Skin Smoothing... a tutorial?

RMThompson · Dec 6, 2008

Anyone got a good tutorial on skin smoothing? I have a series of images that could really benefit.

Example:

JerryPH · Dec 6, 2008

No tutorial needed. 10 seconds with Imgagemonic Portraiture and 10 seconds with NIK sharpener pro gave me this (no BSing on the time it took either!):

My version is on the left... lol

If your profile did not say it was OK to edit your pics, there is no way I would have done this.

RMThompson · Dec 6, 2008

Well... gee thanks!

However, since I don't have $169.00 dollars to spend, any one ELSE got a methid I can do in CS?

JerryPH · Dec 6, 2008

Did you do the obvious... like google or search on YOUTUBE? If not, do a couple of fast searches there.

A long time ago, there was something on the net that talked about it, but it was like a 15-20 minute process just to do less than what Portraiture did in 10 seconds, but it was specific to that. Some guy did either a PDF or a WORD document that detailed it. Nice, but man it was long and involved.

Let me look if I have it. If I do, I will gladly post here. I have about 30-40 gig of stuff to go check through!

EDIT: Found it... It is a rather involved Word document. The work is from Tom Hole, a flicker user. PM me an email, and I can send it to you... for the small sum of $5.99 plus shipping and handling. :lol:

(the shipping and handling thing was a joke... for those that don't get it!)

Stranger · Dec 6, 2008

Maybe you can be clearer on this Jerry but from the looks of things, those applications blur out the skin which is a big "no no" in the "serious" retouching world. When in this world, i dodge and burn like crazy.

But, of course, i very rarely play in the serious retouch world and just use negative clarity on a mask in lightroom 2. In photoshop, i believe a light light gaussian blur will do a similar effect. But, like mentioned before, dodge and burn is the "best" way to go and many tuts can be found on youtube

Mike_E · Dec 6, 2008

Hi RM, why not give this site a visit?

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/

craig · Dec 6, 2008

This one is the best as far as I'm concerned. Perfect in that you can keep the skin texture as opposed to the evil gausian blurr only deal. Very easy to follow.

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

Love & Bass

ksmattfish · Dec 7, 2008

Get the book "Skin" by Lee Varis. It rocks, and it has a fantastic section/tutorial on smoothing skin.

In rangefinder mag many years ago Eddie Tapp had a great article on a digital softar filter he came up with. For some reason I can no longer find the article online, but you can download the action from this guy's blog.

http://www.backlightphotography.com/blog/2007/03/soft-focus-photoshop-action-for.html

eyeye · Dec 7, 2008

if you look you can find some free skin smoothing actions

JerryPH · Dec 7, 2008

I sent him a couple of emails with tutorials on skin smoothing. I have SKIN... did not give it the attention it deserves, but the time I did spend with it was enough for me to say that I liked it.

RMThompson · Dec 7, 2008

Jerry thanks:

Rabieshund · Dec 8, 2008

You guys lost too much of the skin texture. Yes - tutorial needed.
You shouldn't let a program handle it for you. There is a reason why professional retouchers spend 20 hours on one single photo. Too many photographers lose all the skin texture by just blurring the crap out of their photos.

If you want to do it properly there are lots of tutorials over at http://retouchpro.com. Registration needed but it's worth it. There are some interesting stuff there.

Here are some tips:
http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=213 (this is what I do and it doesn't take very long - registration required)
http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/1169397_i62L4/1 (advanced way of doing it - I don't use this technique)
http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=272 (another way of doing it..)
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2mE8_ZN4ho[/ame] (full retouch walkthrough by a pro retoucher - watch this)

JerryPH · Dec 8, 2008

The programs are adjustable and one can go from 1% skin smoothing all the way to Mr/Ms plastic face and everything in between. Don't judge an application based on one picture and 10 second default levels. If I had spent 20 seconds and adjusted it, I am sure that the skin texture could be made to whatever the person doing the adjusting, wanted.

Suffice to say that when a wedding photographer has 20,000 images to process from 4 weddings in the last month, the LAST thing you want to do is spend 20 hours on one single picture. It is a tool that saves time and gets the job done.

Look in all the fashion or makeup magazines, you will see pictures often over processed. Personally it is not my thing, but it does seem to be selling a lot.

Ryan, looks great (though I would have sharpened the final pic a little more... lol) and I am happy to have been of some small assistance!

RMThompson · Dec 8, 2008

Guys, on the two examples above, I lost as much of the texture as I wanted. For the purposes of making the eyes and lips stand out, I left them as blurry as that. I could've toned down the effect a little.

However I WILL check out the other tutorials, learning is always a good thing.

Rabieshund · Dec 8, 2008

It's not about how much or little you can blur...

In my first link, if you scroll to the bottom of the page, there is the quickest way to get good skin retouch. And if you check the video clip, you'll find that she uses that technique. And if you do a batch out of it, you can do it faster than 10 seconds with 10 times better result. If you don't know how to create a batch, search the Photoshop help.
But if you want it to look unprofessional, then go ahead. Maybe the client's love getting all blurred out.

When you're pretty new to retouching, you think it looks awesome. But after a few months when you go back to look at those old retouches you find them looking like crap. I've been there so I know.

RMThompson: Even if you are satisfied with your skin smoothing, you need to fix a few things. You have blurred the nostrils and eyebrows too. Make sure only the skin is blurred, nothing else. You know the best retouch is when it's hard to tell that it's been retouched.

And about that fashion shots are over processed - it's just a look. But blurry skin isn't a look, it's just lack of retouching experience. It takes practice, just like everything else.