Grilfriend

[MReid]

Yeah you just overcooked it a bit. Oversharpened, overworked.
People don't notice all that small stuff except on forums like this.
As long as the eyes are sharp the rest is gravy.
If you take a photo in good light with a good background you should be able to process it quick, a minute or two max once you get the hang of it.
If you find yourself spending an hour or two on a picture it will probably end up overcooked...like this one.

 

[azntaiji]

Thanks guys! Yeah I think I went a little overboard, especially the skin. Still trying to find that right balance, everyone's input helps!

 

[ceejtank]

skin looks fake. so do the eyes.

 

[chuasam]

Too much retouching and her smile looks really fake.

 

[Big Mike]

'I wonder why we still call it 'Re-touching'...:scratch:

Either way. it's a learning process...and just about everyone goes though the same stages...one of them being where we see how far we can take it. After a while, most people find that they like the photos better when they have backed off a little.

But of course, it's not hard to find many, many examples of photos with lots of skin processing. Just open up any magazine these days.

 

[Kerbouchard]

'I wonder why we still call it 'Re-touching'...:scratch:

Either way. it's a learning process...and just about everyone goes though the same stages...one of them being where we see how far we can take it. After a while, most people find that they like the photos better when they have backed off a little.

But of course, it's not hard to find many, many examples of photos with lots of skin processing. Just open up any magazine these days.

While this is true, the people processing those images take a great deal of care to ensure the skin texture remains in tact.

The lack of texture is what everybody finds disturbing about this image, not necessarily the amount of retouching.

To the OP, make sure you are editing on layers and after each step, pull the opacity down until you don't notice the change and then start moving it up. Going that direction tends to help me not overdue an image.

 

[Robin Usagani]

Who else do we know that make the skin look like plastic George? .

'I wonder why we still call it 'Re-touching'...:scratch:

Either way. it's a learning process...and just about everyone goes though the same stages...one of them being where we see how far we can take it. After a while, most people find that they like the photos better when they have backed off a little.

But of course, it's not hard to find many, many examples of photos with lots of skin processing. Just open up any magazine these days.

While this is true, the people processing those images take a great deal of care to ensure the skin texture remains in tact.

The lack of texture is what everybody finds disturbing about this image, not necessarily the amount of retouching.

To the OP, make sure you are editing on layers and after each step, pull the opacity down until you don't notice the change and then start moving it up. Going that direction tends to help me not overdue an image.

 

[Big Mike]

The lack of texture is what everybody finds disturbing about this image, not necessarily the amount of retouching.

I actually see a good bit of texture here...certainly a lot more than the plastic 'Barbie' look that is so common.