Made a portfolio for retouching work, thoughts and critiques?

[yhelothar]

EPIC Retouches

I'm hoping this could get my foot in the door to do some retouch work.

 

[troytime]

i like. you do good work.
although i think the first girl with the teddy bear is hotter in the before pic (with bra straps and richer colors)

 

[yhelothar]

thanks!
how is it now?

 

[PurdueRy]

I don't like what happened to the detail in her hair. It went from soft to hard and sharpened looking. It also looks like you cut off her pants/underwear?

I agree I preferred the warmth of the original.

 

[yhelothar]

Just softened up the hair and warmed it up a bit.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

That's some awesome work. I don't like how the website's photo gallery pictures jump around, especially the left/right arrows. I like to be able to place my mouse over an arrow and keep it there and keep on clicking next next next. Right now I click then have to hunt for the arrow again because it moved to a new position.

And we need more pictures of hot girls. I really don't think you need pictures of cars and bikes. Just hot girls.

 

[yhelothar]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
That's some awesome work. I don't like how the website's photo gallery pictures jump around, especially the left/right arrows. I like to be able to place my mouse over an arrow and keep it there and keep on clicking next next next. Right now I click then have to hunt for the arrow again because it moved to a new position.

And we need more pictures of hot girls. I really don't think you need pictures of cars and bikes. Just hot girls.

well you need to move your mouse to rollover anyways right?

And yes, I do need more hot girls . A menage a trois would be nice.

 

[Aharami]

how did you get that effect on the kawasaki pic? the blacks in the kawasaki went from dull to rich
i like your retouches, but dont like how the pictures jump around

 

[rivan]

Nice work.

I'd remove the airplane and city shots; the airplane one seems like just color shifts and the city shot is a badly/overly-done shot at HDR. Neither is of the caliber of the rest of the work.

The perspective correction on the background for the white car is exceptionally well done. You took an average snapshot and did something great with it.

I'd make the site navigation more consistent; pick a spot for the user to mouse over and fit all the images to that spot. Someone browsing your portfolio shouldn't have to scroll a window around to get anything into view.

Your name and logotype could use work. 'Epic' is far too tired a word.

 

[randay]

I guess it depends on exactly what the customer wants. Are these actual photos you've retouched for a client? perhaps some background on each picture on what was desired would help.

 

[yhelothar]

Originally posted by: Aharami
how did you get that effect on the kawasaki pic? the blacks in the kawasaki went from dull to rich
i like your retouches, but dont like how the pictures jump around

Unsharp mask at high radii, or also called local contrast by many, i swear by it to bring more depth into my images and to get rid of haze.
You have to use history brush tool to remove halos from high contrast areas though. Also I usually lower overall contrast after doing this local contrast adjustment.

I also desaturated the blacks on the paint.

 

[yhelothar]

Any suggestions on how to redo the layout on my site so the images stay at the same place when they vary so much in dimensions? I only have basic html skills. Well I could use flash too, but I wanted to keep it simple. But I do think that the navigation pane takes up too much space. I designed it on my 1920x1200 res monitor. It looks horrible and out of proportion for anything less than 1600 width.

 

[yhelothar]

Originally posted by: rivan
Nice work.

I'd remove the airplane and city shots; the airplane one seems like just color shifts and the city shot is a badly/overly-done shot at HDR. Neither is of the caliber of the rest of the work.

The perspective correction on the background for the white car is exceptionally well done. You took an average snapshot and did something great with it.

I'd make the site navigation more consistent; pick a spot for the user to mouse over and fit all the images to that spot. Someone browsing your portfolio shouldn't have to scroll a window around to get anything into view.

Your name and logotype could use work. 'Epic' is far too tired a word.

Made the HDR more subtle on the city shot. Does it still look epic fail?

I'm thinking epic isn't as tired in the industries I'm going to be applying in?
Hmm I liked the logo with the thought that I add shine and sparkle to images.

 

[akugami]

Suggestion. The front page of your web site is like an advertisement. Decide long and hard how you want to convey your message which is that this is a photo restoration/editing site.

Your cover/home page is extremely important. This is the sell. This is what will hook your customers in. You need it to look good. You only get one chance to make a good first impression. If you screw up, your potential customers will move to someone else. I'd suggest a nice clean web site with a picture of photo that's halved showing on the home page. Half of the photo will show the bad and discolored photo and the other half will show the edited photo. consider an angled line and not just a straight down line that separates the two halves of the photo.

Move the photo browser to a separate page. Keep your photo browser arrows that showcase the photos static as well. Consider changing the logo type and the arrows of the photo browser.

Please do not crop photos differently between edited and unedited versions. The edited photo of the girl holding the picture frame is jarring because the subject jumps back and forth between mouseovers. The same with completely editing the background from the subject as is the case with the photo of the car in an urban graffiti setting and suburban setting. Try to keep the subject the same or in as similar a position as possible.

You need to keep in mind most computers, home and business, use lower resolution monitors and build your web site with something like 1024x768 (or similar resolution) in mind. Firefox also doesn't seem to display the page properly, at least not on the computer I use at work.

Standardize the navigation method on your web site. While it's probably old and tired, using a navigation bar that is on the left side works very well but shrink down the navigation links/icons. Make it as small as possible while still being legible and easy to use. An alternative is throwing the navigation bar across the top with your banner and the navigation links.

Consider using a WYSIWYG html editor if your html skills are not up to stuff. There are a few free ones out there, do a google search. Try to stay away from Flash as that slows your site down. Subscribe to KISS (keep it simple stupid). You want to convey professionalism, not some kid who decided to cram every single web effect known to man on his web page.

 

[rivan]

Originally posted by: astroidea
Made the HDR more subtle on the city shot. Does it still look epic fail?

I'm thinking epic isn't as tired in the industries I'm going to be applying in?
Hmm I liked the logo with the thought that I add shine and sparkle to images.

I'm still not impressed by the faked HDR - it's still haloing like crazy, and I still think it's not up to the level of the rest of your work.

Yes, it's tired. I do prepress and retouching for an agency, which is presumably one of your target clienteles, and that name makes me think of someone who's going to have to pause Halo to get my work done. Don't get me wrong, your work could prove otherwise, but if given a choice between you and someone with a more professional image, I'd choose someone else.

The poster above me is correct - your site still isn't doing a great job of selling your work. He gives some great feedback.

 

[shocksyde]

Mmmmm, contrasty. I like your style. Site is nice and simple. LOVE the name, haha.