How did I do?

[tevo]

I took a quick portrait of a friend and decided to practice retouching. How did I do?

(I'm not sure why it looks so dim in the screenshot. I assure you it is properly exposed )

 

[rknrl]

It's a lot better but I d say it's still too dark and the shadow from the nose is too sharp and distracting.

 

[tevo]

It's a lot better but I d say it's still too dark and the shadow from the nose is too sharp and distracting.

I agree on the shadow, I ended up using this:


Day 122: May 27, 2013 by theofficialtevo, on Flickr

 

[Big Mike]

I'd say that you could have done a little more in terms of removing spots & blemishes. Did you apply any softening to the skin? Looks like a little (which is better than too much) but you can often get away with less of that (on men) as opposed to women (who often appreciate a little more skin smoothing).

It looks like he's got a bit of a black eye. You've made it better, but that is something that you could do a little more on.

Also, in terms of lighting, the light is too low. Notice that the shadow of the nose is horizontal. As a good starting point, look for that nose shadow to go down toward the corner of the mouth (but not touch the mouth).