Hey there,

I've got a few images on my portfolio, and I'm just looking for some industry feedback.

I try to keep the images as natural as possible - I don't manipulate body form or anything like that.
I also edit stray hairs very little, as I feel editing that stuff out is when you start to get really fake looking images - like the model is wearing plastic hair.

Anyway, if any of you would be willing to take the time to look over my images, it would be greatly appreciated.
I will happily return the favor.

Thanks,
Corey

It doesn't really matter if you manipulate the body or not. Sometimes the image needs it. Don't see manipulating the body via puppet warping or distorting it a bit as innately 'bad' because sometimes you need to do that to make the model look better in the frame and sometimes certain body parts or edges of them call the eye too much.

As for your portfolio though, the retouching's way over done. I think that you have a good attitude about keeping everything natural but where you're falling short is the use of plug ins and / or using some sort of smoothing technique that's preventing your texture from being consistent. Or you used an inverted high pass technique to tighten the skin.

Because what I'm seeing a lot of is blurred / painted over skin that gives it the affect that you did the basics then glossed over it with taking a soft brush and painting with samples of the skin color and maybe cloning with a soft brush over large areas to 'smoothen' things. I'm also seeing huge blotches of skin like in the Tom Grimes photograph where the skin texture is too tight and too sharp in places.

I feel as if there's an emphasis on time saving retouch techniques or smoothening/sharpening/finishing effects that you COULD be using as a base opposed to paying attention to the basics.

Basics being -

> color correcting

> healing / cloning where necessary to get rid of blemishes hard to d&b

> d&bing, but where you occasionally zoom in and out to make sure you're paying attention to natural light and shadow transitions and anatomy like cheekbones and jawlines b/c it's easy to smoothen them out by accident if you aren't careful

> constantly referring to the original photo - because if your retouch looks glossy and processed in comparison to the original, you need to look back at where you retouched too hard, used too much lighting, etc

Forget all of the 'finishing move' sort of stuff that gives you a finished or 'industry' like look. Focus on the basics and then you can later move up to all of those things. I feel as if your best photos are your Sky Chesure ones and Smoshkov's but they just need the retouching pulled back by 20 - 30%. They're still over-processed but I feel like you're moving in the right direction with them. You just need to start focusing on making texture more consistent (not duplicated) and not relying on techniques to do the work for you or to make it easier.

I appreciate your feedback.

However - I don't use any plugins or blurring techniques... 
Perhaps I need to upload larger images that allow you to see more of the texture - the high res version have a very consistent texture that doesn't appear to be stamped/duplicated across the skin - so it has a much more natural look than most of the retouched photos I see on MM.

I mainly work in frequency separation - using really small textural edits to eliminate unwanted blemishes without being destructive to the rest of the skin texture.
I make subtle edits to the overall color consistency of the skin, just to eliminate uneven tone - again, without being destructive to the rest of the skin or makeup.
I don't "paint" new skin or color on top of the original.

I wish I could upload the before and after shots, as they would certainly show the level of correction I've applied.
Its unfortunate that many photographers do not permit this - but its understandable.

I will however, agree that I go overboard with the "finishing touches" - specifically when it comes to dodge and burn.
I appreciate your feedback here, and agree that I should pull back on that a bit - making only minor adjustments.
I think I try to use d/b more in attempt to define shapes a bit more, but it just ends up making the model look shiny and fake..  So, I really appreciate you pointing this out.  I think scaling back on this will significantly improve the realism.

Hey Corey!!

Having a look at your port I can tell its quite good!!

Really love pic #3!! Really good work on it!! I think you should go on that way!!

Pics #1 and #4 are really good too, but I think they don´t have any detail that stands out and make it a great image like you did on #3. Maybe you need to work a liitle more on global dodge and burn on them so you can make them look little more 3d and so they stand out (just saying).

I think pic #2 have a great pottencial, may be you should work on it again so you can achieve a look similar the one you get on #3. #2 needs more detail on sking, better color correction and work more ond d&b so you can make it stand out.

Finally, your last image looks waaaay to much retouchd. Too many details on skins, looks too sharpy and unrealistic. Don´t forget neck and chest needs to be retouched to, seems like you don´t work on them for a second. Sking tones transitions needs to be improve on this pic to get a bolder look.

Hope my words helps you to improve. Of course, you can have a look at my port, critiques are welcome!!

Keep retouching!!

I appreciate your feedback on the last image.
That was probably the first image I retouched, so it certainly has some amateur mistakes.
I do work on all areas of the skin - neck/chest included, but maybe I didn't hit this one hard enough.
Honestly the only thing I don't touch are certain stray hairs, as I feel this is when the model starts to get that plastic helmet hair look - I hate it when it looks like the artist just masked around the head.
Anyway, I'll refine that one and upload it again.

Also, I uploaded a new image, my best one yet I think - feel free to take a look.