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Young Girl Portrait, Skin Retouch


PhotonShap

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Good job with the face, my only concern is the background. You can clearly see lines at the top right of the head around the hair. Still a job well done in my opinion.
 

IamSam

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Hey Chris, this is a great job as usual! Your always very subtle with your retouching like inky pointed out!

PhotonShap - I don't think that Chris was trying to change the background. If you don't mind, could you take a screenshot of these lines you speak of because I guess I'm not seeing them. Thanks.
 

PhotonShap

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FREQUENZTRENNUNGFinal1400.jpg On my monitor the change in color on the different sides of that line is pretty prominent.

Just pointing this out because otherwise it is really hard to see if the picture has been edited, from a non-trained eyes perspective that is. That change of color gives it away, at least for me!
 
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IamSam

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OK, I see what your referring to! Those are whispy hairs!

As I said before, I don't think Chris made any attempt to alter the background. Really no need to as the BG is pretty cool!
 

iDad

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Really hard to tell if it's been edited or not? I don't know what PhotonShap talking about, obviously complexion has been improved tenfold:rolleyes:
 

iDad

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Really hard to tell if it's been edited or not? I don't know what PhotonShap talking about, obviously complexion has been improved tenfold:roll eyes:
I will add though the smudging of left lower lip area side did jump out at me
 

PhotonShap

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OK, I see what your referring to! Those are whispy hairs!

As I said before, I don't think Chris made any attempt to alter the background. Really no need to as the BG is pretty cool!

Nope not the hair, the line in the background! It's one line, that look like a diagonal horizon.. Hard to explain
 
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Thanks for all your comments guys. Much appreciated.
Thank you Sam, It is exactly like you said: I did not retouch the BG, I did retouch the face.
 

IamSam

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PhotonShap - Here is a view of that corner with the shadows removed.........

Here is the original...
Screen Shot 2014-02-24 at 12.28.12 PM.png

Here is Chris's re-touched version....
Screen Shot 2014-02-24 at 12.30.12 PM.png

Is this what your referring to?
 
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Tom Mann

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Hi Chris -

I love the retouch job you did -- you nicely reduce the imperfections in her skin without making her skin look artificial and blurry.

However, at the risk of moving both the girl and the church several miles away from the village (LOL), I've got to put my entry in the ring with my usual preference for brighter, less edgy, more "made up" looking portraits (at least for girls) with flatter lighting.

I can't tell if the difference between us is due to a slight difference in calibration between Chris' and my monitor, or simply a visual preference, but here's how I think she looks best, at least in my mind's eye, and on my NEC monitor. I'm sure folks with very bright monitors will prefer Chris's darker version :) .

FREQUENZTRENNUNGFinal1400-tjm01-acr-ps02b_698px_wide_8bpc-01.jpg

Also, let me throw out a question about monitor calibration for everyone: Can all of you see clear distinctions between all the gradations in this test pattern, especially the darkest and lightest pair of patches? If you can't do so (with the pattern centered vertically on your screen and without moving your head around), there's a good chance you have a monitor calibration problem.

!monitor_calib_chart-01.jpg

Cheers,

Tom
 
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PhotonShap

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I can see everything in your calibration picture, and the line I was talking about is gone in your rendition of the picture. It might the different monitor settings that created all this confusion :cheesygrin:
 

Tom Mann

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BTW, don't just look at the calibration chart in a browser, but instead, download the full rez version, and view it using PS or some other high quality, color and tone managed viewer. I can tell you that the chart looks different when viewed using Firefox. On my system, the two darkest patches become almost indistinguishable in Firefox, whereas they are perfectly resolved when viewed using PS.

T
 
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Hi Chris -

I love the retouch job you did -- you nicely reduce the imperfections in her skin without making her skin look artificial and blurry.

However, at the risk of moving both the girl and the church several miles away from the village (LOL), I've got to put my entry in the ring with my usual preference for brighter, less edgy, more "made up" looking portraits (at least for girls) with flatter lighting.

I can't tell if the difference between us is due to a slight difference in calibration between Chris' and my monitor, or simply a visual preference, but here's how I think she looks best, at least in my mind's eye, and on my NEC monitor. I'm sure folks with very bright monitors will prefer Chris's darker version :) .

View attachment 42565

Also, let me throw out a question about monitor calibration for everyone: Can all of you see clear distinctions between all the gradations in this test pattern, especially the darkest and lightest pair of patches? If you can't do so (with the pattern centered vertically on your screen and without moving your head around), there's a good chance you have a monitor calibration problem.

View attachment 42566

Cheers,

Tom

Thanks Tom for your interesting comment. You "made" me check my own quality again, and of course monitor calibration. Since it was 5 weeks ago, (which is to long for my habit) I had to make slight adjustments.

The colors of your version is definitely better process-suited for professional printing. I checked the percentages of your skin tones and corrected my image accordingly. Though I didn't go quite as soft in the skin tones. As you said, we all have our own preferences, and we create our own "look" over the years.

ÃœBUNG FREQUENZTRENNUNGFinal1400.698.jpg
 

Tom Mann

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When doing these sort of careful manipulations, what always impresses me is the amount of care (and time) that is necessary to do a good job.

There are a huge number of aspects to even such a (presumably) simple image, and many ways to adjust each of these. In addition, there is always the issue of trying to figure out exactly what the customer wants, whether a private individual or an editor, e.g., slightly more romantic or slightly more edgy contrast and sharpness, slightly warmer or slightly more clinically accurate, etc., and then implementing these preferences in a technically sound way.

What sometimes makes me sad is that I'm quite sure that most people would never even see the changes we are talking about, even if they were pointed out to them. Because of time pressures, I know that I personally will often cut the overall adjustment process much too short, especially for little freebie Internet demos, and especially if the main topic under discussion is not directly related to color / tonal / contrast / etc. adjustments. But, the overall look is wonderful to see when done right.

Very nice job, Chris!

Cheers,

Tom

PS - Did you take the photo? It's also quite nice.
 
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Thanks Tom,
I agree 100% what you said, and I have the knowledge to understand it. But unfortunately a lot of younger people with less experience and training in this field have no idea what we (you) are talking about. But who can blame them. It's the Facebook generation now, and we are dinosaurs to them.

And no, I didn't take this picture. I have a close friend, who provides me with people images , when I need some. He is a "local" artist, doing all kind of graphic work.
http://www.pepsign.ch
 

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