Smoothing skin in PS4

[pony]

What is teh best way to smooth skin in CS4?
I have been using the healing brush for major imperfections and then airbrush to try and even everything out. It is very frustrating and time consuming because I have to constantly sample new areas and it never looks super even or natural.

Is there a better way?
There HAS to be a better way, please clue me in

 

[Jace]

Make a duplicate layer of the one you want smoothed
Use Gaussian blur to blur it until the imperfections are gone
go to your history tab and click on the action above the blurring, then click in the box beside it so a brush appears
go to your brush options and choose history brush
paint over the skin you want to smooth

Voilà!

 

[reznap]

^ That's not the best way.. and it never looks natural. The best way is detail dodge and burning.

Also, might be worth your time to google frequency separation. This will let you separate the detail from the underlying tones.

This is where I learned to dodge and burn: YouTube - mpretouch's Channel

Here's a decent tutorial that shows frequency separation as well as some other stuff: YouTube - cameronrad1's Channel

I made a half-assed retouching thread on this forum in the 'graphics programs' section.
There's one recent retouch in there which I used these techniques on if you'd like to check it out:
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...ching-background-replacement.html#post2185489

Here's a bunch of retouching threads on modelmayhem, some with high res and RAW files to work with. Lot of examples there of different techniques and styles. Compare them to what you see in magazines/advertisements and decide for yourself what you like: http://www.modelmayhem.com/t.php?forum_id=76

 

[Sw1tchFX]

For basic retouching, i'm all about using the clone stamp at give or take 25-50%, color layers, and content-aware fill. With those three things you can take out anything and nobody would be able to tell.

 

[reznap]

For basic retouching, i'm all about using the clone stamp at give or take 25-50%, color layers, and content-aware fill. With those three things you can take out anything and nobody would be able to tell.

Maybe the average person wouldn't be able to tell but I would. Semi-transparent clone stamp leaves tell-tale blurring of detail and skin texture. That's where frequency separation comes in handy.

 

[KmH]

PS4 is way old. It was replaced by PS5 back in May of '98.

If you were to upgrade a more current version of Photoshop, like CS5, it is a lot more capable and online tutorials would be more relevent.

But, there are a lot of tutorials online. Using Bing and the search term "smoothing skin with Photoshop" yielded; smoothing skin with photoshop - Bing

I'm sure YouTube has a bunch of skin smoothing video tutorials too.

 

[Robin Usagani]

I only shoot people with perfect skin.

 

[KmH]

Then you don't shoot anyone.

 

[pony]

Thanks, will try both and see how it goes

 

[pony]

Sorry, CS4extended. still a few years old...but i'm poor and it was $150 vs $1000 for CS5
I will look for video tutorials though thanks. There are many different ways, I was wondering if there was one that was generally preferred

PS4 is way old. It was replaced by PS5 back in May of '98.

If you were to upgrade a more current version of Photoshop, like CS5, it is a lot more capable and online tutorials would be more relevent.

But, there are a lot of tutorials online. Using Bing and the search term "smoothing skin with Photoshop" yielded; smoothing skin with photoshop - Bing

I'm sure YouTube has a bunch of skin smoothing video tutorials too.

 

[KmH]

Sorry, CS4extended. still a few years old...but i'm poor and it was $150 vs $1000 for CS5

Then you got a Student Edition.

 

[pony]

Sorry, CS4extended. still a few years old...but i'm poor and it was $150 vs $1000 for CS5

Then you got a Student Edition.

Is there a difference? Box looks the same as the ones available online and in store?

 

[KmH]

Sorry, CS4extended. still a few years old...but i'm poor and it was $150 vs $1000 for CS5

Then you got a Student Edition.

Is there a difference? Box looks the same as the ones available online and in store?

If your box doesn't say Student Edition on it, you likely didn't get a legal copy of CS4 Extended.

The only differences between a Student Edition of CS4 Extended and the full retail version, is the full retail version's use license allows uploading the application to 2 computers at the same time. The Student Edition only allows uploading to a single computer at a time.

Also the Student Edition cannot legally be re-sold. When someone tries to list a Student Edition for sale on eBay or other auction web sites, the auction gets shut-down in short order.

 

[pony]

Then you got a Student Edition.

Is there a difference? Box looks the same as the ones available online and in store?

If your box doesn't say Student Edition on it, you likely didn't get a legal copy of CS4 Extended.

The only differences between a Student Edition of CS4 Extended and the full retail version, is the full retail version's use license allows uploading the application to 2 computers at the same time. The Student Edition only allows uploading to a single computer at a time.

Also the Student Edition cannot legally be re-sold. When someone tries to list a Student Edition for sale on eBay or other auction web sites, the auction gets shut-down in short order.

I'm sure it's legal. Hubby got it through school and registered it and everything. I'll look again, but I don't think it says student version. Possible it does though.
Regardless...it's for personal use just on my one computer and I don't plan on reselling.
It's the same program though, right?

So, what is your preferred way to smooth skin? I can probably Google or YouTube it better if I have specific search terms.
Thanks

 

[KmH]

It takes a variety of techniques, and varies based on a number of factors.

Fully 1/3 of Adobe's image editing software out in the world is pirated.