Help with retouching

[Jeff Mims]

I am just getting back into portraiture after a 10 year or so hiatus, and back then I used film and medium format cameras.
The last couple of years, I've been concentrating on sports shooting, but really want to do more portraiture..so I bought a small lighting kit (Alien Bees 2/lights/1 SB) and did a few test shots with a Canon 5D and 24-105 lens.

Keep in mind, these were test shots, mainly testing the lights...etc. So the kids weren't dressed, or really posed in any formal fashion.

I tried do something in Lightroom, couldn't figure out how to retouch. I exported over to CS3..but nothing I did seem to work. So here are the photos straight out of the camera JPEG.

I would like to see what some of you could do with these images, and then explain to me what and how you did it. Thanks

http://www.pbase.com/photorebel/image/92092974.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/photorebel/image/92092975.jpg

[Giovanni Brembati]

Jeff,
I think the first step is white balance.

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/5916/92092974miabt5.jpg

[Joe Russo]

Jeff,

Here is my take on a retouch:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2108/2231401787_aedd85f351_o.jpg

I ignored everything except their faces.

Steps:

Blemish and crumb removal
Skin retouch using the method found here (http://www.simonstanmore.com/2007/06/skin-retouching-without-mush.html)
A little digital tooth whitening - select teeth, desaturate,increase brightness

[Joe Russo]

A note from Asher pointed out something that I had missed. In my original retouch the girls' right cheek looked a little desaturated. So a combination of a Color Balance adjustment layer to bring up the reds and Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer to lighten it on that area and we have version 2.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2386/2233357479_9ec7f45010_o.jpg

Thanks for the catch, Asher.

[Asher Kelman]

Getting better!

Asher

[Jeff Mims]

Thanks Joe..
Your retouching was much better than I can do. I was just testing out some studio lights I'd gotten,..and frankly didn't realize the baby had crumbs on his mouth.
I'm still learning...
photoshop
studio lighting...
I've got aways to go, I appreciate your showing me what is possible.

Thank you.

[Joe Russo]

Glad I could help. If you have any other questions feel free to ask. I'm far from an expert in this area and when I don't know something I enjoy ferreting out the answer.