Gonna try this again

[JeffieLove]

Since my last thread got hijacked, I am going to repost my pictures. I am really looking for some "guidance" on how I can improve my skin smoothing/airbrushing...

So, here is before (only minor LR3 adjustments done on this):

And here's after:

So here is what I did:
I dodged my eyes to make them lighter, I whitened the whites of my eyes, and I created a new layer and used a paintbrush at 0 hardness, mode set to lighten, opacity 10% to do the air brushing/skin smoothing. To get rid of the red in my skin and the bold yellow in my hair, I just made 2 separate hue/saturation adjustment layers and lowered the saturation of the reds and yellows.

That's pretty much it.

If you would like to do your own edit, feel free, but please share with me your method for whatever you do I am trying to learn new things Thank you!

ETA: I forgot to add this, I know I messed up on the (camera) right side of my face down near my jaw line. I was moving faster than my computer was and everything was coming up about a minute after I actually did it... Very frustrating! lol

 

[D-B-J]

The color isnt too bad, but the skin seems splotchy. I am not well acquainted with smoothing and such on portraits, so maybe someone with more experience on the subject can chime in. And out of curiousity, what was your wb on the original? Its quite yellowy

Regards,
Jake

 

[JeffieLove]

The WB on the original was auto and I was in my bathroom which has light yellow walls and regular light bulbs in the light fixture. Perfect makings for a yellow photo! lol

 

[D-B-J]

The WB on the original was auto and I was in my bathroom which has light yellow walls and regular light bulbs in the light fixture. Perfect makings for a yellow photo! lol

I don't know too much about your camera as i shoot nikon, but can you alter the WB in degrees kelvin? For example, in my wb settings, i can set it to flourescent and then alter the degrees kelvin between 2000 and 10000.

That way you could set it to somewhere around 2000 or 3000, and that should give you a better wb, as sometimes, in situations such as that, auto just doesnt cut it.

Regards,
Jake

 

[JeffieLove]

I can't change the kelvin #'s, no. But normally I would set custom WB, but I didn't want this to come SOOC perfectly. I wanted to have some work to do

 

[PerfectlyFlawed]

I think you did a very good job with your edit, Sarah. Although, I do think it needs a *tiny bit *more color in it..warmer tones perhaps.

EDIT: I was super bored... and I dont know much about editing portraits.. but heres a quick try at it.
Probably a little too soft?

 

[JeffieLove]

yeah too soft... I don't mind my freckles and I'd prefer for it to look more natural :/

Anyone else?

 

[manaheim]

Not sure why you changed the color when the focus should be about skin smoothing. So... focus on the skin smoothing. Not the color.

Quick and dirty job.

1. duplicate layer
2. select bottom layer
3. filter->noise dust and scratches
4. use an eraser to erase the "not so good parts"
5. use healing brush and clone tool to work out remaining rough spots
6. sharpen the unerased part to give it a bit more pop

Tip: tweak your radius and levels on the dust and scratches until it is smooth without being creamy. never take it too far... always leave it with slight imperfections or it won't be believable or natural looking.

Tip: Use a soft-edged brush for the erasing with low opacity.

Tip: Never erase key details like the skin on lips, connecting lines between sudden feature changes (noses, ears, hair)

Tip: Never erase blatant lines like laugh lines, eyebrows and such

 

[JeffieLove]

Thanks mana - I posted this "over there" too but last time I checked had no responses.

 

[mrpink]

yeah too soft... I don't mind my freckles and I'd prefer for it to look more natural :/

Anyone else?

sure....


5347925581_6ab4ffe859_z-2 by Matt Francosky, on Flickr






p!nK

 

[CCericola]

Hi Jeffie, I liked your edit. It takes away the obvious flaws without looking too photoshoped. The others scream of photoshop. Remeber, the models in fashion magazines are already airbrushed with a lot of make-up before the shoot. I've seen so many people try to airbrush people without professional make-up and end up with a blotchy, photoshop mess.

 

[JeffieLove]

thanks pink What did you do?

 

[mrpink]

thanks pink What did you do?

Uhhh. Edited it.

Lets see. Some cloning. Some exposure and black value adjustment. Some skin smoothing. Light iris enhancement. Removed the redness from your eyes. Did some color adjustments. Resaturated your lips (that sounds weird). Light noise reduction.


Everything was done in LR3.







p!nK

 

[mwcfarms]

Heres my take, I did a warm one but then I played with a cool one which did something funky to your eyes and was too cool but I was bored. Anatomy homework was bugging my brain.

This is the one thats way out there lol but honest all I did to your eyes was iris adjustment brush and 5 sharpening but I adjusted the K's too much.

Forgot to say in LR3 on first I adjusted the WB, iris adjustment brush, whiten eyes brush, smooth skin on low setting custom brush, and then in PS I did a bit of cloning and hue adjustment layer for the hair to try and get rid of the green tinge.