Portrait sharpening minus

[jaomul]

Some lenses are considered to sharp or not to flattering because they show every blemish.

Is it just jucase of reducing the sharpening slider in camera raw to overcome this?

 

[tirediron]

I suppose that could work, I prefer to use skin smoothing in order to soften what I want softened and keep sharp what I want sharp.

 

[Braineack]

I would never. While I'll spot out blemishes I want to see details like pores

 

[CameraClicker]

Just because a lens is sharp, doesn't mean it has to show every blemish. You can deemphasize bumps and wrinkles by shining light at them, instead of across them.
Some blemishes will show up regardless of lens sharpness, like eye bags, which sometimes have dark colour even though they don't have any physical shape. Post processing is a good place to work on that sort of problem.
Selective sharpening and blurring produces a better result than global actions.

 

[KmH]

Yep.
Controlling light direction and quality have a lot to do with showing or not showing skin detail.

You may have noticed that I continually mention that light direction and light quality are very important to making high quality photographs.

Which sharpening slider in ACR are you referring to? The 4 sliders in the Sharpening panel, or the Sharpness slider the Adjustment brush, Graduated Filter, Radial filter have?

 

[jaomul]

Thanks all. I just meant the sharpness one in the box above the noise control sliders in Lightroom (the one that has 25 as default)

I understand the skin softening etc, I just meant as a starting point.

 

[Mach0]

I personally adjust the masking slider so not
Everything is sharp


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[KmH]

Thanks all. I just meant the sharpness one in the box above the noise control sliders in Lightroom (the one that has 25 as default)

That is the Sharpening panel and we can only do global edits there.

By the way, you can change the default setting from 25.

 

[Tabe]

I would never. While I'll spot out blemishes I want to see details like pores

Same here. Not a fan of artificially smooth skin.

 

[Vautrin]

I've never heard of someone using a lower quality camera / lens to get softer skin.

If you think about it, there's usually a LOT in a portrait you want to get sharp. Like a models hair (and possibly beard), eyes, eyelashes, eyebrows, etc., etc. And of course if you are shooting wide open, you'll want the edge between the buttery smooth background and the face to be razor sharp.

So, while maybe you would get smooth skin, you'd be creating a host of other problems.

Taking good portraits is a lot of work. You've got to get the lighting right, and then in post you need to do some clean up.

Additionally, have you ever thought if you should indeed remove the blemishes? I once shot a model who had two very distinctive moles on her face. When she saw I photoshopped them out she was angry, apparently they were what she thought made her unique.

 

[Village Idiot]

I'd actually sharpen the photo then do skin smoothing as necessary. That's what I do if I have a certain photo that calls for it. Also, if you're trying to just delete some blemishes, use spot heal to take care of them.