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 :)