First Editing Go....

[dmann]

So I thought I did pretty good on this edit till my husband walked up and said "you can't do that". Referring to editing the wrinkles, the dark under the eyes and her skin in general.

So my question is did I go too far? Would you be happy or insulted with this pic?

Any other critique is welcome as well. This was my first shoot with my 580 EX II speedlight.

Exif
f/5
ss 1/50
iso 200
40mm

Editing was a combination (can't remember exact steps) of impressionist brush, painting, cloning, spot healing and smart brush.

Also adjusted the levels, temp to warm it a bit and bumped the saturation up a bit.

If this isnt the appropriate section pls move. Also I thought there was a before/after critique section?

[Doug Sundseth]

The color edits work for me.

The rest seem pretty heavy-handed. If you have the edits on their own layer(s), you can dial down the opacity a bit to back off on the effect. If not, you can use the edited file as a layer over the original an dial back on the opacity of the whole edit.

[dmann]

Originally Posted by Doug Sundseth

The color edits work for me.

The rest seem pretty heavy-handed. If you have the edits on their own layer(s), you can dial down the opacity a bit to back off on the effect. If not, you can use the edited file as a layer over the original an dial back on the opacity of the whole edit.

ok i'll try that, thanks

[dmann]

better?

that was a great and easy way to tone it down a bit, thanks. I think this looks way better, I would have had to start from scratch if not for your advice.

[Doug Sundseth]

I like it better. It's more believable to me.

And yeah, for retouch, doing the fixes on their own layers and then adjusting strength with the opacity slider was a revelation for me when I first saw it done, too. I'll usually use separate layers for each major retouch area so I can adjust the strengths separately.

Glad it worked out well.