Tricia Till I Get It Right

Learning new techniques to enhance skin tone and improve lighting. Comment and critique

welcome. Thanks for looking.

Beautiful portrait, very good.

 

Alberto

Now, isn't this one lovely! Well well well... I'm debating within my own cantankerous (Mary dixit... with good reason!) self if I should give you this trick of mine. A real deadly trick... after that you will beat me every time on each portrait I fear.

 

I give you a 7 for getting the most out of your model. It is one of the most difficult things to do, whether the model is professional or not. The photographer has to trick his/her model into taking the right expression eventually, instead of doing this horrible cheese affair that we see everywhere.

 

Now, a word of caution. It is with your approval that I am "destroying" this one. It's good as it is. The example I give simply reflects my own way of doing portraits, nothing else. Except maybe the following points:

 

- you've got a glare in the middle upper part of the forehead, to be corrected;

 

- idem between the eyebrows;

 

- shadow under the nose: should preferably be greatly reduced.

 

This gives you the portrait I join here.

 

And don't forget, this is my own interpretation.

 

RogerG

 

UPDATE:

 

I forgot to say that in my version I did:

 

- eliminate the glare;

 

- softened greatly the shadow under the nose;

 

- did a dirty trick with her eyes;

 

- softened it overall and gave it more depth;

 

- did not have time to get rid of the glare on the nose.

 

RogerG

Should be my last one, this time.

 

I could not help thinking about this portrait business and I thought, what you need is a graphic tablet. Nothing beats a good, big, WACOM tablet. For retouching, the pen is so delicate, so versatile that a mouse seems a grotesque instrument.

 

I constantly switch from the WACOM mouse to the pen and vice versa when doing any kind of retouching. With a fast computer, this is literally like drawing, or retouching a drawing on paper the traditional way. Real magic. 9x12 in workable surface is about ideal.

 

I had another go at this portrait, and this time only for fun. The picture I join is a new Patricia. If you look closely, you will see that she lost weight, gained a Mona Lisa smile, got a thinner nose, higher cheekbones, fatter upper lip, slightly longer lips, and a longer chin.

 

CAUTION: I do not say that this is a more beautiful woman. It only illustrates the power of the electronic pen.

 

RogerG :-)

Fantastic - both versions. Tricia will no doubt want a nose job when she sees version #2.

 

I will consider the tablet. It seems the perfect tool for the job.

 

How long should it take an experienced individual to make these changes (rough estimate)?

 

As always, I'm so much indebted that I can't properly put it into words. You've been of tremendous support, help and inspiration. You even rated this one, bless your heart (to help out, I'm sure, as the low raters were out in full force today).

 

I shall search far and wide in St. Pete for the greatest 9% Canadian ale tomorrow and lift a glass in your honor. Maybe two :)

Gracias a mi amigo :)

A fine portrait. Lovely!

Its perfect her attention.Its nice the way softness of skin accents the eyes. Lovely portrait Alberta.

Thank you so very much. I always appreciate the time you take to look at, rate and comment on my photos.

 

And in turn, I enjoy viewing, commenting and rating yours.

 

Something works in this imperfect world :)

 

Cheers ~

Wonderful image which evokes intrigue and mystery. Your use of light and composition adds so much. Although Tricia is already beautiful, your masterful skill brings out her best with the whisper of innocence. Bravo, my friend.

"How long should it take an experienced individual to make these changes (rough estimate)?"

I suddenly realise that I completely forgot to answer that question of yours somewhere up there. Well, here it is, for what it's worth.

The answer is, hmm, it depends. Somewhere between 15 minutes and an hour for skin tone, general atmosphere and skin imperfections. There are few of those here, but there are, and they should be corrected in such a portrait. It could be longer than that if you start from a jpeg file (poor you...): skin tone corrections may well show jpeg definition lines, such as those you can see at some places even in your version. I would say that one hour is a safer bet over all, correcting unwanted shadows and all that.

If you want to go in deep and change the form of the face, like I did in the second example, you must count at least one hour for a good job, when you're experienced. We're not in mass production here. In the case of a very, very, very good starting portrait like the one you have here, I would aim for perfection. Don't be shy about changing the form of the face: this is no more about Tricia, this is a work of art in the making, so you bend and twist all you have to in order to convey exactly the feeling and atmosphere you want. Painters have done that (for their own good...) since the beginning of Ages, so why not us, I ask you?

So, if you're aiming for perfection, count at least a day. Maybe more than that, I am dead serious.

Sometimes, you get lucky. In other cases, it can take you days before you're satisfied. It's then a case of let it lie and come back later work.

As far as the graphic tablet is concerned, all my friends not working in mass production are working with one, and my recommendation is the WACOM Intuos3 9x12. It will set you back about 425 USD. It is important to know that the tablet mouse and pen need getting used to, specially the mouse, because it reacts depending of the orientation of the tablet. Surprising at first. But the pressure- and angle-sensitive pen is out of this world.

Have fun,

RogerG, From Up There

Thank you, once again, for taking the time to share your vast experience. I shoot only in RAW so the source isn't the problem. I've added the tablet to my "needs" list and will make that purchase, upgrade my Mac G5's memory (to 4.5 GB from 2.5) and upgrade to CS3 shortly. I'm not sure I have the required patience to spend an hour on a single photo but will give it my best shot. And hopefully, I'll report back with a prize!

 

Cheers from sunny Florida ~

Upgrade, my fair lady, upgrade! Hmm... at the end of Spring, I will also "upgrade" in a way. The Dual G5 goes for sale and in comes an 8-processor monster with at least 8 GB RAM, 3 HD and all that. With a partially eaten apple on it - of course. I tried it at the Apple Store and frankly, I've never seen anything as fast, either with Mac OS or Windows. Quite heavy on the wallet, but then I'm married after all and just got the authorisation from the Finance Minister.

 

I can tell you that for Photoshop, boosting from 2.5 to 4.5 GB RAM means en entirely new ball game. Or hockey game. Or whatever.

 

Temps here have been in the -15 to -32 C in the last few days. It's almost hot today - -15 C, or 5 F in your American scale. Time to go outside and have a bit of fun, I mean, clearing the snow that has been oh so slightly falling, and is still falling, for the last 24 hours.

 

Arrivederci!

 

RogerG - Out In The Snow

She is most Beautiful, so therefore you got it right. Take care 7/7

Thank you very much. This was taken a year ago. She just gets more beautiful.

 

Cheers ~

That was quite a tutorial.

Yes it was. I miss Roger and his brilliant insight and tutorials.

Cheers ~

Alberta