People are definitely my weak spot.

This is a bit warm and over sharp in the after because it is adjusted for the prints I get back from the lab. Other than that, what do you think?

Too much on the facial retouching or not enough?

Jim,
you got rid of the circles under her eyes but basically left everything else alone. I think it looks good. If I were doing it, I'd smooth the skin out a bit both on her face/neck and her arm but that might be considered too much retouching for some. It's all a matter of personal taste. As I said, this looks good to me.

Jim

Thanks Jim,

I actually did a light (apparently too light) smoothing of the skin on her face. Didn't touch the arm though.

I also did her teeth and eyeballs.

I'm afraid to be too heavy-handed, but maybe a bit more wouldn't hurt.

The best thing I have found for portrait retouching is Mama Shan's actions. My favorite is her silk powder. I brush it on at 100% and then lower the opacity to taste

Short lighting her with a softbox(feather it so it is very soft) would help also.

At viewing size, I can't really see that level of detail. It really is a matter of what you feel is right for the person. I had a candid I took of a very attractive woman at the Rottie National while she was modeling a pendant that was being auctioned off. The lighting made her skin look blotchy and rough which was not at all flattering nor was it accurate from what I remembered at the time. So I used my skin-smoothing plug-in mercilessly and the end result was really quite nice.

With another candid of three "middle-aged women" modeling their matching T-shirts, I used it mildly to just smooth out the normal aging process and they loved it. You do what you think is right and most people will just accept it as an accurate picture of how they look.

Jim

Thanks Julie,

I think you've mentioned them before. I used Eye Doctor and The Dentist from MCP Actions. I tried Magic Skin, but didn't like the feel of it.

Jim,

Which plug-in do you use?

I was griping about not having portrait sessions not long ago, but now I'm suddenly swamped. It's mostly about the dogs, but I figure I better get decent at the owners too!

Jim,
I use Kodak Digital GEM Pro and I've used it through 3 versions of Photoshop. It does a nice job of smoothing and yet is controllable.

Jim

Thanks.

Hey Jim,

I am not seeing the image embedded in the post or an attachment. Is it me?

James