Is there a secret to "touching up" photos?

[igroknful]

When I try to do anything to a photo other than eliminating red eye or improving the color, people look like they should be in a horror movie. Is it practice or software? For example, when I tried to get rid of wrinkles on a friend's picture she ended up with 3 eyes. I've used MGI Photosuite, Ulead, and a couple others.

Thanks in advance,
Rhonda

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

You're probably using too big a brush or similar. Select something smaller for finer controls.

Generally, it boils back to knowing what you're doing, and knowing what to change. Perhaps you can post a couple of photos and I can try my best to explain what needs to be done.

[Suhit Gupta]

You could also describe your exact process during the touch up and that could help identify what you might be doing incorrectly.

Suhit

[igroknful]

Thanks. I'll talk to me friends. I don't want to post anyone's picture without their consent.

Rhonda

[SassKwatch]

Is it practice or software?
A little late to the party again.....

It can be either actually......or both. But in reality, I suspect just about all the popular editing packages available today are sufficiently sophisticated that the user is more often the problem.

And that's in no way meant as a slam at you. It's equally true of the most experienced shooter using a new tool. It just takes practice to figure out best how to use it. The new 'Shadow & Highlights' tool in Photoshop CS is an example I've encountered recently. My first reaction was "Ooh, Ooh, Ooh this is kewl". After printing a few pics, my next reaction was "Ugh! That's WAY overdone!"

Which seems to be the way with all such things...the new user will almost always overdo things. A subtle application of the tool/effect will almost always produce the better end result.....and sometimes a subtle application repeated several times will be effective ('burn' and 'dodge' tools being a good example). But I also feel this is one area where the s/w developers tend to lead us astray somewhat as almost every new tool/effect/feature has some user adjustable settings that come with a default setting that is almost always too heavy handed.

[Littleshmee]

You've probably solved your problem by now but...

if you ended up with three eyes, it sounds like you're using the clone tool (or whatever it might be called in your program... basically you select an area to clone from and you start painting over somewhere else). If that's the case, the secret to the clone tool is to change your clone area very frequently... like every stroke. That way it doesn't look like you copied one spot and pasted it down somewhere else.

... I just read what I wrote and it sounds kinda confusing :? ... not sure how I can say that better.

[igroknful]

No one wanted me to post their picture, oh well, can say that I blame them.

I checked the program I was using and I think I was using the cloning tool. I have attempted to retouch a photo using a more delicate touch with greater success. :) Thanks for all the advice.

Rhonda

[Gary Sheynkman]

If you dont want to engage in all the photoshop fuss, a nice way to make your images look nicer without any work is Neat Image. I can honestly say the the difference is amazing!