Technical feedback: overprocessed Vs. just right

[Deadeye008]

Here's my go at it. I brightened the pic up a bit. I used the clone to get rid of the blemish and the hair on her face. Did a slight sharpen to her eyes and a soft blur to the rest of the picture.

 

[Dubious Drewski]

Here's my go at it.

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I adjusted the levels for more light, dodged and saturated the eyes a bit, and clonedtooled the blemish and under-eye purple away. I was thinking of sharpening it up, but I think it looks better slightly softer.

KristinaS' screened-layer technique is pretty nice, but I think it leaves the skin tones a bit greyed out, when compared to doing the same thing via levels.

 

[schuylercat]

Thanks everyone - this is awesome and helping me wake up a bit - I used to be pretty good at touchups, but I fell into the trap of using preset tools and softening everything, brightening the whole thing then warming it, getting that "romantic soft warm shot" and calling it a prortrait. Pretty boring, my way.

Layering is fine, but simplifying and following Deadeye's practice is what I was looking for: unsharp sections of the image, then soft focus/blur around her head. Good color, hair is accurate, the unsharp around the eyes draws the viewer to the subjects face, and then...the eyes are killing me.

My PS is old and acting oddly - I can't do most of what you care able to. I don't have a healing tool because I am on version 6.0, but particularly annoying is the fact my dodge/burn options don't work with any tool. Nada. Nothing. Zero. I can raise and lower saturation, I can lighten and darken, I can paint them blue, but I can't get a natural looking result via dodging. Grr. Really, really grr.

Her eyes are grey-blue, denim colored. The initial photo was terrible (makes for a better cleanup excersize) and left her eyes dark. Brightening makes them a sparkly blue or a nice grey, but not...quite...right. I need to keep practicing, and I guess I need to fit a CS3 upgrade into my budget.

Back to it for me - practice, practice, practice...

 

[waileong]

Neithr picture is outstanding. The lighting is dull, the shot is straight on like a drivers' licence photo, there is a stern expression so inappropriate for a kid, it's just unflattering.

PS cannot help when the light is bad, when the expression is not right, and when the pose and composition don't work.

Hi all,

Been experiementing with my new camera for a few months, and now I'm starting to mess with them in Photoshop. Camera is a 40D, lens is almost always the old 28-80 f/2.8L. I tend to get too close to the subject, but it's either my style or a bad habit...

Anyway, I'll be doing some portraits for friends and family while I practice to shoot my stepson's wedding in June. Looking for a soft, romantic, bright look. Here's two images I shot this morning: natural light, aperture 2.8 and shutter unknown. It's the raw capture and the 'shopped one.

So. Too much fuzz and zing? Comment is invited!

Before:

After: