TMA Photo and Retouch wrote:
I generally like your retouch...nice smooth skin and great eye color.  The skin however is nice but is too uniform... and I would enjoy seeing some of the original skin pores brought back in... and especially some of the white skin highlights.  You could use standard frequency separation to get a new gray skin pore layer...forget using the low freq layer.  If you use linear light at 50% for your blending mode...then your gray layer will have the skin pores in it... and also some of the very bright reflections.  Put a mask on that layer and artistically paint back in the pores and highlights (selectively and artistically)   

Just a little detail in the right places can go a long way.  It will take away the over-smoothness in your skin.

I agree. The skin needs more pore structure. Another way of getting more pores would be: FS, using the high-freq layer. Then add a curves adjustment layer (CLIPPED to the high-freq layer) with a higher contrast (s-curve or similar) to boost the texture. Then mask that curves layer and paint back the pores.

Christian Bela wrote:
Hi,

I think it's way too overcooked. You lost the shape on her face and it's too bright/blotchy meaning you lost the pores too.

I hope I could help!

I agree with this. First thing I noticed actually. I'd recommend just local d&bing the pores down to make it smooth, make a duplicate, run high pass a little or smart sharpen with a good radius, and/or doing apply image to bring in some depth with the red/green/blue channel.

Also make sure you REGULARLY zoom in/zoom out alternating between the fine details and the bigger picture so you'll avoid making it look like it's lacking depth overall. Also make sure you pay attention to face shape. Face shape and the original structure of the face is super important. Even if it's smoothed down it doesn't mean that it makes it look overcooked.

Also another thing about that - I looked back at it and noticed that you were trying to focus on dodging away all of the imperfections (d&b wise) and you wound up sucking the naturalness out of the face. Okay so this is what you do - follow everything in this thread, but also make sure your MAIN agenda is to work AROUND the shadows that give the ILLUSION of imperfections and slightly lighten them and burn back if necessary but don't erase them entirely. That's what fucks people up. You see 'dark spot - must lighten!' and wound up taking away a characteristic that actually made it look real.

You took it too far, but it's chill. Now you know what to watch out for.