Advanced Skin Retouching and Basic Variations

In this tutorial you will learn:
- Duplicating layers
- Skin smoothing
- Colour balancing using Variations

You will need an some experience using layers to do this tutorial!

Why do we retouch photographs?

Retouching is about balancing the image; be it correcting lighting, balancing colours, and 'polishing' so that the finished product is both dazzling and professional looking.

Around 90% photographs we see in our every day lives have been retouched. Scary, I know. And to the untrained eye this may not seem obvious; but it is extremely difficult to take a 'perfect' image. More and more professionals are turning to Photoshop, and other graphics programmes, to enhance their photographs in post production, and really it isnt that difficult.

So now you can do the same!

Practise...

I will be using this image, found on Google images, which is absolutely brimming with candid shots which have not been retouched; by all means, in your spare time search for images to practise with as it will help you develop your skills and preferences :)

The first thing to do is Duplicate the Layer.

Now we have a copy of the layer, we are going to smooth the skin. There are different methods you can use to do this, but I have found a combination of each create the best effects!

You now need to Gaussian Blur the new layer: Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur > (4.5). The size of the blur depends on the resolution of the image, so you may want to change this. I usually edit my photos, if I can, at nothing bigger than 1000 pixels (longest side) as they are easier to work with.

Use the eraser tool, I used size 27, with a soft edge - you want the edges of where you are rubbing out to be seamless. Erase the eyes, nose, lips, eyebrows, hairline, bottom of the chin and jaw as I have done in the picture below. Whilst we want to smooth down the skin, the features must still be visible and sharp - we don't want her to look like an alien!

Now, using the Lasso tool (), you need to use the erased line as a guide around the jaw, chin and hairline, which should connect to make a whole outline around the face.

We, infact, want to delete the blurred layer - but only the parts around the face. So we must now go to Select > Inverse to invert the selection. Once you have done this, press Delete (PC) or Backspace (Mac) to erase this part of the layer.

Once the rest of the image is back in focus, with the face still blurred, you must go to Select > Deselect.

You may notice that the skin on the face now looks a little bit too perfect. We want it to look even but still realistic, which is why I usually go on to change the Layer Opacity. It is up to you how much is appropriate. With mine, I took it down from 100% to 61% as you can see below on the slider.

Can you see now, how the skin tone is more even and smooth? This is what you are aiming for it to look like at this stage...

You can now flatten the layers Layer > Flatten All.

Now we are going to use the Spot Healing Tool to go over any small blemishes/imperfections you can find.
This tool makes life very easy - all you have to do is click on an imperfection and it will get rid of it automatically!

Once you are happy with what you have done, we are going to move onto the Soften tool. In effect, this is the same as the Gaussian Blur we used on the image earlier - but in a more selective manner, you can choose more prcisely the areas that need attention.
Set the Soften tool's opacity to 50%.

You will probably want to zoom in for this bit.
To zoom, simply select the tool which looks like a magnifying glass. It is right at the bottom of the toolbar palette.

Note: Do not be confused by the dodge and burn tools which look similar.

In the picture below I have softened between the nose and lips, closer to the bottom of the chin, around the eyes. Can you see where, around the eyebrows and on the tip of the nose, it is a bit less smooth? These are the kinds of areas you are looking to smooth out, but again, be careful not to get rid of details such as the nose and eyes, we want the features to remain clear and untouched!

Now we have finished smoothing out the skin, you can zoom to the image's normal size again.
View > Actual Pixels

We must duplicate our base layer again, so do the same as before.
(The first thing we did this tutorial)

As you may have spotted, the image itself has quite a red tint to it.
When photographs are taken in different lighting conditions/heats/weather they take on a certain colour bias.
Tungsten/Hot/Sunny - Red, yellow, orange.
Cold - Blue, cyan.
Etc etc etc.

They vary from photo to photo, and it is something that is very easy to balance out,
thanks to a handy tool on Photoshop called Variations.
Image > Adjustments > Variations

It is up to you to decide your preference. In this case I am going for the opposite of Red, which is Cyan; so as to compensate and balance it out. Also, it is what I deem to be the most true to real life. sometimes, though, you might make to brighten up an image with a 'sunny' tone, but we'll get to that another time.

I have chosen More Cyan.

Note: I will be doing a more in depth tutorial on how to use variations soon, so I won't go too much into it this time.

Now the image is too blue for my liking. We only wanted to even it out, which is why we created a new layer to do so. The opacity can be tweaked now to create the chosen level of blue, I went for 54% as you can see on the Layer Opacity slider.

Layer > Flatten again.

You can see now, that the image looks fairly neutral/normal and doesn't have any obvious colour bias.

Our final image is by no means perfect! There are plenty more ways we can improve the quality and whatnot, which I will be showing you how to do in other tutorials. But for now, practice these techniques and play around with the different tools we have used and get used to them because they will come in handy in future.

Like I always say, any problems/questions/suggestions, post me a comment!
Laters folks :)

Basic Skin Retouching

For quick skin retouching, you will only need to use a couple of tools! This is a quick and easy process which can easily be applied to create smooth, blemish free skin.

- Spot healing tool
- Soften

This photograph is a good example of one that may require a little skin retouching; in general the photograph is well balanced, with good contrast, so it doesn't need any other fixing up!

Every photograph you see in a magazine will probably have had varying levels of this kind of retouching done before it is published - don't be fooled!

The first thing you will be using are the Healing Tools - the little plaster icons:

Spot Healing Tool



Healing Tool


(To switch between the two, left mouse click on the icon and hold it down for a few seconds, and select from the little menu that will pop out to the side)

The only difference between the two, is that with with Spot Healing Tool, you just need to click on the blemish and it will automatically remove the blemish. Easy peasy!

With the Healing tool, you must first choose a 'clear' area, from which the picture information will be taken in order to heal the blemish. To select an area, pick a part of the skin which is a similar colour, but with no blemish, and holding down ALT, click the left mouse button. You will need to adjust the brush size to ensure this works properly.

I am using a brush sizes between 15-30 pixels.

You can play around with this to get a clear idea of which is most suitable for the job, its just down to trying and testing essentially :)

I have 'healed' the blemishes, and am left with this:

As you can see, a lot of the visible acne from before has vanished! However, some of the skin is still a little uneven, which is where the Soften tool comes in.

Although it is down to you which size brush you use, and the opacity, I usually use a soft edged brush, at 50% opacity. Also, make sure the brush mode is set to 'Normal' as you can see here.

Now you can just brush over the 'bumpy' areas, to smooth out the appearance of the skin. Make sure you don't go too over the top with this as the image may end up looking unrealistic, and never go over any of the facial features: eyes, nose, mouth etc!

As you can see, our subject now has blemish free, smooth skin!

You can repeat the above steps as much or as little as you want, until you are happy with how the image looks! This just goes to show how you don't have to be an industry expert to be able to airbrush your photographs :)

Good luck!

Using Layers

In this tutorial you will learn:
- Layers
- Move Object tool
- Eraser
- Text insertion
- Saving you image in the right format

Although it might not seem like it to begin with, layers are probably the most useful tool you'll find on Photoshop. Whilst they may take a little getting used to, once you get the hang of them you'll wonder how you ever edited anything without them!

It is important that you are able to use layers in oirder to progress onto the other tutorials I will be posting!

So what are they for?

There are endless uses for layers, to give you an idea here are a few common examples:

- Selecting specific parts of the image you would like to edit.
- Making copies of the original image, which you can adjust rather than messing with the original image. If you make a mistake, or don't like the outcome, you can simply delete the layer and you're back to the unchanged version.
- Overlay images onto your existing one(s), be it text or other graphics, you can move them around on top of the image and select where you would like them to go.
- Colour a photograph or graphic differently using fill effects and other such things.

When using layers, I find it helps to look at them as if they are over head projection sheets; they can be overlapped to create different images, take one away or add one, and you have something completely different, and something that can be easily modified and moved around if you aren't happy with it.

Practise...

I am starting off with this image:
(You can use this one or your own - completely up to you!)

The easiest way to put an image into Photoshop, is to Save to your desktop, then when you have opened Photoshop, File > Open and choose the image from the list.

To create a new layer, you simply click this button in the Layers Palette on the right hand side of your screen.

You can draw on this layer, paste in images, or create text... whatever you want! I'm going to be pasting in this Chanel logo. To paste in an image, you can drag and drop it in directly from the Internet Explorer/Firefox/Safari page, or save to desktop then Open it in from there!

Remember:
Copy = Ctrl + C (PC) Command + C (Mac)
Paste = Ctrl + P (PC) Command + P (Mac)

I can then use this tool to move it around on my image, and place it accordingly.

(I also resized the logo along the way, if anyone does not know how to do this leave a comment and I will add this step in.)

Remember, there is no limit on the amount of layers you can create.

I will now add some text.

When you are happy with the text, double click the mouse to confirm what you have done. This will get rid of the underlines you can see in the above image. ^

Once you are satisfied with the image as a whole, you can then go to Layer > Flatten Image.

To save: File > Save
Remember, when saving to save as JPEG/PNG or PSD - JPEG/PNG will 'flatten' the image, so layers cannot be edited; saving as PSD will allow you to carry on editing layers next session.

Finished image:

Ta da! Practise and experiment with layers as much as you like until you are happy using them, and everything else will be easy :) If you have any questions regarding layers, please leave a comment on this post and I will do my best to answer!