Need some realism

[Marydh]

I've done as much as I can on this photo.  It just seems too "plastic" and "unreal" looking.
Any suggestions would be welcome.  (I hope this all comes out ok. I haven't posted in a long time.)
Thanks, Mary

[Shadow]

Hi Mary. She is looking really good. You're right about the bkgd. Maybe darken the top color and add a bit of texture to the slats? Margie, Hannie and Lynn will have much better suggestions.  ;)  Look forward to seeing your final. Good luck!!

[Marydh]

Funny.  I had it darker then changed it but I think you are right and will go back to the darker.  Yes, I wanted to add texture but not sure how.  I looked for a "wood grain" brush but didn't have much luck.  I'll keep thinking.
Thanks.

[Shadow]

Mary, see what you think about either of these ... select the background and copy to its own layer. Add Noise 2. Then add Pixelate > Mosaic > Cell Size 2. That's one that Lynn taught me.  Another one you might try is to Add Noise and then add Texture > Canvas > Scaling 50% and Relief 2. Choose Light direction. With it on it's own layer you can lower opacity to tweak it more. You might also want to make the white frame 255/255/255. It seemed to help a bit on my screen. Hope this helps some.

[Marydh]

Thanks Shadow!  Sounds like fun.  I'll get to work on that tomorrow.

[Hannie]

Beautiful repairs Mary!  She looks very much like the original.
I like Shadows suggestions and would also not make the background purplish.  What other color, I don't know but much darker and perhaps more neutral or greenish?

I tried a few things:
Darkening of the background, I used blue but another color will work too.
A few more highlights in the hair, fair amount of noise, boarder white.
I pasted the blue channel as an Overlay layer and adjusted opacity quite low.
(I also used lens blur on some areas that were sharper than the rest of the image)

[Lynnya]

Hi Mary welcome to the fray  :up: you've done a lovely job.. I'm a huge fan of noise :loveit: always seems to add realism to me.. (sometimes I go overboard).. look forward to seeing your final and also seeing you around the forum.. it's great to have a new face (to us) here..

:up: :up: :up:

[Marydh]

Hannie!  Your rendition looks so good!  Can you tell me how you got the colors so great? I tried the blue channel overlay thingy but I'm not sure I did it right because nothing changed for me. 
I've done all the other changes but want it perky like yours.
Thanks,
Mary

[Marydh]

Hannie. 
OK. I figured out the channel thing and it does perk everything up.  I still can't get her face like you have it.  What is your secret?
Thanks
Mary

[Mshake]

Thought I would share a good tutorial on Phlearn on creating skin texture. Phlearn is my favorite YouTube channel for Photoshop tutorials. He has a lot of them that work great for retouching.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjyXjTAM0Aw

[Hannie]

Mshake, thanks for the link.  The embossing and Gaussian blur are a great way to bring back missing skin pores.

Perky, I like that Mary!

Yes, I did a few more sneaky things than what I described earlier.
I don't quite remember the order in which I did things but I will try to list them:

very, very little dodging of:
-end tip of nose (on top)
-bridge of nose
-puffy part of cheeks
-lower chin, winging out and up some
-right in the middle of lower eyelid
-under eyebrow in the middle
-forehead in the middle
-whites of eyes but only in the middle area
-2 front teeth, (also repair 1 tooth on right side)
-very thin line above upper lip, philtrum

very little burning of:
-inner nostrils
-gaps between teeth
-lower edge of upper lip where it meets the teeth
-onset of eye lashhes
-outer corner of eyes
-outer edge of iris

All of the dodging and burning I do as little as possible.  Almost not visible, I don't like it when the white of teeth or eyes jump out in an unnatural way.
I also experiment with the the opacity of this dodge/burn layer to make sure it looks natural.

Edge of photo white.

[Marydh]

Oh my!  Thanks for so much detail Hannie.  I shall have to copy and print the list.
Time to go back to work.  🤓
Mary

[Marydh]

Well, I think I've tried all the suggestions.  Let me know if you see anything else that might help.
Still wasn't able to get the peaches and cream complexion that Hannie achieved.
Thanks, Mary

[Hannie]

Mary, that looks great!  I like it much better than my version.

:up2:

[Marydh]

Yay!  I'll send it in.  Thanks for all your help.