
http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/6338/img7896apfilteredbpsli6.jpg

Basically I explored the dodge/burning a little bit on the face, smudging, and curves and contrast. Nothing too fancy. What do you think?

[Bill Boehme]

While the young lady is very attractive, I am afraid that the image is too underexposed to be able to do a decent job of post processing. Also, the lighting appears too flat and the background is not very attractive because it has a dull brownish look. The best-case scenario would be to get a good exposure with good white balance so that little or no post processing would be needed. It is never good for the image if large amount of tonal adjustments need to be made in Photoshop to "fix" the image.

[sidx001]

I took a poke at this, not sure that it made a whole lot of difference tho!

http://aboutmoments.smugmug.com/photos/400295637_xEj5f-L.jpg

[verdantsound]

@bill thanks for the tip, I'll look into it

@sidx: what did you do? How do you save the hair?

[S.Horton]

Original:
http://midnightblue.smugmug.com/photos/400363746_qWLcu-XL.jpg

Quick Edit:
http://midnightblue.smugmug.com/photos/400363643_jZWyf-XL.jpg

From a RAW file, I think that this picture could be a keeper.

If you have CS3, I'll share the steps to reproduce what you see here.
;)

[verdantsound]

@ S Horton

I actually do have CS3 =D Please share so that I may learn:)

It's too bad that I took this pic before I learned about Raw =/

[S.Horton]

Well, full-size JPG you may pull it off.

I'll post links if this is just too much of a summary....... (gotta go to work to pay for gear)

1. 3 point color correction
2. Noise reduction / skin smoothing
- Noiseware/Pro, Portrait Setting, when I'm in a hurry
- Otherwise, Noise reduction by channel
3. Image / Adjustments / Shadow-Highlight
- Manipulate shadows until you're happy
4. Select eyes / new adj layer levels / make them brighter / blur mask ~5px in this case

Done.

[Croasdail]

Glad Sam posted because yes, this shot was way within the realm of fixing. Good quick fix. There is a lot of latitude left in this shot. OP, just remember that when you underexpose and then try to bring the image up, not all channels come up at the same rate, you will get color shift like you experienced. Anytime you bring an image up, also remember to re-correct the color balance.

Pretty girls, nice shot. Cheers.

[Benji]

CC was requested so here goes.

My best advice is get it right in the camera at the time of the capture, and use Photoshop for enhancing and retouching and for the occasional screwup, not for each and every image. You simply cannot "fix" grossly under or overexposed images in Photoshop and expect them to look or print properly even if you shoot RAW.

Also when it comes to posing, slumping over seldom looks good on anyone and hair everywhere never looks good either. You have both here. :-)

Benji

[verdantsound]

Sam, Mark, thank you for your comments and advice. I still have a lot to learn about portraits.

@ Sam: If you can post links about how to perform those steps well, that would be awesome. I have some experience in the 2nd and 3rd steps but the other two I have never tried.

@ Mark: How does one know that a picture is within the realm of fixing? I don't fully understand the color shift with the channels. Would you know of a website that might inform me more of this problem and how to fix it?

Thanks again!

[verdantsound]

CC was requested so here goes.

My best advice is get it right in the camera at the time of the capture, and use Photoshop for enhancing and retouching and for the occasional screwup, not for each and every image. You simply cannot "fix" grossly under or overexposed images in Photoshop and expect them to look or print properly even if you shoot RAW.

Also when it comes to posing, slumping over seldom looks good on anyone and hair everywhere never looks good either. You have both here. :-)

Benji

Thanks Benji; I really don't know much about portraits and this was a on the spot thing. Is there a book or a website you can recommend me (or just some helpful tips) where I can improve? Thanks again!

[idyguy]

Here's my attempt.

[S.Horton]

Sam, Mark, thank you for your comments and advice. I still have a lot to learn about portraits.

@ Sam: If you can post links about how to perform those steps well, that would be awesome. I have some experience in the 2nd and 3rd steps but the other two I have never tried.

@ Mark: How does one know that a picture is within the realm of fixing? I don't fully understand the color shift with the channels. Would you know of a website that might inform me more of this problem and how to fix it?

Thanks again!

I'm going to recommend a book instead -- Photoshop Restoration and Retouching, Katrin Eismann
http://www.digitalretouch.org/

It has just about everything you would ever want (or need) to know about glamour retouching, A-Z, with examples and exercises using real photos.

[NSG40D]

Here is my attempt.

Camera raw for slight increase in color temp, exposure, clarity and vibrance. Eye sharpening, portraiture for the skin, slight vignette.

Before
314773

After
314771

[S.Horton]

@ Sam: If you can post links about how to perform those steps well, that would be awesome. I have some experience in the 2nd and 3rd steps but the other two I have never tried.

Color correction:
http://www.layersmagazine.com/photographytester_color_correctingphp.html

Download a trial of Noiseware -- Try the Portrait setting by duplicating an image layer, applying Noiseware, paint mask over her lips and eyes
http://www.imagenomic.com/

As for glamour retouching, the Eismann book is the best I know of.

I had this book, and I think it covers the basics of retouching, too. If you're just getting moving with CS3, it is excellent!
http://www.kelbytraining.com/product/the-photoshop-cs3-book-for-digital-photographers.html

Enjoy!

[verdantsound]

Thanks a bunch! I have a lot of reading to do =D

[S.Horton]

^^ It took me as long to learn CS as it did to use the camera properly.

Have at it!

[Rohape]

Your obviously aware of the exposure issues. My advice would be read (you don't even want to see my tutorial's bookmarks!), experiment, join a forum such as www.retouchpro.com and just have fun. Once you get used to the controls and familiarity with CS3 and at least 90% understanding of the functions and what your doing, get some freakin plug-ins!
I used to be die hard no plug-ins, I got my first one (Topaz Adjust) and it was like a whole new world!

For this I used Topaz Adjust, Contrast Correction preset. Screen overlay the original. Used a new layer 50% grey to dodge out a blown spot. Flattened and ran Topaz Denoise, Large Grain preset.

It's not 'Glamour' material, but its cleaned up and more detail.....I think. :) It could use some more work on some of the shadows and hotspots in the face, but this was just a quickie for me.

I'm no professional, but if you have any questions feel free to PM me.

[jeffsanjuan]

..:: Original ::..

http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/811/img7896srs2.jpg

..:: Photo-Retouched ::..

http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp99/5iveStarStudios/400363643_jZWyf-XL_CONTEST_EDIT.jpg?t=1230710482