Portrait Retouching Challenge

[MikeMc]

I spent the 20 minutes on the winged challenge, this will take more from me!

 

[chrisdesign]

Here is my version.



Click to enlarge.

 

[ibclare]

Since Chris is the undisputed master of skin retouching in these parts (especially, with the frequency separation technique), I pretty much ignored her skin, and, instead concentrated on larger scale photography issues such as giving her a better separation from the background by darkening and slightly softening it, un-abashedly changing the color of her hair from a nearly blown-out platinum to a light red, attempting to fix the fairly flat lighting, slenderizing and lifting her face a bit, adding a bit of shadowing under, and blush on her cheekbones, giving her just a bit of the old fashioned glamor glow / stocking-over-the-lens look, etc.

Is that all?

Slacker.

 

[ALB68]

Here is the amateur's attempt. Made some changes that appeal to me as beauty.

 

[ibclare]

I think it is an excellent job Larry.

And chris, I still think it's unfair for you to participate. :naughty:

 

[ALB68]

Thank you!
Awwww..let Chris alone Auntie,,he's just learnin

I think it is an excellent job Larry.

And chris, I still think it's unfair for you to participate. :naughty:

 

[IamSam]

Ok, I gave it a shot. I didn't know what to do with the hair.

edit: Lightened the hair, reduced the blur halo around head.

 

[ibclare]

Make it platinum, more white, more ghostly than it is.

 

[Paul]

Thanks Tom, that's exactly the intention of this thread: Make this girl more beautiful.

And that i did?

 

[chrisdesign]

@Larry: I like the "porcelain look" and the vivid eyes. Just the BG layer mask could be softer.
@Sam: She looks gorgeous and very natural and innocent.
@ Clare: I can't wait to see your image. I just hope you don't make her "ghostly".
@Paul: Your rendition looks very mystical and exotic to me. Cool.

 

[Tom Mann]

The tweaked versions are all very interesting, especially since they presumably represent what each of us thinks of as beauty, limited, of course, by our own abilities, beer goggles, past experiences, very specific preferences (...to upturn the lips or not, that is the question), affection for historic photographic styles (eg, my 2nd attempt with a slight sepia overlay, soft vignetting, and classic photographic diffusion), ect.

I notice that unlike some of the responders to Esther's initial challenge, none of us went so far as to add or change clothing, do a major re-shaping of the subject's face, etc.

Nice job, everyone!

Tom

PS - Chris, I think you "take the cake" when it comes to a depiction of youthful innocence.

 

[chrisdesign]

The tweaked versions are all very interesting, especially since they presumably represent what each of us thinks of as beauty, limited, of course, by our own abilities, beer goggles, past experiences, very specific preferences (...to upturn the lips or not, that is the question), affection for historic photographic styles (eg, my 2nd attempt with a slight sepia overlay, soft vignetting, and classic photographic diffusion), ect.

I notice that unlike some of the responders to Esther's initial challenge, none of us went so far as to add or change clothing, do a major re-shaping of the subject's face, etc.

Nice job, everyone!

Tom

PS - Chris, I think you "take the cake" when it comes to a depiction of youthful innocence.

Thanks Tom
If you look closely you'll see I did reshape her face.

 

[Tom Mann]

I did notice that we both reshaped her face, Chris, albeit in different ways. I just didn't think the reshaping any of us did could be called, "major".

I actually loaded up everyone's images into separate layers in PS so I could do accurate A-B comparisons.

T

PS - BTW, I spent considerable time arguing with myself about raising the ends of her lips to give her a happier expression, and eventually decided against it. You obviously came to a different conclusion, and, I must say, you did a very nice job doing so.

 

[IamSam]

For me, I thought about how I might change the subject to reflect what I personally perceive as beauty. The subject is just too young. I think if we had a more age appropriate subject this would be a more effective exercise that could follow the original article.

 

[ALB68]

I am glad someone else has the same opinion. I found her very difficult to work with because I felt she was not too far away from being a child. I just thought, well maybe it's just my age that forces that opinion. Just didn't feel right. She is most certainly a very pretty young lady, but a bit over the top for such an exercise IMHO.

For me, I thought about how I might change the subject to reflect what I personally perceive as beauty. The subject is just too young. I think if we had a more age appropriate subject this would be a more effective exercise that could follow the original article.

 

[Tom Mann]

That's an interesting point, Sam & Larry.

I must admit that the age factor hadn't occurred to me until you guys mentioned it, but I can see how it might cause one to ponder exactly what to do, what exactly are the standards and expectations of beauty for a girl that age, etc. In my case, I think I subconsciously just went in the ultra simple direction of doing what I think is a nice look for a girl in her early-to-mid twenties. For example, in most cases, I would expect that a girl in her early twenties probably doesn't want her hair to look snowy white.

Look on the bright side: At least with this subject, we didn't have to get into the how-many-wrinkles-do-I-remove"issue. You know, the situation where, if you remove too many, you are accused of removing her character and evidence of life-long experience and wisdom, but, if you don't sufficiently smooth out the topography, you can get the "I look awful", or, even worse, the "Your picture makes me look awful" response, LOL.

T

 

[chrisdesign]

Hi Larry
Hi Sam

I'm glad that you also had difficulties because the girl is so young.


Nevertheless, I do not want a picture change just because this picture has some problems that were not foreseeable in advance. This image was a real big challenge, I worked a few hours tenaciously on this job. Many small details were taken into account but only very small adjustments could be made. Whatever I tried, it was too much, and I had to try another approach. In the end I learned a lot and it was an important experience for me.

Feel free to start a new thread with a new image, I would appreciate it.

 

[fotograffiti]

I don't think age has got anything to do with it;
To me, the message was clear : change appearance to what in your country/culture is considered beautiful.
Everybody has watched Nat. Geo. and saw what in some cultures is standard for beauty (bones through nose, hoops around neck etc)
In my surroundings, I see 12 year olds with make up that doesn't fit. I see 40 year olds with make up that doesn't fit.
What is beauty??
I go for the natural look.
I find this challenge very difficult, as I never did anything as such, but I think everybody should aim to change the girl's appearance like "something has changed, but what?"

 

[Tom Mann]

Chris: "...Many small details were taken into account but only very small adjustments could be made. Whatever I tried, it was too much, and I had to try another approach...."

This was exactly my experience, as well. I think it tells us about our expectations, our own culture, and probably, our own ages in quite a deep way.

For example, in this group, unlike the responses to Honig's challenge, not one of us put rings around her neck; not one of us felt necessary to put her in an elegant embroidered abaya, a traditional batik sarong, a beautiful kimono, or any other "ethnic" clothing. For that matter, I don't think anyone even bothered adding lots of lipstick or other heavy cosmetics. It would be interesting to see if any of the above treatments would have been attempted if the subject was obviously non-western, or there were clues in the surroundings that suggested, say, a high fashion environment.

T

 

[ALB68]

I did it three times before I finally arrived at something that I felt would stand up to the scrutiny of you pros. It was a good exercise though, experience being the best teacher.

Hi Larry
Hi Sam

I'm glad that you also had difficulties because the girl is so young.


Nevertheless, I do not want a picture change just because this picture has some problems that were not foreseeable in advance. This image was a real big challenge, I worked a few hours tenaciously on this job. Many small details were taken into account but only very small adjustments could be made. Whatever I tried, it was too much, and I had to try another approach. In the end I learned a lot and it was an important experience for me.

Feel free to start a new thread with a new image, I would appreciate it.