Improving Skin In Portraits

[Michael Bailey]

Here's another approach for fixing skin reflections. It's easy, but be careful not to overdo it!

Create a new blank layer above your original. Then select the Paintbrush tool. On the Options Bar, set the Mode to Darken, the Opacity to 10%, and the Hardness to 0. Make the brush about the same size as the areas you're trying to fix.

The idea is to sample good skin tones which lie close to your problem areas, and lightly paint a fraction of their color into your highlight. Do this by holding the Alt (Option) key and clicking once on a bit of good skin. That samples the color and sets your brush. Now brush onto your bad highlight. Use two or three coats if that helps, but remember what I said about overdoing it.

You can be a little sloppy with your painting because the "Darken" Mode means the paint will only affect those areas which are lighter than itself.

This is not a perfect solution. You're not adding real texture or information into the reflective areas, you are simply masking the problem so it doesn't call attention to itself.

Before you finish, zoom out a bit and check the overall effect. If it looks artificial, it's because you did what? Yes, you overdid it. Try an Eraser at 50% Opacity to refine your results.

[Colin Southern]

Before you finish, zoom out a bit and check the overall effect. If it looks artificial, it's because you did what? Yes, you overdid it. Try an Eraser at 50% Opacity to refine your results.

No need - since it's on a seperate layer one can just reduce the opacity of that layer to suit

[Michael Bailey]

You're right, of course, Colin. I was only suggesting the Eraser as an easy way to reduce the effect locally. Of course, we can always paint gray on a layer mask, too.

[flipmode]

Hi guys,

I thought I'd chime in since I've been heavily studying retouching, not that I'm a pro, but I've learned a lot and perhaps I can add to what's already been mentioned. I should elaborate to say that much of the retouching tuts and discussions I have been following has been of those that are professional retouchers for magazines, etc. I mention it because there's of course a different standard that those guys adhere to versus the photographer looking to touch up a portrait. But the methods they use are highly effective in producing the best results. It's then up to you to moderate how much of the effect is necessary for your image.

One common goal regardless of what standard you're aiming for is the goal of maintaining proper skin texture when you are doing skin smoothing. That means not over blurring the skin. The methods to achieve this varies on who you ask. I've included two video tutorials for your convenience. The first link is the more basic approach, while the second link is a bit more advanced.

Common tools for skin smoothing:
- use of some kind of blur filter (i.e. surface blur)
- use of masks
- clone and healing tools
- dodge and burn
- soft brush combined with low opacity for greater control

First Link:
http://www.christyschuler.com/retouching.html

Second Link:
http://hiendworkshops.com/2010/08/18...y-separation-2

Hope this sheds some light on the subject, and especially for those who are interested in learning more about retouching as I am.