A usual I like your portraits, so neat and well focused.
One day you'll have to explain the post processing you're doing.

Regards.
Jes.

Jes Consuegra wrote:
> A usual I like your portraits, so neat and well focused.
> One day you'll have to explain the post processing you're doing.
>
> Regards.
> Jes.
>
Jes,

Thanks for the kind words. It all starts with a combination of good lighting, good makeup, and a model with good skin. From there I use this process to clean up blemishes and skin issues: http://www.joelgrimesworkshops.com/Joel_Grimes_Photography/Skin_Smoothing.html. I usually do a slight "s curve", some de-saturation, dodging and burning, and very slight shadow/highlight adjustment, bringing up the shadows just a little to give the hair more sheen. Final step is sharpening, which I usually do at the following settings - 20%, 20 pixels, and Threshold 1. That probably sounds a little weird, but it gives it some extra "pop".

Thanks for the clues!. I'll try to mimic your processing, the results are superb.

This portait, as well as all others, is impeccable. I found it interesting that you desaturate the image. I've noticed some desaturation also in portraits of other pros. Is this the key to a good portrait image?

The sharpening step should have some kind of mid-tone contrast enhancement, due to the large radius you choose - is this correct?

Alfred Molon wrote:
> This portait, as well as all others, is impeccable. I found it interesting that you desaturate
> the image. I've noticed some desaturation also in portraits of other pros. Is this the key
> to a good portrait image?
>
> The sharpening step should have some kind of mid-tone contrast enhancement, due to the large
> radius you choose - is this correct?
>
Hi Alfred,

Thanks for the kind words. I'm still learning and researching different methods of retouching beauty shots. The desaturation is pretty common. I just read some stuff yesterday about a different sharpening technique, which I may try on some other images from this batch. I do not do a mid-tone contrast enhancement with my current method.