First try with facial retouching

[AllenOwen]

Well, it's my first REAL try at it. What does everyone think? Let me have it! I can take it.




Larger version here: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2244/...f7d121a4_o.jpg



Thanks,

[AllenAyres]

While I think it's pretty good, I also think it's too different from the original - I guess it depends on what the client wants, but no-one is not going to notice the changes.

[LEATHERNECK]

I'm looking at it on a laptop while in a pasture....from here it looks pretty good...but my signal is coming through the air and sometimes its not that accurate at reproducting photogs; so its probably better than "pretty good".

[SpeedRacerSlots]

What did you use?

[SnapPea]

Great Job! What editing did you use?
I have photoshop... think it will do the same.
Way to go!

[AllenOwen]

Originally Posted by AllenAyres

While I think it's pretty good, I also think it's too different from the original - I guess it depends on what the client wants, but no-one is not going to notice the changes.

I see your point. Fortunately for me this isn't a client. It's just a snapshot of a relative. I figured it would be a great picture to try some editing on.

Originally Posted by LEATHERNECK

I'm looking at it on a laptop while in a pasture.....

Awesome! I thought I was addicted to the internet.

Originally Posted by SpeedRacerSlots

What did you use?

I used Photoshop CS3. And I'm sure I did it the long way. I did a quick pass with Portraiture to get the small lines cleaned up. Then I used the Liquify tool to shed some of the jowls, jaw, and neck areas. Then used a combination of clone tool and patch tools to smooth the skin. Then whitened the teeth (probably too much).

[katiexjo]

It looks great to me. Her skin looks smooth without looking too artificail, Way to go!

[AllenOwen]

Thanks. LOL, I forgot about this thread. I didn't want it to look fake so I didn't want to go too far with it.

She got a kick out of it too...asked me why I put the wrinkles on her face.

[r6isnum1]

I think it turned out really good. Had you never shown the original I would have never of suspected any retouching.

If you go the Digital Photography Connection > Photoshop they have a really easy skin smoothing tut..

[AllenOwen]

Wow, great site, thanks for ruining my productivity for today.

[Thorpeland]

Yes very good job. As it was said above, if I had not seen the original I wouldn't have known it was re-touched. And I think that says a lot. Granted its a small pic and we can't study the detail up close. But overall it looks extremely good!

One question to ask to those in this thread is, has there ever been a time you've done face re-touching such as this and you were almost afraid to show the subject because you feel they might be offended? My situation was I did a shoot for a guy who had a very "weathered" face. Well during post processing after the shoot I did the skin re-touching and the guy looked 15 years younger! I had actually really impressed myself with how well i pulled it off. But later decided to give him the more original looking, slightly touched up final versions. He was quite happy with them. But I was so afraid he would have been offended with the clean up id done. Thoughts?

EDIT: Attached is the shot in question.

[AllenOwen]

Originally Posted by Thorpeland

Yes very good job. As it was said above, if I had not seen the original I wouldn't have known it was re-touched. And I think that says a lot. Granted its a small pic and we can't study the detail up close. But overall it looks extremely good!

Thank you, you can see the larger version here: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2244/...f7d121a4_o.jpg

Originally Posted by Thorpeland

One question to ask to those in this thread is, has there ever been a time you've done face re-touching such as this and you were almost afraid to show the subject because you feel they might be offended? My situation was I did a shoot for a guy who had a very "weathered" face. Well during post processing after the shoot I did the skin re-touching and the guy looked 15 years younger! I had actually really impressed myself with how well i pulled it off. But later decided to give him the more original looking, slightly touched up final versions. He was quite happy with them. But I was so afraid he would have been offended with the clean up id done. Thoughts?

Since this one was a close relative, I didn't have a problem showing her. I knew exactly how she would take it.

But I have struggled with that same "moral" question before. However it had to do with taking some inches off a client. I did what you did and ended up playing it safe by not being so drastic (actually she never even noticed) and it turned out great.

I believe in more subtle changes for everyday people. Maybe a bump in whiteness of the teeth, soften the skin just a little, slightly thin some common trouble areas (not enough to notice though), remove the zits, leave the moles, sharpen the eyes if needed.... Nothing like what I did in the original post.

Models are a different story though, glam it up!

YMMV

[Thorpeland]

I have no idea how I missed the link to the large file on your shot. haha Yes very well done... again.

Thanks for the input on my situation. Good to see i was thinking along the same lines.

[KeepsakeGirl]

I think its great.

Personally i always ask clients if they would mind some retouching on blemishes, lines, etc. and i've yet to have one say no.