Glamour Eye & Skin

[wannabehorsephotographer]

Just trying out some new pp work, thought I'd share.
I tend to post process a little heavy handed so if it's too much, please let me know.
Before:

After:

Here's what I did:
I edited the eyes using this tutorial
http://www.ephotozine.com/article/En...sing-Photoshop, except I didn't do the blue channel part at the end (no channels in PSE)
For the skin
Instead of gaussian blur, I used the median filter (found under noise), keeps the edges of features more defined. Erased out the parts I wanted softer, and painted with a large soft brush skin tones over the blotchy area and around the circles under the eyes.
I also did a quick soft glow with a screen layer, but dialed down quite a bit. (My focus was off in the shot and was trying to keep the blur to a min).
If I'm not clear about a step and you want to know more, let me know, I'll try to elaborate.

[windrider86]

Please dont shoot me for saying this but she looks like she gaunt now and kinda buggy eyed.
I like the way you really smoothed out her skin but her freckles, to me seem like they should be part of her.
Love the way you made the glamor to this
all in all this is a pretty darn good before and after

[Jae]

I like her hair and eyes but I agree, I think it's a little over done. Her face seems to have lost dimension and looks too porcelain. Freckles are beautiful (spoken from someone who doesn't have any obviously) and I would have left them in too.

[private]

I would have left in the freckles also, and maybe put something around her neck so you could not see the strain - I am assuming she was at an odd angle... And what is she leaning on?

I LOVE how her eyes pop, and the catch light in her eyes. I like that you brought out the deatil in her clothes.

[HockeyFan]

I like that you brightened her face up a bit. It felt a little dark in the before pic. The second one feels better, except that the face seems a bit overly done. Like the others suggest, it might be a little over (fixed). The eyes look better in the second, as well.
Since I don't normally do these types of photos, I'm wondering if when people have these shots done, do they ask to have freckles removed? Curious.
I can see that some people might feel self concious about what they perceive to be imperfections, or at least things about their own appearance that they wish they could change, and so when they have glamour shots done, they ask if these items can be "fixed" in the photo.

I've seen this done in photos before, but am unfamiliar with what the norm is as far as what people ask for, and/or what types of services are offered in glamour shots.

[ttosifa]

I don't get it. It appears her eyes are too focused and too bright, but her skin is all blurry? Aaack! Makes my eyes hurt.

Work with the real image. She has freckles, so what? The light isn't best on her eyes, so what? Maybe clone out the worst of the freckles, and then instead of using "eye pop", use realism. Get sharpening in there.

Anyway, here is a version based on the original. Far more flattering than a over-blurred version, I would think.

[imagesbyjk]

I think if you hadn't had the before and after people would be reacting differently. I actually think you did a pretty good job - and I'm not into overly softened skin. Yes, perhaps you could back off some to get a bit more detail in there. I like freckles so keeping those might be good. But all in all it looks fine.

[dannyrich]

I think thats a great before and after.

In line with some of the other comments for this picture i would be tempted to leave some more freckles in but in honesty the job you did was good.

I try this sort of thing to improve m photoshopping as it is invaluable later.

Good work.

[valleygirl]

I understand what you were going for in the picture. I think you did a nice job, but I agree, I would have left some of the freckles and some of the natural skin tone.

Have you ever tried the Portraiture plug in by Imagenomic? I run almost all of my portraits through there. It does a great job with skin tones and you have full control over the effect.

Hope its okay, I ran your photo through Imagenomic, left some of the freckles and did a little USM on the eyes. Just a quickie but you get a little taste of what the sofware can do.

[wannabehorsephotographer]

Originally Posted by private

I would have left in the freckles also, and maybe put something around her neck so you could not see the strain - I am assuming she was at an odd angle... And what is she leaning on?
I LOVE how her eyes pop, and the catch light in her eyes. I like that you brought out the deatil in her clothes.

Thanks. Well, the model is me. I was trying to work on lighting and the dh refuses to pose and the little one doesn't hold still long enough The silver thing is a light stand I was using to focus on. I got tired of moving it out of the way so I just started leaning on it.

Originally Posted by Jae

I like her hair and eyes but I agree, I think it's a little over done. Her face seems to have lost dimension and looks too porcelain. Freckles are beautiful (spoken from someone who doesn't have any obviously) and I would have left them in too.

I agree, I love my freckles, but I was just trying out a new technique, and well it got rid of the freckles - that is definitely something to keep in mind for the future though on other models.

Originally Posted by windrider86

Please dont shoot me for saying this but she looks like she gaunt now and kinda buggy eyed.
I like the way you really smoothed out her skin but her freckles, to me seem like they should be part of her.
Love the way you made the glamor to this
all in all this is a pretty darn good before and after

thanks.

Originally Posted by HockeyFan

I like that you brightened her face up a bit. It felt a little dark in the before pic. The second one feels better, except that the face seems a bit overly done. Like the others suggest, it might be a little over (fixed). The eyes look better in the second, as well.
Since I don't normally do these types of photos, I'm wondering if when people have these shots done, do they ask to have freckles removed? Curious.
I can see that some people might feel self concious about what they perceive to be imperfections, or at least things about their own appearance that they wish they could change, and so when they have glamour shots done, they ask if these items can be "fixed" in the photo.

I've seen this done in photos before, but am unfamiliar with what the norm is as far as what people ask for, and/or what types of services are offered in glamour shots.

I'm not sure what people usually ask for, but I do know my friends all wanted their acne removed in their Senior pics.

Originally Posted by ttosifa

I don't get it. It appears her eyes are too focused and too bright, but her skin is all blurry? Aaack! Makes my eyes hurt.

Work with the real image. She has freckles, so what? The light isn't best on her eyes, so what? Maybe clone out the worst of the freckles, and then instead of using "eye pop", use realism. Get sharpening in there.

Anyway, here is a version based on the original. Far more flattering than a over-blurred version, I would think.

I think this is a great version, and probably the best choice if you are unsure if the client would be insulted by a glamour version or not.

Originally Posted by imagesbyjk

I think if you hadn't had the before and after people would be reacting differently. I actually think you did a pretty good job - and I'm not into overly softened skin. Yes, perhaps you could back off some to get a bit more detail in there. I like freckles so keeping those might be good. But all in all it looks fine.

Thanks, I agree, the more I look at it, the more I think a little more detail in the face would make it look better.

Originally Posted by dannyrich

I think thats a great before and after.

In line with some of the other comments for this picture i would be tempted to leave some more freckles in but in honesty the job you did was good.

I try this sort of thing to improve m photoshopping as it is invaluable later.

Good work.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by laurenfitz

I understand what you were going for in the picture. I think you did a nice job, but I agree, I would have left some of the freckles and some of the natural skin tone.

Have you ever tried the Portraiture plug in by Imagenomic? I run almost all of my portraits through there. It does a great job with skin tones and you have full control over the effect.

Hope its okay, I ran your photo through Imagenomic, left some of the freckles and did a little USM on the eyes. Just a quickie but you get a little taste of what the sofware can do.

Love this edit. I am unfamiliar with the Portraiture plug in by Imagenomic. Is it expensive? Thanks,