Ruby - Revisited

[jamesward93]

Decided to go back and see if i could improve on this image with some of my recently learnt retouching skills. Looking for feedback on which image you think is the best and why?

Original is on the left

 

[awp]

2nd image is better - too many strange artifacts in that first one.

 

[Garry79]

Cracking shot. The only thing I'd say is I prefer the lightness of the eyes in the original. They seem too dark in the 2nd.

 

[Helium_Junkie]

I prefer 2 in every way, including the eyes. You seem to have bought back a lot of detail and given the subject a lot more punch. Great work

 

[Meyssonnier]

Hi
I feel the edges of the lipstick and eyebrows are far to acturatly painted or perhaps that is how they were.

Graham

 

[ROFL2K9]

#2 is much better IMO.... it has more depth than the first. Although I do prefer the eye colour in the first...

 

[david1701]

first is a brilliant shot, the PP makes the 2nd really pop, I like the darker eyes and lips and the skin tones, Ok the second is just better PP is brill

 

[annao]

I prefer number 2 - like the skin tones better, the detail in the skin. I also actually prefer the eye colour of 2, it looks more natural.

I don't like the pink tones in the skin of 1 or the yellow tones in the hair.

Out of interest, what pp did you use with 2?

Anna

 

[jamesward93]

All the work was done in PS CS3, i played around with curves a little bit, also used doge and burn to get some more definition. The skin was done using the clone stamp tool to get the texture (this took some time) and i used the patch tool to tidy up any stray hairs and marks on the skin. I used the liquify filter to change the jaw line, nose and chin a bit. The lips were made slightly larger using a selection of the top lip then, using the move and transform tools to tidy them up. That covers the majority of it, just!
To answer to comments about the lips and eyebrows being too accurately painted, this is how they were, a make up artist was used for this shoot and she was very good.