Photo Editing Practice

SomeAssemblyReq · Jan 19, 2011

This is just a photo I was attempting some editing on. I wanted to post it here and see if there was anything I should change, or if I'm not seeing something wrong. C&C Definitely welcome.

Original Photo -

Edited Photo -

Big Mike · Jan 19, 2011

The first thing I noticed, is that the photo was not sharp to begin with. I checked, and it said you used a shutter speed of 1/10...which is certainly slow enough to cause blur from a) camera movement and b) subject movement.

As for the skin smoothing, it looks OK...but I think your technique needs work.
The main part of her skin looks nice and smooth...but I think you took it too far (but that's your call). She's not 16 anymore, so it looks unrealistic for her to have flawless skin. Don't be afraid to leave a trace of the lines & character in her skin. In Photoshop, you always want to do your skin work on at least one separate layer, that way you can adjust the opacity and let some of the original background show through.

Also, it looks like you could have been more careful around the edges of the face, especially by the hair. If any of the hair is blurred, is looks terrible. Further to that, it looks like you smoothed to top half of her hand, but not the bottom half (or her arms).
If you are going to completely eradicate the spots on her facial skin, you should probably do the same to her other visible skin as well.

This sort of thing can really get involved. There are professional photo editors who do nothing but retouch skin...and it can take a good long while for them to really get good at it. So keep practicing.

SomeAssemblyReq · Jan 19, 2011

Interesting, thank you for the tips - They're really appreciated

manager2301 · Mar 14, 2013

651stp · Mar 15, 2013

its hard to put effort to editing a photo when its not in focus/sharp. Find a better candidate and i wouldn't mind taking a stab at it.

The_Traveler · Mar 15, 2013

I think it's way too bright, OOF, the pose shows her right shoulder coming from her ear and there's too much space in the upper right corner.
Her skin is pretty nice, altho her hand is brighter than her face. Taking out the very little texture she does have will make her look plastic.

Reduced brightness overall, cropped, reduce brightness on hand
She's a lovely woman and will be a great asset for a model.