practicing some skin editing cc pls.

i tried putting this in the people fprum no luck. just checking if i can get some cc and pointers on how can i improve or what i did wrong on the post editing. thanks

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Whatever you did, cut it by about 30-40%. You get to a point where cleaning up skin turns a person into a doll and looks fake.

bg is way to bring... fix it and her face will look become the important subject in the photo first

Especially the lips and eyes. Bring the opacity down some.

The more you pay attention to the lighting prior to shooting the shot will make the PP easier. That shadow over her lip could have been eliminated but creates as issue now. And, as Javier said, tone down the background colors a bit more to help focus on the face.

It's very close to being an outstanding picture. Focus more on getting your lights to sculpt her face and not create a shadow where you don't want one.

You've lost feature definition to the new skin tones. The nose looks flat and the skin appears as color blotches. The shadow above the lip you could try to burn out. Were you center metering or average? Up the exposure on the girl and drop the exposure on the BG.

thanks guys did some adjustment, and no skin smoothing.

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I think her skin is a bit too soft. You always want some original texture to show through. I am an advocate of not blurring skin to retouch it. I know there are a lot of people out there that do, but you can easily lose so much texture, that it starts to look "photoshopped" As for the lighting, you always want to pay attention to what is behind your subject, as well as how the light is hitting it. But since you only asked about skin retouch I won't talk anymore on that...

Remember, it starts as soon as the shot is taken. I would try an easier exposed portrait to begin with and learn the basics on that and then try to apply those for different lighting conditions and situations.

I use Portrait Professional v10 and Portraiture for my portraits. It's always up to the user how you will control or utilize all the features of the softwares. I don't go extreme on my editings, just moderate. Btw, PP v10 is on sale for $39.00up until 9-30-11. I got the $59.00 for more features. I just bought mine last week.

I think the first one looks fine, just the shadow on the lip needs to be fixed. The background is a little bright though.

thanks again guys, now that i see it again the 2nd one looks a little flat. ill keep experimenting till i get it. ill post some again for cc, ill try to put one again if its ok.
again thanks everyone

I like the first. Like a previous poster, I too think the bg is a bit bright. She is gorgeous.