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[OM] Re: Retouching refined [was Anyone use retouchers?]

Subject: [OM] Re: Retouching refined [was Anyone use retouchers?]
From: Moose <olymoose@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2007 15:29:53 -0800
Candace Lemarr wrote:
> Wow, Moose!
> I really like the uneven color gone from the left side of her face 
> (viewer's right).
>   
Yeah, I didn't really have that right yet last time.
> And the general clean up of the facial blemishes/freckles/moles.
>
> I am undecided about the smile (dimple) marks being gone. That's "her 
> smile", you know?
>   
Tough call. The problem for me is the way they connect so closely to the 
non-smile lines from corners of nose to corners of mouth. Particularly 
on her right, I don't see how to alleviate one without the other.
> It seems to draw more attention to her teeth, which is exactly what she did 
> not want. Or it could be that you sharpened her teeth a bit as well.
>   
Yup, I did a slight overall sharpen after downsizing. I liked what it 
did to the eyes, it had no effect on the skin, but I missed the effect 
on the teeth.
> Overall, it's a great improvement.
>
> But she's a very pretty girl IMHO, and not hard to look at anyhow. :-)
>
> One question...how do you feel about the shiny spots on her teeth? 
I took away the sharpening in the tooth area and took out the strong pin 
point reflections. I'm not sure I would do that otherwise, as it gives 
some life there, but if she specifically doesn't want her teeth to stand 
out, probably better off without. There's still a bit of softer 
reflection to give them unobtrusive life. I only modified the full face 
version.
> Would you further work on them or do you usually leave teeth like that? 
>   
I don't have a usual, as I almost never do portrait retouching. This is 
far the most extensive effort I recall doing. That's why I thought it 
was so interesting and enjoyable - a real learning experience. I'm 
rather pleased with the result.
> Sometimes I make the shiny reflective areas a bit smaller or not quite 
> as bright, but it depends on the image and how distracting that is. Hers 
> are very small.
>   
I agree. But how one believes one appears and, how others see you can be 
wildly different. If she is self-conscious about her teeth, it doesn't 
matter what others think, so I would downplay the bright spots. Same the 
with the freckles. It seems that freckles are generally cute to 
observers and all to often not cute to wearers.

As an adult still plagued with acne, even as the first wrinkles creep 
in, with a birthmark and some patches of rough skin, and in light of 
your story and the version selected, I imagine a person long unhappy 
with her skin. I wouldn't be surprised if she 'sees' her face as a 
deplorable mess, with all the small imperfections we would hardly notice 
magnified in her imagination. It's all projection, of course, but that 
doesn't mean it is necessarily inaccurate.

Moose

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