Fun task for you folks...

[JaimeGibb]

So this girl I know is trying to get in to modeling...she had these bikini shots done and wants ne to seriously fix them up. My main problem is that her photographer SUCKED!! Some guy that wanted the practice, so it works for both of them. I am going to try and shoot her soon.

Either way, her stomach needs some work any maybe other things if you spot them. I can do some of that, but I wanted to see how you all would edit these. Mind helping me out?

 

[dkf10425]

She should work out/diet for a few months, then take more pictures. She has an attractive face, but her entire body needs work, not just her stomach. I have a question. What is she going to do with these photos if they are altered?

 

[JaimeGibb]

Trust me, I know this...shes the type that is not very modest and thinks that every one wants her. Bugs me to death.

She wants them edited so she can add them to her "modeling portfolio". She wants to eventually make a living modeling. I'm thinking no, but have fun trying right?

MY job here is to give her a photo that looks amazing. I believe the job as a photographer is to make people look their best, but like themselves. This phototog did not deliver. That's what I want to do. For selfish reasons really, because I can add that to MY photographers portfolio!

 

[Parago]

For selfish reasons really, because I can add that to MY photographers portfolio!

Not really since you didn't take them and don't own the rights.

Take new ones in more flattering poses - less 'porn', more 'style' and THEN do some realistic retouching. Just MHO.

I don't see her getting into serious modelling, though. Adult industry - yes, definitely.

 

[Rachelsne]

I would say those pics are not impressive ;( shaddows are very harsh on her face on that first one, I don't know much about photoshop but I think that is hard to fix.

Unfortunatly the poses and lighting make me think of a myspace profile picture...

Tell her and be honnest if she os your friend tell her they suck and to pay for somone to do her pics, she may get better results, also loose the distracting jewellery, and take pictures of poses she wants to recreate,

oh and I have no experience so Im just giving my opininon rather than photo expertise ....

 

[JaimeGibb]

Not really since you didn't take them and don't own the rights.

Oh no, sorry I didnt mean THESE pictures. I want to take some of her on my own. She bothers me, but I could use a agreeable model, ya know I would never take someone elses work!! orry I should have worded that better.

And RachelSNE, I know, the pictures are not good. I would like to try and tell her nicely that she should throw them out. They do her no justice. However, she still wants me to try and edit them...I just don't know where to begin. There are so many unfixable things. She wants me to "fix" the lighting, which in the case of these shots, is not fixable. She also wants me to get rid of any stomach wrinkles and possibly make her look thinner by airbrushing...all things that just don't work if you don't have a workable picture.

Thats why I thought maybe you guys could take a go at it and see what you could come up with?

 

[Rachelsne]

well being that I had never used the liquify tool before I thought I would give it ago-no idea if its the correct way, and my picture now looks lumpy lol, but good practice for me but no help for you LOL

I use photoshop elements 4 I did use the clone and heal brush on the big skin folds too. So her out lines are wavy as I couldnt quite figure it out, but Im sure there must be away of doing it.

Please dont be mean about my edit, I know its bad

 

[JaimeGibb]

Oh no, I definitly appreciate the opinion!!! I am not proficiant with the liquify tool either. I usually use the healing brush. Here was my best attempt:

I think it should be cropped a little too maybe...and, you can't fix the oddity of her being in a bikini in the woods...

 

[Rachelsne]

I think yours has too much blur- try to avoid loosing all texture ( i recently learnt this)
I was looking at magazines convinced that all models were smooth, but when you look at they actually have alot of texture- A couple of tutorials on a flikr group for elements here I didnt add any softening to mine, but it does need something to.

I bet she likes the one you did though-wanabe models want that look I think

 

[JaimeGibb]

Yea I was wondering about the blur too...Ill check out that tutorial, thanks!!!

 

[dkf10425]

Here's the thing about skin smoothing. There are two different workflows I use to fix skin. The first way is for non commercial work, private protrait photos etc. I usually work these images in about an hour. What I do is make a few universal adjustments. Then a little healing and cloning. Then some Imagenomic with layer mask. Then a little selective high pass for sharpen. You have to be careful with Imagenomic. Too much can make the model look porcelain, or like the image was done in Poser 7.
The second way is for commercial work. This kind of work is very tedious, an image can require many hours time. Editing is often done at the pixel level. I never use blur, and if I do it is very selective and always used with high pass with the blending mode on soft light. Hours of healing, cloning, and patching. These are the two primary tecniques I use:
http://www.modelmayhem.com/po.php?thread_id=286223
http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=272#
Here is an excellent video:

 

[GeorgiaOwl]

Yeah, I uhhh....you can tell her there's one red-blooded American male that doesn't ...I mean...doesn't even...holy crap...i mean..uhh..i dunno...




Maybe you can HDR them?

 

[GwagDesigns]

Heres a quicky, amazing what cna be done with the liquefy function eh? minimal color adjustment, and selective blurring.

Before:

After:

Little to much blurring on that arm there me thinks though...

 

[dleblanc]

Here's my attempt:

 

[Rhubarb]

Oh boy, a lot going wrong in these pics! If nothing else this is a great example of why you need to get your pics right in camera, even if a lot of PP and retouching is going to happen afterwards.

I don't really think the first one is worth bothering with given how bad it is and how hard the light is. Looks like everyone else is of the same opinion thus far, given people have only attempted the second pic.

Thought I would attempt this as I have never tried a full body major over haul before. Making this shot in particular tricky to edit, is her pose. The gentle twist she has between her hips and shoulders makes 'rendering' her new tummy difficult, combined with the fact that her stomach doesn't need a gentle nudge but a complete 'wipe-out'. Frankly I haven't got the skills (or the time today) to make it as good as new.

Anyway to my edit:-

- Curves used for colour correction, there was a stack of green light being reflected of that foliage.
- Spot Healing Brush, Healing Brush and Clone tool to remove major marks, blemishes and folds from skin.
- Liquify! Nudged that tummy a long ways.. slight nudge on the right arm.
- Brush tool, a lot of painting in skin tones to fix up the distorted weird looking stomach. More time could of been spent here.
- High pass sharpen

For a re-shoot with this model I would be thinking of getting her sent of to a make up artist before hand, I would also be looking to avoid the bikini shots. I'm sure she could look quite attractive in the right clothing, and it will be a hell of lot easier to make her a bit slimmer. Skin is tricky to deal with!

If you do have to go for the bikini shots I'd try experimenting with a lot of different poses, with the aim of 1). trying to make her look slimmer and 2). be able to retouch with as little effort as possible, to make her look slimmer.

And soft light! Please soft light.

Best of luck.