By the Book : This article is an extract fromSkin : The Complete Guide to Digitally Lighting , Photographing , and Retouching Faces and Bodies , by Lee Varis ( copyright 2006 ; reprinted by permission of Wiley Publishing ) .
The days of airbrushing , dye transferral , spotting , and etch are long gone , but the motivation to clean up or enhance photographs has never been greater . Portraits in finicky can demand a certain amount of retouching to flatter the content . Frequently , this want only canonic cleanup — take a mole , take out a stray hairsbreadth , and so on . But other problems , such as uneven skin feeling , are less aboveboard .
Red , blotchy skin often looks bad in digital image because the Bayer - formula imaging system used to render television camera ’ image data tend to overemphasize the cherry component in pelt vividness . As a result , pimples and red blotch tend to go atomic . Fortunately , the problem is relatively simple to fix inAdobe Photoshop($649 ) by using a Hue / intensity adjustment bed . ( The following step also work with Adobe ’s $ 80 Photoshop Elements 4 . )
Isolating the problem
select the Adjustment Layer icon in the Layers palette and select Hue / impregnation from the drop - down menu . In the Hue / Saturation dialogue box , vary the Edit drop - down menu to Reds .
With the left eyedropper toward the bottom of the duologue box selected , move the cursor ( the eyedropper sampler ) over the image , and press the brightest red pimple . The sample - region slider ( indicated by the gray bar in the rainbow gradient ) will move slightly to revolve around over the selected semblance . Then take the minus - eyedropper dick ( on the right ) and press an sphere of good pelt colouring material . The sample region will recoil somewhat to indicate the more constrained sample distribution surface area .
This part is the trick : we are choke to temporarily apply a radical hue shift to help picture the choose region . Push the Hue Pseudemys scripta all the way to the left field . The take reds in the face will bend hopeful cyan . If too much of the image has been selected , simply scuff the correct triangle slider in the white-haired sampling neighborhood to the left field to trim the selection and set the effect to those areas that are too reddish and blotchy ( see “ Spotting the Problem ” ) .
Making the change
After you have identified the neighborhood that will be affect , you may use a more attractive colour shift . haul the Hue slipper to the right , past zero and toward yellow . Stop when you ’ve killed the red curse .
Use the Info - palette number to determine if the tegument appraise in the pimple region are within the correct range ( move the cursor into the image to get a reading ) . Because pimple are also darker than normal tegument , you may demand to push the Lightness slider to the right hand until you get better tonal uniformity . Do n’t go too far ; it will reduce the chroma of the skin tone and may make your colors see affected .
Some orbit of the expression might be too yellow . you could adjust these areas in a interchangeable manner . In the Hue / vividness adjustment - layer duologue corner , modify the Edit drop cloth - down bill of fare to Yellows . Use the eyedropper pecker to take the region that is too yellow ; then subtract the red pimple areas with the subtraction - eyedropper instrument ( these are now already shifted ) . Apply the extremist hue faulting to picture the unnatural region , and snip the extract further if necessary . Push the Hue slider more or less to the left to make the yellow-bellied regions redder . The Edit drop - down menu , which did say Yellows , will alter to Reds-2 to indicate that you are edit another red realm .
Once you ’re done , you should find that the Hue/ Saturation adaption has hidden most of the pimples and given the cutis a much healthy look — all without your touching a single retouching puppet .
Finishing touches
You might want to cloak off the red to reduce the force of the Hue / Saturation adjustment on the lips — especially with photos of women . Just paint into the Hue / Saturation adjustment level with total darkness to mask out the lips . In this image , I also brushed a piddling blue color into the eye to take over some of the monochromatic nature of the shot .
Although you ’ve tone down the red , some pimple may still seem darker than the surround skin . To carefully lighten these areas without otherwise affect the people of colour or texture of the region , use a dodge - and - suntan bed arrange to Soft Light mood ( see “ Dodging Minor Imperfections ” ) .
In the goal , all of the pimples have become cushy freckle , and we have n’t corrupted the skin texture .
Dodging minor imperfections
To minimize the appearance of fine job and blemish , without destroying the peel ’s texture , create a special layer for dodging and burning ( selectively lighten and darkening ) .
First , hold down the pick cay and select the New Layer ikon in the Layers pallet ( or select Layer : New : Layer ) . This will institute up the New Layer dialog box seat . The trick is to change the Mode to Soft Light and then select the Fill With easygoing - loose - Neutral Color alternative . This will occupy the new layer with 50 percent gray . In a mild Light or Overlay layer , 50 pct gray-haired has no result on the underlying image . However , when you employ the Dodge tool to lighten the gray bed , it will lighten up the underlie image as well , without affecting the vividness or grain . I recommend using the Soft Light style because it has a gentler force than overlie and tends not to increase the intensity as much .
Next , select the Dodge tool in the Tools palette , pick out a low-spirited Exposure setting , and then sweep over the seam or mar to bit by bit buoy up them .
If you temporarily change the level mode back to Normal , you ’ll be able to scrutinize your work . The dodge Deutschmark will seem in the gray bed . Reduce the layer ’s opaqueness to see where your scheme chump trace up on the look ( see “ Nip and Tuck ” ) .
If you go too far , you’re able to repair the essence by paint over the Soft Light layer with a brush set to 50 pct greyish at a scummy opacity . If you necessitate a unattackable lightening or darkening force , you’re able to duplicate the stratum by dragging the Layer thumbnail onto the New Layer icon in the Layers pallette .
[ Lee Varis is a Hollywood photograph - illustrator . His images have appeared inNational Geographic , Newsweek , andFortune . ]
