New Technique I played around with...

[ChrisAdval]

Fast and Easy Skin Softening with Adobe Photoshop - unknownphotographer.net - YouTube

Used the technique shown in the above video, plus used the blur tool to take away over sharpened areas on some areas.

BEFORE


BEFORE_MG_5274 by Chris Adval, on Flickr

AFTER


AFTER_MG_5274 by Chris Adval, on Flickr


_MG_5274 by Chris Adval, on Flickr

[zona5101]

The skin softening is not good - too much and too over the top obvious.Maybe try it again but 25% of what you have here.

[ChrisAdval]

tried it again, any better?


Amber Fortune 04 - AFTER v2 by Chris Adval, on Flickr

[Tzetsin]

No, its no better. You've made her face really blurry, no definition at all. You've also introduced ghosting on her jawline.

[ChrisAdval]

Originally Posted by Tzetsin

No, its no better. You've made her face really blurry, no definition at all. You've also introduced ghosting on her jawline.

I put the old AFTER up, sorry, edited it above post with the new one.

[OsmosisStudios]

What... Whats with the first crop? The before crop?

[Dreadnought]

Personally, the photo looks too sharp to feel like a woman should IMHO.Unless shes put into a tense situation, the whole feel should be soft from my point of view. BUT...its YOUR art... there is no right and wrong. Only what you want to convey...

Id lower the contrast in the whole photo, do a 20% Gaussian blur mask, and then burn and dodge manually.

[ChrisAdval]

Originally Posted by OsmosisStudios

What... Whats with the first crop? The before crop?

the crop is just for viewers on here could see it zoomed in, its not part of the edit...

[Bruce A]

Sorry Chris, they all look like they have a plastic face. Like Portrait Professional pushed too far.

[graciousness]

I was thinking more along the lines of those ceramic little house statue displays that's been badly painted on.

I'm so sorry Chris, I really don't mean to insult, you know that. But it's just really badly overdone. You can't simply over- process people's faces like that as it looks very unnatural. I don't care how much you edit, but as long as the edit still looks natural. That's the trick.