First Atempt At Beauty Retouching Using Dodge & Burn

[Caspita]

There was a little bit of liquifying done and some removal of wrinkles, the rest of the attention was spent on the skin. So just to reiterate, no level correction, no curve correction, no shadow/highlight correction, no anything....just wanted to practice dodging and burning to clear up the skin. Please let me know how I did, and if you could recommend any good reading that may better my technique.

Original:
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh205/Caspita33/FullNon-Edit.jpg

Edit:
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh205/Caspita33/FullEdit.jpg
(ignore the legs please :rolleyes:)

100% crop
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh205/Caspita33/CropNon-Edit.jpg
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh205/Caspita33/CropEdit.jpg

[Ichiban]

nicely done, is there a tut on this?

[dbdigitals]

I like how it turned out.
Curious if you have any info on how you did it as I would enjoy the practice as well

D.

[stsva]

Nice job - looks a whole lot better than just adding a blur to get plastic skin, as so many people seem to do.

[poloman]

I like it very much!
There is a spot just under her nostril that catches my eye though.

[Grimage]

This is Lovely! I think she will be pleased for sure:)

[Benji]

Don't forget those heavy lines around her neck. I usually duplicate the image, completely remove them, then lower the opacity to 40 to 60 % (or whatever looks good) and then flatten it.

Your retouching is excellent except I can still see faint lines in her forehead.

Benji

[fuel123]

Mouse or wacom?

[focus.pocus]

I just don't get why you guys do this? unless you are shooting for some publication... It's not what the person really looks like... Just my opinion

[travsirocz]

A lot of people want to look good in their photos and really don't want their blemishes in their photos especially since blemishes come and go. Getting rid of permanent marks may be a different story.

[poloman]

All of our visions of ourselves and others are tainted.
If you are good, people don't notice that you have cleaned them up. But they sure will notice if you don't.

[Caspita]

nicely done, is there a tut on this?

I like how it turned out.
Curious if you have any info on how you did it as I would enjoy the practice as well

D.

Thanks, there are a lot of good links out there on the web. Including THIS (http://blog.ronaldntan.com/2009/10/14/pixel-level-dodging-and-burning/) one and THIS (http://www.carrienyc.com/tutorials.html) one.

Nice job - looks a whole lot better than just adding a blur to get plastic skin, as so many people seem to do.

Thank you, definitely agree that the hard work was worth it over the typical blurring or plug ins you see.

I like it very much!
There is a spot just under her nostril that catches my eye though.

Thank you so much for pointing that out, it has been fixed!

This is Lovely! I think she will be pleased for sure:smile:

Thank you, I am sure she will be pleased as well.

Don't forget those heavy lines around her neck. I usually duplicate the image, completely remove them, then lower the opacity to 40 to 60 % (or whatever looks good) and then flatten it.

Your retouching is excellent except I can still see faint lines in her forehead.

Benji

Thank you. This is still very much a learning process for me, but I definitely need to fix the area were the necklines were removed. I usually do it just as you mentioned above, but wanted to give it a different go.

Mouse or wacom?

My trusty and ever love growing wacom tablet!

I just don't get why you guys do this? unless you are shooting for some publication... It's not what the person really looks like... Just my opinion

A lot of the work I do is for publication. Clients do not care how much work is involved or what the before/after may look like. They expect perfection time in and time out.

A lot of people want to look good in their photos and really don't want their blemishes in their photos especially since blemishes come and go. Getting rid of permanent marks may be a different story.

Agreed, although sometimes the client wants permanent marks removed, and it is all about pleasing the client.

All of our visions of ourselves and others are tainted.
If you are good, people don't notice that you have cleaned them up. But they sure will notice if you don't.

Perfectly said.

[howaboutnow]

I liked the freckles on her shoulder and face, you took them all out. Too much PP. Her neck looks fake with too much dodging.

[SJC from VT]

Excellent job. I wish I had your talent.

[PhotosGuy]

Her neck looks fake with too much dodging. This is why I never use Dodge & Burn. You just can't go back & tweak an edit after you've closed out the image.
For better options, see post #8: Tough Exposure question (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=421009)

[Caspita]

This is why I never use Dodge & Burn. You just can't go back & tweak an edit after you've closed out the image.
For better options, see post #8: Tough Exposure question (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=421009)

I would not necessarily agree with that comment. My dodging and burning is done on a harmless 50% gray layer. If I ever want to gt rid of some of the dodging/burning I could easily drop the opacity of the layer, or just paint back the gray.

[LeuceDeuce]

I would not necessarily agree with that comment. My dodging and burning is done on a harmless 50% gray layer. If I ever want to gt rid of some of the dodging/burning I could easily drop the opacity of the layer, or just paint back the gray.

Exactly.

Never use the dodge and burn tools on the image layer. You can completely do non-destructive D&B on a seperate layer set to overlay or soft light using a black and white brush at low opacity. Totally non-destructive.

[poloman]

I do the same as above...

[sherief]

dodge and burn too .. works like fire .. specially for retouching models photos , it gives them a very cool skin