Advice and critique wanted

[RWH]

Hi I'm a newbie and am posting this in difficult because well it's difficult to me. I've been trying many different techniques. I would appreciate any suggestions. Be brutal, hurt me plenty. I'm sure it's a 15 minute fix for a lot of you. I'm not there ...yet.

I replaced the green and blue channels with the red channel. Curves adjustment. I used Noiseware Community Edition. Lot's of cloning, healing and dodging and burning.

A few things.

1. The shadow on her chin, did I change it to much.

2. Blotchy background. I've done a lot of dodging and burning still a ways to go. Tried to replace it, that looks to fake.

3. I've got hours into her shirt. This is an untouched version.

4. I see a large dark area in her hair, don't know how that happened. Probably should have went to sleep sooner. Also I've got a few batches of wine going, and I'm a firm believer in frequent taste testing.  :crazy:

thank you
Randy



larger
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/718/rotertj2478x10rhwipwebf.jpg/

[Hannie]

15 minute fix?  No way!
Randy, congratulations on your first OPR restore, it looks great!

There does seem to be a little more shape underneath her chin but it could be damage as well, it is hard to tell.

For the dodging and burning here is a great topic to get a more even result:
TIP:  Burn and dodge the gentler way.
(you can experiment with opacity and layer opacity, you can add a Gaussian blur for more smoothness, this tip works great)
You will really like this method as you can smooth away any blotches with a Gaussian blur on the Soft Light layer.

Really zoom in the area around her silhouette to get rid of the"white" shadows.

Hannie

[schen]

Randy,

I agree with you that you might have overdone her face.  As the result, it looks a little flat.  I believe she had a double chin and more prominent cheek (the blue circles).

There were some details in her hair (green circles).  If you can preserve them they will look more lively.

[RWH]

Thank you Hannie and schen. I appreciate your input. I will incorporate your suggestions to further refine this photo.

thanks
Randy