Am I on the right track? (Photoshop question)

I have had PS for a while, but am now just starting to use it.

I currently don't have a camera that works and I plan to buy a Canon dslr as soon as I can afford it. These two images were taken with a Sony Cybershot a few years back.

I have been spending time in the model section of the forum and decided I would try to learn how to smooth skin. So today I looked at a quick tutorial on the net and tried it on one of my images. All I used was the healing brush tool.

I could have done more to it, but I didn't know if I was on the right track or not so I decided to stop and ask if it was ok. I have untrained eyes and to me I think it looks good. But what do I know? lol This is just the first image I have worked on.

Oh, and when I exported the image from PS, it got ... more contrast? I'm not sure if contrast is what I see or not but why did it change?

Thanks!

http://i31.tinypic.com​/ehgjkk.jpg

http://i28.tinypic.com​/n4iql0.jpg

Looks like you are on the right track. There is some blurring on the viewers left side of his jaw.

I think you're doing a good job. It's very easy to get carried away and end up with super-smooth fake-looking skin, but yours is nice.

Re: the colour issue - have a read of the Sticky at the top of this forum about colour management. It's probably a PS-vs-browser issue - quite common.

However, I notice that while your original pic is tagged (has an ICC profile attached) your enhanced one does not. Did you use the "Save for web" function?

Looks OK to me, too.

Sorry, but IMAGE POSTING RULES only allow pics 1024 pixels or smaller. You can always just post a link to them, though.

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

Like I mentioned in my first post, all I used was the healing brush tool. Is there anything else I should try?

Thanks!

Damo77 wrote in post #5423723
However, I notice that while your original pic is tagged (has an ICC profile attached) your enhanced one does not. Did you use the "Save for web" function?

I did. I didn't know what it was but I thought since I was going to post it on the web that might be how I needed to save it. I don't have a manual.

PhotosGuy wrote in post #5424189
Looks OK to me, too.

Sorry, but IMAGE POSTING RULES only allow pics 1024 pixels or smaller. You can always just post a link to them, though.

:o:o:o:o

rjx wrote in post #5432360
all I used was the healing brush tool. Is there anything else I should try?

The healing brush is nearly all I use. The only time it doesn't work is near distinct edges in a photo - so the old clone tool comes out.

rjx wrote in post #5432360
I did. I didn't know what it was but I thought since I was going to post it on the web that might be how I needed to save it.

You did the right thing. A visible difference between Photoshop and the web is quite common (and much lamented), but there's nothing you can do about it, so don't lose any sleep over it!