What Do You Do With Skin In PS?

[smoke665]

I've become more adept at blemishes and skin softening techniques in PS, but I haven't figured out how some on here, seem to be able to "even out" skin tones and give them almost a glow. Anyone care to share their favorite post processing techniques on skin?

 

[Braineack]

frequency separation works well to smooth out blotchy skin while retaining details.

 

[smoke665]

frequency separation works well to smooth out blotchy skin while retaining details.

Thanks I just looked into that. Need to explore this more in depth.

 

[Trever1t]

I've become more adept at blemishes and skin softening techniques in PS, but I haven't figured out how some on here, seem to be able to "even out" skin tones and give them almost a glow. Anyone care to share their favorite post processing techniques on skin?

Who on here do you want to edit like? Perhaps direct the question that way so he/she could answer to their style?
Personally I use a number of technique, starting with a good exposure, hopefully.

 

[smoke665]

Who on here do you want to edit like

Well actually, you're one of the best IMHO! I'd love to look over your shoulder sometime as you edited. So many seek to completely eliminate all the texture and minor blemishes to the point that it almost looks porcelain (to perfect), actually taking away from the unique character of the subject.

I did some research at the suggestion of @Braineack on Frequency Separation , which looks very promising but I haven't had time to fully understand or learn the technique Granted exposure and lighting can play an important point, but I think it was you that said "my frames are like handfuls of clay (potential), I am learning to envision the final image and edit accordingly"

Here's a clip from an image I'm still working on. I used a skin softening technique which involved using an inverted High Pass filter layer. This is something where I think the Frequency Separation might work better. Any other ideas you'd care to share????

 

[Braineack]

here's my ugly mug:

in layman's terms, it separates the details onto a new layer away from the underlying colors. So you can smooth out color without disturbing the details whatsoever. If you want to spot edit out blemishes and imperfections, you can still using the healing brush on the detail layer like normal.

 

[smoke665]

@Braineack You didn't specify, but I'm assuming that you used FS. That's what I like about the technique, the ability to separate the texture and modify it without destroying all of it.

 

[Braineack]

yeah that was FS. Otherwise I just use the healing tool. I don't like to manipulate pixels that much.

 

[Trever1t]

ok, for a young child I'd probably use no skin softening at all. I might clean up skin issue if any but certainly you don't need to do anything other than that. If you were to look over my shoulder as I edited you'd probably be bored.

I use spot healing to remove unwanted blemishes and a technique involving cloning on layers and a couple other things. The more I learn the more I learn to use it in moderation (keeping pore structure and all)

 

[smoke665]

a technique involving cloning on layers and a couple other things.

Are you using the same image to sample from, or are you going to another image?

 

[smoke665]

Ok, still have more improvement to go but the first thumbnail is the original, the 2nd thumbnail is with FS, adjustments to detail layer and color layer. It's improved but still need to bring down the red. Any other suggestions????

 

[The_Traveler]

The real place to go to learn retouching is Retouchpro.com.
Those guys are great and there are numerous excellent tutorials

 

[Trever1t]

a technique involving cloning on layers and a couple other things.

Are you using the same image to sample from, or are you going to another image?

sampling from the same onto transparent layers.

 

[smoke665]

Thank you to @Braineack and @Trever1t used a combination of things derived from your suggestions. Didn't want to to completely eliminate the red cheeks, but limit the blotches. Think I've got to a point that I'll quit on this edit.

 

[OGsPhotography]

In Lr just grab the red channel and pull it down in the mids. Another really quick way to help with red face is to move the red slider in HSL to the right towards orange.

Frequency seperation is pretty awesome. Just follow a tutorial while you do it.

Another quick and easy way is to just use a soft brush and paint in the skin tone you like. Press ( i) to bring up the dropper and take a sample, then ( b) to switch quickly to brush. Its amazing what the brush can do.