C&C Needed on postprocessing results

[Viana]

Hi everyone just like to say all these edits are fab! guess im going to have to suffer the photoshop learning curve...

Thanks!


Not at all, Mark; we who went before have already paved the way. When I started with PS there were only the miserably written manuals and a very few books. Now, there are fantastic tutorials all over the web both in writing and on YouTube.


Been meaning to put together some links to the “best” (ahem) tutorials. There are so many ways to accomplish the same end in Photoshop that one can hardly go wrong. That said, it is important to understand the basics: layers, masks, selections, etc.


All roads lead to Rome: http://sixrevisions.com/graphics-des...ith-photoshop/


But, for general PS editing use Lightroom.

[Viana]

OK, so now for a bit of fun using Topaz filters along with Photoshop.


Textured and detailed:







Water Colour with smudge painting:







Cartooned with smudge painting:





These are all just subjective examples of varying “artsy” portraits. The possibilities are endless.

[vladimir]

Wow, wow!
I can tell - I am not the only one inspired by that face!
All those wonderful ideas!
And yet - none of them is something that I would like to recreate myself. Sorry

After all this - my plan is to start over (it's really hard for me to do after all the work that led to the image initially posted. Very possibly - it was TOO MUCH work) and to end up with the image, which is kind of the one in the beginning of this thread, only without the problems you, guys, mentioned. And maybe I'll reconsider the black background...

A couple more questions for the experts:

- Is there a way to easily see the clipped highlights in Photoshop? If I had that - it would be easier to avoid creating the "overexposed" highlights during the postprocessing...

- Please, tell me more about your skin processing "secrets" - there is more to it than getting the exposure right, isn't there? I can sense some sharpening / blending modes / layer transparency controls... What is it?

[Viana]

...- Please, tell me more about your skin processing "secrets" - there is more to it than getting the exposure right, isn't there? I can sense some sharpening / blending modes / layer transparency controls... What is it?

Hi Vladimir:


I don’t think anyone expects you to copy what we did. Those are merely fun ideas. At the beginning of the thread there are explanations of some of the processes.


As mentioned, there are many ways to do things in Photoshop—no secrets, just practice. Since you have not worked with PS much prior to this, perhaps the best thing would be to look at a few tutorials. In general you would start by cloning and healing blemishes first and then move to a surface blur to smooth the skin. Thereafter brighten the eyes and adjust lips and hair.


Excellent PS Retouch video tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtHlI...eature=related


Portrait Retouching for the “mature” model:


http://psd.tutsplus.com/photo-effect...al-retouching/




These Portrait Retouching Tutorials cover everything including face, eyes, lips, etc: http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/tutori...-in-photoshop/


I would recommend that you adjust the exposure in Lightroom and then move into photoshop for the retouching. You can easily see the clipped highlights in LR, which is easier to work with for the novice than PS.


Retouching is really not all that much work. Once you learn, it goes rather fast.

[vladimir]

Here is my result. I am pretty happy with it.
Thanks for all the help!

[Viana]

Very nice! Congratulations, Vladimir—and you used the burgundy.

The only little issue I see is the halo on the left/right side of the hair.

[vladimir]

Yup. It's an affect of blurred combination of the background and the hair. And I have no idea how to deal with it... Or - maybe I do? Thanks for pointing that out!