Retouch.  I would love some honest opinions on.
If anyone can post them here please do so.
Thank you
Jim

Well, this is kinda no fun at all. People look... then never say whether I should stick to collecting garbage or try to learn more.
I was really hoping for something other than silence.

You are in the digital art retouching critique forum. If you notice, this forum doesn't have a high frequency of replies or posts. You seem to want a critique of your photography and not your retouching, right? Try the general critique forum.

No. I guess I should have said my retouch. Yes I would like to know about the three images of the woman and how a pro retoucher believes they could be improved upon.
Thank You
Jim

Hi,

Some advice:
The Critique forum is kinda quiet you need to deal with it.
Next time try to use [img]sample image url[/img] tag because ppl don't want to click and click. They just want to see the picture directly.

I would say try to choose good pictures for your portfolio. There are a couple of treads what ppl like and don't like. Those treads are still alive and you can ask their opinion..

The retouching part IMO
Hard shadows, too much contrast and smoothness. Blotchy parts on her face and weird shadow on the neck.
She is a different person on the after image and not in the good way. I like you didn't remove the bags completely under the eyes.

Thank you Christian. I'll go through some tuts and try to improve things. I never try to change the basic shape of a person's face unless it's a lens effect to correct.
Thanks again.

For me, you remove all of the skin texture and make the model look plastic. It makes the picture look cartoonish as opposed to realistic.

If you have retouched a photograph and the person looks more like a characture than themselves, you've gone too far.

So I had this before and then lightened it and blew out the skin texture. Maybe I just don't know when to quit. I use a as little blur as I can to smooth but it does leave the splotchy effect.
I wouldn't be so drastic if it was my Aunt Betty i guess.

Retouching a middle-aged person can be a tricky line to navigate. My biggest word of advice would always be to tread cautiously and deliberately. Never bite off more skin texture than you can chew, so to speak.

Unlike a model who is somewhat accustomed to seeing their faces and bodies doctored up with every line and wrinkle removed and every dimple in lighting smoothed away it can be a huge shock to a normal person to see the same process applied to them. It's like getting the worst hair cut of your life. It looks so ridiculous you want it to be seen by no one.

I like that you kept the wrinkles beneath her eyes. I feel that is a great step in the right direction. Doing the same and leaving more texture in the rest of her face will go miles in accomplishing a more natural and less over processed look. Baby smooth is not always the best path to follow when retouching portraits. Especially now when the biggest retouching trend is to sharpen and emphasize skin texture...even where there is none. One of the biggest things to steer clear of when retouching a middle-aged person is any sort of over contrast and deep shadows that can actually add unwanted emphasis to wrinkles and can age the person considerable more. Removing the stray baby hairs around her face can go a long way as well.

My main focus for this image was to remove/reduce some of the more blotchy patches of her skin and to soften the overly harsh light. The end result would be to add just the tiniest bit of youth to her face without erasing her age and personality. I pulled out the shadows and turned down the contrast. I did straighten out the curve of her nose with the liquify tool. Something I might not do again in retrospect as I feel it looks too straight. I feel that I also may have softened the wrinkles on the left side of her face and between her eyebrows a bit too much and added too much texture to the bridge of her nose. This is way it's called practice.

Also, always keep in mind a middle-aged person's neck. Ask any normal women over 40 what she wants changed most in her portrait and 99.9% of the time it will be her neck. Not her weight or her nose or the bags under her eyes, her neck. Tuck that sucker in with some dodging, cloning and the liquify tool if need be and it will make a world of a difference. And, this doesn't only apply to women. I've had plenty of men ask for a wobbly neck made taut again. Keep in mind, just like with any other aspect of retouching subtlety is key. And making a jawline too sharp can be portrait destroying.

Obviously, this is just my opinion. One that has been formed through experience dealing with and retouching head shots for older clients. Granted, every client is different and some want a more dramatic look than others however most non-model normal clients I have worked with prefer a more natural, lightly retouched look.

If you need a little help in knowing when to pull back. Always think of the person you are working on AS your Aunt Betty or Uncle Bob or Cousin Sue. Always. It sounds cheesy but this isn't just some random face devoid of a personality or insecurities. Work on the portrait with the thought that it's going to be framed by their spouse's bedside for 30 years. Not only because it's a portrait of their loved one, but because it's the portrait that you retouched and will thus oogled at by every single member in your family who will judge your retouching skills only and for always from that single photo.