Photo retouching. How to easily learn how to retouch photos in Photoshop. Simple and fast face retouching in Photoshop. How to make your skin matte
Photo retouching- one of the most popular functions when working in Photoshop. The number of methods for achieving a particular result is excessively large, and the methods have a fairly wide variety. Traditionally, each professional photographer or photo retouching designer has his own tricks and subtleties that allow him to achieve one or another effect. Below are various techniques that will enhance your skills in this area.
In pictures from natural light sunlight somehow creates some texture. Some places look overly shaded, while areas where Sun rays fell without any obstacles, they look too bright. In such cases, it becomes necessary to somehow control the light intensity and brightness in the photograph. To do this, create a new layer using the key combination Shift + Ctrl + N, or go to the menu “Layers” (Layer) → “New” (New) → “Layer” (Layer), and change the blending mode here: “Background Lightening” " (Color Dodge). The opacity should be set to 15%.
Using an eyedropper, select a color in the area of the photo that needs to be brightened. Next, take a brush with soft edges and begin to adjust the light, each time choosing the tone that best matches the area you are working with. Using this method, you can not only increase the brightness of some areas in the image, but also adjust the saturation color range. As a result, you can achieve an effect that is closest to the real picture.
First, open the photo using the Camera Raw format. This can be done in Photoshop itself, following the path “File” → “Open as Smart Object”. In addition, you can use Bridge, here by right-clicking the mouse, select “Open in Camera Raw”. To optimize the original image, you will need to set basic settings. You can do this, for example, by playing with the “Fill Light” or “Recovery” sliders. Now go to the “Grayscale” tab (HSL/Grayscale), there we click on the “Convert to Grayscale” item and select the “Yellows” value at approximately +20, “Blues” at -85, “Greens” "at +90. The result should be an almost black sky and the bushes will turn white.
You can not stop at this result and give the photo more grain. To do this, go to the “Effects” tab and set following parameters: for roughness 80, for size 20 and 15 for amount. In addition, you can use the Vignette effect using values of -35 for roundness, -30 for amount, 40 for midpoint. Thanks to the actions taken, the picture becomes similar to an infrared picture.
Level manipulation
Using the Levels adjustment tool you can set the white and black points to adjust the tones different colors. But when working, a problem arises with determining the darkest and lightest places in the photograph. To resolve this issue, you need to go to the menu “Layers” (Level) → “Adjustment Layer” (New Adjustment Layer) → “Isohelium” (Threshold), or click at the bottom of the “Layers” palette (Layer). Set the slider parameters so that only a couple of spots remain in the image white. Set a point on one of these spots using the Color Sampler tool. Now move the slider to the left until only a few black spots remain, and put a second point on one of them.
We are looking for a neutral gray halftone in the resulting image. Create a new layer between the original image and the “Isohelium” adjustment layer (Threshold). Now you need to go to “Edit” → “Fill” or hold down the Shift + F5 keys, fill the new empty layer with 50% gray, selecting 50% “Gray” in the “Contents” field.
Make the “Isohelium” layer active (Threshold) and change the blending mode to “Difference” (Difference). Select “Isohelium” (Threshold) again, move the slider all the way to the left, and then smoothly move it to the right until small black dots appear - these are neutral halftones. Add a “Color Sampler spot” to the black area and delete the layer filled with gray (50% “Gray”) and the adjustment layer (Threshold). Create a new empty adjustment layer and use the first eyedropper on the blackest area, and the third on the lightest area, and use the middle one on the third point of the color reference. Thus, we reduced the number of shades in the original photo.
In the “Layers” menu, select “New Adjustment Layer” → “Hue/Saturation”, select the blending mode “Soft Light” (Soft Light) and check the “Toning” box ” (Colorize). By manipulating the sliders “Brightness” (Lightness), “Color tone” (Hue), and “Saturation” (Saturation), we make the tones of the image cooler or warmer.
In addition, you can use color layers. To do this, use the “Create a fill layer or new adjustment layer” function (Adjustment Layer / New Fill), change the blending mode to “ Bright light"(Vivid Light) and set the layer opacity to 11-13%, hold down the Ctrl + I keys and invert the layer mask. Paint over the area that needs to be tinted using big brush with soft white edges. The result of the work is especially visible in portrait photographs with a textured background.
Often when editing landscape and landscape photographs, there is a need to enhance detail. To achieve this goal, you can try increasing the contrast of the midtones. Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + J to copy the background layer to a new one. We move to the menu “Filter” (Filter) → “Convert for Smart Filters” (Convert for Smart Filters), then again “Filter” (Filter) → “Other” (Other) → “Color Contrast” (High Pass), where set the pixel radius to 3. Change the overlay to “Overlay” and open the “Layer Style” window by double-clicking next to the layer name.
For the first gradient " This layer"(This Layer) set the values at a level from 50/100 to 150/200, while holding down the Alt key and moving the sliders apart. This will increase the contrast of only the midtones. In the Layers palette, double-click again to activate the “High Pass” filter and adjust the radius values. The result is a photo with increased midtone contrast.
Simulating a sunset
The sunset itself is like a natural phenomenon, can already be extraordinarily beautiful. If we are talking about the sea in the rays of the setting sun, we can confidently say that such a photograph is picturesque. Using tricks and tricks in Photoshop, it's easy to create an imitation sunset. You can change the tones using a gradient map. Let’s go to the menu “Fill Layer or New Adjustment Layer” (Adjustment Layer-Gradient Map / New Fill), open the gradient panel.
Open the editor by clicking on the gradient itself. For the first marker, change the gradient color to red, for the other marker, set yellow and at the same time change the blending mode to “Soft Light”, while reducing the opacity to 50%. The result should be a sunset with a warm, golden hue.
Using the method described below, you can easily create a beautiful and relaxed smile.
Select the Polygon Lasso tool and select the area around the mouth; this can be done quite conditionally, protruding far beyond the edges of the lips. In the menu “Selection” (Select) → “Modify” (Modify) → “Feather” (Feather), select a radius of 10 pixels. Next, hold down Ctrl + J and copy to a new layer. We go to the menu “Edit” (Edit) → “Puppet Warp”, as a result a mesh will appear around our previous selection. In the options panel, find the “Expansion” parameter, with its help you can adjust the volume and size of the mesh. Place pins in the supporting places - that is, in the places that should remain motionless. Change the network by dragging it until you get a beautiful smile.
Macro photography can be used to create colorful images of water and water droplets. Sometimes it doesn’t hurt to emphasize their picturesqueness with the help of color correction. To get water droplets with optimized colors, you can use a gradient: Layer → Layer Style → Gradient Overlay. Change the overlay to “Color”, reduce the opacity to 50%, set the gradient to “Foreground to background color” and set the angle to 90°. This way, the gradient is saved as a layer style and can be changed at any time by double-clicking the layer in the palette.
You can also color the surface with a linear gradient, creating a new style layer and gradient from No. 772222 (RGB 119, 34, 34) to No. 3333bb (RGB 51, 51, 187). The result is illuminated drops of water.
Sometimes, after retouching, the skin in a photograph does not look natural and perfect enough. This may be due to the overall color tone set for the photo. This flaw can be corrected by creating a “New Adjustment Layer” → “Hue/Saturation”. Now invert the layer mask by clicking on its thumbnail and pressing Ctrl + I. Paint over the areas of the skin whose color you consider unsatisfactory. We use a brush with soft white edges. You can also adjust colors using the Lightness sliders.
“Color tone” (Hue), “Saturation” (Saturation). It's difficult to recommend specific values here, it all depends on the photo, so be guided by your preferences.
Matching skin tones
In paired or group photographs, the pale skin of one person may unfavorably set off the tan of another, or vice versa. To optimize different skin tones, use the Match Color tool. Let's say that in a photo where there are 2 people, the skin of one is very red. We start working with such a photo by opening it using the Quick Selection tool. First, select the red skin, apply to the selection
Feather by 10-15 pixels, and copy it to a new layer using the Ctrl + J key combination.
Using the sequence described above, work on pale skin.
Make active the layer on which the red skin is located, and go to the menu “Image” (Image) → “Correction” (Adjustments) →> “Match Color”. Using the sliders, we adjust the tone until we get the desired result. The intensity of the effect can be adjusted by moving the “Luminance” and “Color Intensity” sliders. Once the result is saved, you can vary the effect by changing the layer opacity.
Reducing noise intensity
Noisy images may not be very pleasing to the eye of the beholder. Try reducing noise using channels. Press Ctrl + J to copy the original layer. In the “Channels” palette, select the channel with lowest level noise, drag it with the mouse to the “New Channel”, which is located next to the basket. Next, go to the “Filter” menu (Filter) → “Stylize” (Stylize) → “Find Edges” and apply “Gaussian Blur” with a radius of 3 pixels.
Now hold down the Ctrl key and click on the thumbnail of the new channel, thus selecting its contents. Turn on the RGB mode again and go to the “Layers” panel, where we create a mask “Add Layer Mask”. Click on the thumbnail to make the layer active and go to the filter menu: “Filter” → “Blur” → “Surface Blur”. Now we adjust the values of the “Radius” and “Isohelium” (Threshold) sliders so that the noise is reduced as much as possible. The essence of the described method is that the contours - that is, the darkest places of the photo, thanks to the created mask, remain untouched, while everything else becomes blurred.
Retro effect in Photoshop
We will achieve the desired effect using curves. Go to the menu “Layers” (Layer) → “New Adjustment Layer” (New Adjustment Layer) → “Curves” (Curves) and change the RGB mode to Red. We play with the slider, dragging it down a little for shadows and slightly up for highlights. Next, change the mode to Green. And we do everything for him exactly as for Red. For the Blue channel, you need to do the opposite, so that the shadows begin to cast a blue light, and the lighter areas become yellowish.
Now create a new layer, hold down Shift + Ctrl + N, and set the blending mode to “Exclusion”. Fill the created layer with color No. 000066 (RGB 0, 0, 102). Press Ctrl + J, copy the background layer of the image, set the blending mode to “Soft Light”. If you wish, you can group the photo layers by pressing Ctrl + G and play with their opacity until you get the desired result.
Defining Layers
Often, when working with a complex template and collage, there is an overabundance of layers with standard names, since the original names of the layers are most often neglected. As a result, we have a lot of similar names like “layer 53 / layer 5 copy 3”, etc. Problems arise with layer identification. To prevent confusion, Photoshop offers several solutions. For example, you can select the “Move tool” and right-click on it, so you will see which layers are located behind the current layer. This method is convenient for a relatively small number of layers, otherwise it will not be very easy to find the desired layer in the drop-down list.
You can click on the item “Move” (Move tool) with the left mouse button while holding down the Ctrl key, this will move you to the layer that you clicked.
In addition, you can change the size of the thumbnails themselves and their display style. To do this, click on the arrow in the upper right corner of the “Layers” panel and select “Panel Options” (Layers Palette Options), the Layers Palette settings window will open. Set the options and style as you wish.
We save resources
When using plugins in your work, you may have noticed that the work of Photoshop is noticeably slower, loading and response times increase. To eliminate this shortcoming, you can create a new folder in the Adobe directory → Adobe Photoshop CS5, give it the name Plugins_deactivated. All unused this moment we drag the extensions there and, the next time the program is loaded, these plugins will not start, although they will be ready to work at any time. This way, you will free up your computer's RAM, which will significantly improve its performance.
Sepia
Classic sepia tones are unlikely to ever lose their relevance. To enhance the sepia in a black and white image, move along the path “Layer” (Layer) → “Adjustment New Layer” (New Adjustment Layer) → “Photo Filter” (Photo Filter) and apply the “Sepia” filter with 100% density. Open the Layer Style window by double-clicking on the layer. Move the white slider on the first gradient to the left while holding down the Alt key. This will make the transition between the adjusted and uncorrected areas of the photo smooth and soft.
Often, the program, trying to help us, places objects completely different from where we would like. Sometimes this function is useful, sometimes it just gets in the way. The fact is that Photoshop, by default, snaps our element to other objects. To temporarily remove element snapping, you just need to hold down the Ctrl key while positioning elements.
Multiple shadows for one object
Sometimes it becomes necessary to create two or three shadows from one object. At first glance it seems difficult, but creating such an effect is quite possible. We will create shadows one by one, first casting one. We follow the traditional path “Layers” (Layer) → “Layer Style” (Layer Style) → “Shadow” (Drop Shadow). Right-click on the layer icon and select “Convert to Smart Object”, now the shadow and our object are one whole, you can also cast a shadow from it in the same way. And convert it to a smart object again. Similarly, you can create as many shadows as you like for one object.
Plus, the shadow can be converted to a new layer by right-clicking on FX. Here we select “Create Layer”. This will be useful in order to apply a different filter to each of the created shadows.
Based on materials from the site:
This is one of the unique capabilities that the Adobe Photoshop graphics editor allows. A professional photographer, despite his ability to take high-quality photographs, still resorts to using Photoshop, because he knows how to retouch a face in Photoshop so as to hide all the flaws, increasing the aesthetics of the image.
If you apply professional retouching, even the most inconspicuous photo can turn into a skillful image that can be considered a masterpiece.
Retouching photos in Adobe Photoshop will rid your skin of blemishes
Just a few years ago, many people refused to be photographed if unwanted pimples appeared on their facial skin. IN in some cases They even tried to reschedule the photo shoot. Of course, at that time there were masters who could perform high-quality retouching. But to carry out such a process required the creation and maintenance of certain conditions, as well as the availability of a sufficient amount of free time.
Currently, thanks to the graphic editor, photo retouching is possible for everyone who has become familiar with the capabilities of the program, studied detailed instructions experienced designers or photographers and consolidated the acquired knowledge in practice. Moreover, such a process will not take too much time, especially for those who have already improved their practical skills.
The process of eliminating defects on the skin
First of all, the user must open the photo to be corrected in a graphic editor. In order to save the original image, you should duplicate the layer, creating an exact copy. Direct retouching of the face will be carried out on the received copy. Firstly, this will allow you to save the original photo in case of unsuccessful retouching, and secondly, upon completion of the process, it will be possible to compare both photos by placing them side by side.
The image that is planned to be retouched is enlarged to 100%, so that it is convenient to identify defects and eliminate them all as efficiently as possible.
The most common facial defects are pimples, wrinkles, and scars. To eliminate them, Photoshop has several successful tools, one of which is the Spot Healing Brush. Using this tool is easy, just select it, then point it at the problem area and click. After such a simple action, pimples disappear and your face becomes clean.
Unfortunately, you cannot retouch a photo using a spot healing brush if the defects are in contact with individual parts of the face (eyebrows, lips, hair). Otherwise, retouched skin fragments may take on a less than aesthetically pleasing appearance. They can look quite dirty because they take over neighboring pixels.
Figuring out how to retouch a face in Photoshop, if the defects are located on the border of adjacent parts of the face, is also not difficult. Only to perform this task you will need another tool, in particular, the “Stamp”. By selecting it, the user must set the hardness parameter to 75%.
The principle of working with the Stamp tool is no different from the principle of working with the spot healing brush. Initially, you should set the tool on the image point accompanied by the ideal state, and then press the “Alt” key, thereby confirming the selection of the sample. Then all that remains is to move to the area where the defect is located and simply click.
Despite the fact that photo retouching is not a complicated process, since anyone can master the technique if they have the desire and perseverance, there are still many certain secrets and subtleties that are also very important to master in order to ensure an effective result.
In particular, if aesthetic flaws are identified on the forehead, the area of skin that will act as a sample should be taken only from the right or left side of the defect itself. It is not allowed to move down or up, since the texture of the skin of the forehead changes significantly in the direction from top to bottom. But for the rest of the face it’s like this strict rule may not apply.
The easiest way to remove facial scars is to use the Patch tool.
Enhancing Aesthetics
A beautiful photo requires the participation of a real professional who will be able to eliminate aesthetic flaws, make all the necessary adjustments, but at the same time create a natural appearance, avoiding the effect of artificial (plastic) skin.
Indeed, in order for a photo of a face to be accompanied by naturalness, it is important to know how to retouch a photo in Photoshop, how to create a natural texture, since after working with a healing brush, not only aesthetic flaws disappear, but also the pores of the skin itself.
Eliminating the plastic skin effect
Many novice designers make the mistake of completing the retouching process immediately after eliminating facial skin defects. Such a photograph looks fake, so anyone who views it immediately understands that it has been corrected.
In order for the retouching to be of high quality, the appearance of the plastic skin effect that appears during the process of working with photos should be eliminated.
Initially, you should create a copy of the layer on which the retouching was carried out. After this, you should go to the “Parameter” item, then successively to the “Blur”, “Gaussian Blur” sub-items.
In the window that opens, you should set the blur parameter to 20 pixels, and it is important to lower the opacity parameter to half (50%). Selecting these options will reduce the blur effect.
In the “Layers” panel there is an “Add Layer Mask” icon, which you should click on while holding down the “Alt” key. The resulting black layer mask allows you to hide all changes made.
Next, you should take a brush located in the “Layers” panel, giving preference to medium size and white color. After this, using a brush, paint over all areas of the face, excluding the area of the lips and eyes. It is very important that all areas are carefully painted over. In Photoshop, it is possible to control the quality of such painting. To do this, just hold down the “Alt” key and click on the mask thumbnail. After such actions, you can visually observe how well the skin areas were treated.
In the next step, the user must return to the layer that needs to be retouched, after which a new transparent layer should be immediately created.
You should click the “Ctrl” key, and then immediately on the mask icon. After the selected area appears, it must be filled immediately gray, set the opacity parameter to 50%.
Next, the user must add noise by going to the Filter option. In the filter window that opens, it is important to make changes to some parameters. In particular, in the “Effect” parameter, an indicator is selected that is in the range from 2.5% to 3%. In the “Distribution” parameter there is a “Gaussian” item, next to which it is important to check the box, just as the checkbox is checked next to the “Monochrome” item. All you have to do is agree to the changes made by clicking “Ok”.
Finally, it is very important to switch to a new layer blend mode, favoring the Soft Light mode when the designer wants to create a subtle, almost invisible texture. And by switching to the “Overlay” mode, it is possible to create skin texture, accompanied by greater expressiveness.
Hair retouching
When all the aesthetic flaws have been removed from the face, you can certainly call it a day, but to enhance the overall aesthetics of the photo, it is best to do additional hair retouching in Photoshop, especially when it is excessively tousled.
In this case, of course, you cannot do without knowledge of how to retouch hair in Photoshop. It’s quite easy to remove strands that have strayed from your hair by using the Healing Brush tool again. However, when carrying out such actions, everything should be done so that the main background does not undergo serious changes in these places. Otherwise, this may immediately “signal” that the image is unnatural.
To solve this problem, you should select as a sample the area that is as identical as possible to the one where the strand is knocked out in the photo, after which, using the “Healing Brush,” the background sample is transferred to the desired places. The process of removing strands is simple, but painstaking and requires perseverance and increased attention.
It is also very important to adjust the border between the hair part and the main background. You can make it even by using the “Finger” tool, with which you can easily lift and, conversely, lower hair irregularities. Once satisfied with the result, the graphic designer should save the finished photo.
So, in Photoshop there is an incredible number of possibilities that allow you to increase the aesthetic level of any photo. Even a photo taken not by a professional photographer, but by a simple amateur, can become a real masterpiece of photography if it is retouched by a real professional.
The very concept of retouching comes from the word redactus, which is similar to the Russian “edit”. It follows that retouching in a general sense means editing a photograph in order to improve its quality. Quality refers to correct exposure and contrast, selection of color tone, improved clarity and many other parameters. Old photographs are often retouched: professional programs, such as Photoshop, allow you to get rid of scuffs and poor quality in general.Technical retouching
The technical aspect of photo editing includes a fairly large list of parameters that need to be perfected in order to ultimately get a high-quality photo.A very important point in retouching is exposure (light distribution). Sometimes adjusting one exposure to even out shadows is not enough, and you have to lighten or darken certain areas of the photo. It is also important to adjust the contrast and brightness - this will make the picture clearer, or, conversely, soften some lines. Adjusting the color tone will change the character of the photo, such as adding some sunshine or making the photo cooler.
All the possibilities of technical retouching can be listed for a long time (even cropping is a means of retouching); not all professional photographers know the entire list of possible manipulations.
Artistic retouching
Artistic retouching is the second stage of editing. At this stage, you can even change the composition of the photo, add effects that will reveal a new side to the photo.Since photographers often use the word “retouching” directly to the process of treating facial skin and appearance in general, it is worth paying attention to this.
In general, appearance retouching can be divided into two main areas: natural retouching and glossy retouching. The first is used when the photographer needs to remove skin blemishes and correct some imperfections. At the same time, the model looks absolutely natural, and editing is invisible.
Especially natural retouching removes bags under the eyes, shine on the face, wrinkles and folds in the double chin area, yellow teeth and red eyes.
If necessary, glossy retouching is done on top (precisely on top) of natural retouching. The hair is given a strong shine, the face is brought to complete perfection, the colors become bright and saturated. The appearance is brought to perfect condition.
Obviously, glossy looks can be found on the covers of fashion magazines. By the way, you may notice that photographs of men are not given as much gloss as photographs of women. Wrinkles and abrasions remain on the face - it is believed that this is an indicator of masculinity.
In this tutorial, you'll learn about retouching in Photoshop and how to use adjustment layers, lighting, dodging, and burning. And also about frequency separation. The techniques described in this article should work fine in most versions of Photoshop. You can also download the RAW file I used:
1. Start with a Raw file
We start with a Raw file or image High Quality. If you want to follow me and follow all the steps in parallel, please upload an image. In this case, I'm converting a Raw file to a PSD file. For beautiful photography the most important thing is lighting. With the right lighting, all shadows are filled with light, and the model's skin looks smooth even without additional processing.
2. Frequency separation for skin tones
At first face retouching in Photoshop We'll duplicate the background layer twice and rasterize each of those duplicates. Right-click and select " Rasterize layer" I called the bottom layer “lo”, and the top layer “ hi" To layer “ lo"I applied" Gaussian blur"with a radius of 10 pixels, and then selected the layer" hi” and went to Image > External channel. I used the parameters shown in the screenshot. Then I set the layer to “ hi” blending mode “Linear light”.
3.Smoothing Skin Colors
We need to select the tool " Healing brush» ( J) and set in the options bar at the top of the program window for “Sample” - “Active layer”. Now we can start working with the “layer” lo" I want to smooth out the bags under my eyes. Working with the “layer” lo”, we only edit the colors of the image and do not remove any texture. This ensures that the model's skin texture remains the same, we are simply brightening the area under the eyes.
4. Additional smoothing
Create a new layer between the layers “ lo" And " hi" Call it “ smoothing" Then select the Brush tool ( B) and in the options bar at the top of the program window, set the brush opacity to 10%.
By pressing Alt/Opt, you can use this tool like an eyedropper to select a color swatch. I select a color swatch in a light area and carefully brush it into the shaded areas of the skin. And then, in the same way, I select a sample in a dark area and paint over the light areas with it. This will allow during retouching photos in Photoshop smooth out skin tones overall.
5. Restoration and removal of defects
Select layer “ hi” and activate the tool “ Healing brush» ( J). Make sure that the “Sample” is set to “Active Layer” in the Options Bar, and then start selecting samples ( click on the area while holding Alt / Opt) on clean areas of the skin and paint over problem areas.
6. Hair treatment
At this stage portrait retouching in Photoshop Let's treat two areas of hair located to the right and left of the jawline and neck. Merge all layers into one. Select the tool " Rectangular area» ( M), select the right side of the image, and then press Cmd / Ctrl + J to create a new layer from it on top of the other layers.
Go to Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal and drag the layer using the Move tool ( V) to the left side of the image. I want to apply a mask to this layer of hair and mask off the hair just to the left of the chin.
7. Frequency Separation AGAIN!
Merge all layers into one again. Press Cmd/Ctrl + J to duplicate this layer. Name the bottom layer “l o 2”, and the top one is “ hi 2" We need to blur the layer “ lo 2” with a radius of 10 pixels and apply to the layer “ hi 2” “External channel”, as we did before. Next go to Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen and sharpen the layer “ hi 2” by approximately 150% with a radius of 1.2 pixels. I also want to add to the layer “ hi 2” layer mask which we will use later.
8. Continue to smooth out the tones
Select layer “ lo 2” and activate the “Brush” tool ( B). Paint over the highlights and shadows again like we did before, using a 10% Opacity brush to smooth them out. At this stage skin retouching in Photoshop work on smaller parts.
9. Skin blur
Let's remove small details from the overall skin texture. All we need to do to blur the skin a little is paint black over the areas in the layer mask that we previously added to the layer. hi 2" I use the Brush tool ( B) with an opacity of 10% and softly paint over the areas where I want to remove details.
10. New skin texture
Now we need to add our own artificial skin texture so that the model’s skin does not look unnaturally smooth after retouching the photo in Photoshop. Create a new layer and name it “ Skin Texture Small" Go to Edit > Fill and select 50% gray in the window that opens. Then go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise and add 25% noise.
For the “Distribution” parameter, set it to “Uniform”, check the box next to the “Monochrome” parameter. After that go to Filter > Stylize > Emboss and set the values for “Angle” - 85 degrees, “Height” - 2 and “Effect” about 200%. Set the blending mode for this layer to “ Soft light". This is our base texture.
11. Another skin texture
Duplicate the skin texture layer and name it " Texture Skin Large" and then go to Edit > Transform and in the options bar at the top of the program window, set the width and height to 200%.
12. Texture Masking
Now we need to mask this texture. Hold down the Alt / Opt key and click on the “ Add a layer mask" to add a layer mask filled with black. Do this for both layers of leather texture. Activate the Brush tool ( B), set the brush opacity to 10% and carefully paint white on the areas where you want the texture to show.
Start with a layer with a finer texture, and when you're done, paint over the areas of the layer mask with a larger texture where you want it to appear. This is very painstaking face retouching in Photoshop. Have time and patience. Remove white areas where the texture looks flat or unnatural.
13. Other spots
At this point we will create a layer for the spots and correct anything that we can visually determine. Create a new layer and name it “ Blemishes" Select the tool " Healing brush» ( J), set the sample to "Active and below". Using a small brush, start removing any tiny spots that you see.
14. Eyebrow retouching
Start by merging all the layers into a new layer. Then use the Lasso tool ( L) to create two selection areas above the eyebrows where you want to trim them. Then use the arrow key to move these two selection areas up. To move the selection this way, the Lasso tool must be active. Go to Select > Modify > Feather and feather the edges of the selection by 5 pixels.
15. Eyebrow trimming
Press Cmd/Ctrl + J to create a new layer from the selected areas, and then switch to the Move tool ( V) and move the layer down until you trim the eyebrows as shown in the example above retouching photos in Photoshop.
16. Masking eyebrows
The skin above the eyebrows does not look very natural because the edges of the eyebrows are visible. Add to the layer “ Eyebrow Trim” layer mask as shown above and paint over the skin above the eyebrows to bring out the edges. I used a medium sized soft brush to paint in black and cover up what I wanted.
17. Cleaning the eyes
Create a new layer, name it “ Eye Blemishes” and zoom in to zoom in on the eye areas. Using the Stamp tool ( S) sketch the veins inside the eyeball. I set for example " Cloning stamp"Active and Below" swatch and then brush small size I began to select samples of clean areas of the eyeball and sketch spots with their help.
18. Eye brightening
Add a “Curves” adjustment layer ( Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves), set this layer's blending mode to " Lightening the base" and fill the mask with black. Select the Brush tool ( B), set the brush opacity to 10% and carefully paint in the highlights in the eyes to make them lighter, and also paint in the retina around the iris to increase the “roundness” of the eyeball.
I also painted in areas on the lips where there would also be highlights to increase the shine of the lips and improve their shape during portrait retouching in Photoshop.
19. Darkening the eyes
Create another adjustment layer “Curves" and set its blending mode to " Darkening the base" Fill the adjustment layer mask with black. Fill in the edges of the eyes to make them look more rounded. Draw a little around the iris to separate it more clearly from the retina. I also went over the eyebrows to darken them and around the eyes to make them pop.
In addition, I have sketched the areas below lower lip, as well as a fold between the lips, as if the model’s mouth is slightly open. When darkening, be very careful and careful. If you don't like an effect you've created, paint over it with black to completely mask it.
20. Juiciness adjustment
Small areas of blue tint are observed on the retina. Let's reduce the overall richness of the whites of the eyes by adding a "Lucidity" adjustment layer ( Layers > New Adjustment Layer > Juiciness) and reducing “Juicity" to -50. After that, fill the adjustment layer mask with black. Using the Brush Tool (B), opacity about 65%, paint over the whites of the eyes.
21. Making the iris brighter
For further skin retouching in Photoshop create two new layers, name them " Brighters" And " Darkers"and select the "Brush" tool ( B), opacity - 100%. I use a hard brush ( 2 pixels in size) white. I will paint over the layer with this brush " Brighters". I painted little dots of light where I see light areas on the iris.
Hide this layer by clicking on the little eye icon and do the same for the " Darkers“, but paint over the dark areas in it with black. Now make both layers visible and set their blending mode to " Overlap" Reduce layer opacity " Darkers"up to 20%, and " Brighters» up to 40%.
22. Lightening and darkening the skin
We've smoothed out most of the dark and light areas, and this will allow us to restore the shadows and highlights exactly where we want them, and give them the intensity and size we want. Create a new layer, go to Edit > Fill and set the layer fill to 50% gray. Name this layer “ D&B-01" Set this layer's blending mode to "Soft Light" so that grey colour disappeared.
23. Now it's time to do some dodging and burning.
Select the Burner tool ( O), in the options bar at the top of the program window, set “Range” to “Mid Tones” and “Exposure” to 25%. First we will darken the dark areas, and then experiment with the light ones.
At this stage retouching photos in Photoshop I want to cover all the places where the hair touches the skin and also add depth to all the indentations ( around the eyes, on both sides of the nose, under the lips, etc.). In the second screenshot, I set the dodge/burn layer to Normal so you can see what I did.
24. Lightening and changing the shape of light areas
Even a professional photographer is not always able to take a perfect photo without flaws. In order to make it work Good photo, you need not only special skills in working with equipment and talent, but also experience in using various programs for processing photographic materials. The environment, background features and appearance of the model are rarely ideal, so the photograph is usually retouched in a photo editor.
There are many such programs that have a different set of functions: from regular color correction to a full set of tools that allow you to carry out the most popular of them is Adobe Photoshop, in which retouching is accessible even to novice users and usually does not cause much difficulty. Thanks to wide choice With a variety of filters and tools that are easy to learn, even a novice photographer can easily get a high-quality image without spending a lot of time and effort.
How to Prepare to Work in Adobe Photoshop
What is retouching in the program and where to start? Retouching means enhancing, correcting imperfections, and correcting an image. Before you start processing a photo in any photo editor, it is highly advisable to make a copy of it. To make the process easier, you can make a copy of the layer and hide it, so that later, if a mistake is made, you can restore the original image or compare the initial and final results as you work. It will be easier to retouch a photo if you enlarge the image several times - this way minor defects in the frame will become noticeable, after eliminating which the picture will look better. The easiest way to do this is to use the Alt and “+” key combination. You can make a photo smaller using Alt and “-”.
What are “actions” for in Adobe Photoshop?
Retouching classes and courses on how to use Adobe Photoshop are widespread and accessible. What is retouching using “actions”? There are many free classes and videos that allow you to master the program step by step, starting with the basics and gradually moving towards mastering professional skills. The existence of so-called “actions” or recorded actions in Adobe Photoshop significantly facilitates the process of photo processing, allowing you to do a larger amount of work in a certain period of time, without manually repeating the same operations. They help create various effects, resize photos, color characteristics and other parameters. You can create “Actions” yourself or download ready-made ones on the Internet and install them in the program.
Features of retouching in Adobe Photoshop
Beginning photographers often hear requests from their clients to correct flaws in their appearance. The model's face most often becomes the object of retouching. In order to remove minor skin defects, such as inflammation, acne marks or scars, two tools are most often used: a “stamp” and a “patch”. In the first case, when you hover the cursor over a sample and hold down the Alt key, a section of the photo is captured, which can then be moved to the problem area and covered. When using a “patch”, the cursor selects an area in the photo that needs to be retouched, and then, while holding the right mouse button, you should “drag” the area to where there are no defects. In the second case, it is possible to make the correction more thoroughly, since the edges of the area are slightly blurred and look more natural than when using a “stamp”.
Retouching with blur
Lessons and bodies are of interest to many, as this is one of the most popular elements of professional photo processing. Sometimes skin imperfections are difficult to remove using only a “stamp” or a “patch”. If large areas need to be processed, sometimes it is better to use another method: selecting problem areas, transferring them to a new layer and blurring them using a special filter.
How to use blur correctly
Usually, they highlight the forehead, chin, cheeks, grab the nose a little and use “Gaussian blur” to select the optimal radius and admire the result. Sometimes the blur is too strong - then you can cancel the action and use the filter again, setting other settings. The retouching effect becomes noticeable immediately. This method allows you to get clean, radiant skin, but you shouldn’t be too zealous using blur - your face can become too smooth and look unnatural. The retouching effect should not be too noticeable. Sometimes it is better to preserve minor skin imperfections to make your face look natural.
"Spot Healing Brush" - an easy way to eliminate minor imperfections
Using the Spot Healing Brush tool allows you to quickly hide minor imperfections in your appearance, such as pimples or wrinkles. Simply select the appropriate icon on the toolbar and click on the area that needs to be adjusted. But this method has its limitations: it cannot be used on dark areas, near the eyebrows or along the hairline. It is advisable to choose the brush size appropriate to the area that needs to be corrected. Understanding what retouching with a “healing brush” is and how to use it in the usual way is quite simple.
But this tool has several additional parameters that significantly increase its scope of application. There are different blending modes that allow you to lighten or darken, change the color and brightness of the selected area. "Replace" is special tool, which is convenient to use when working with soft brushes. It allows you to partially preserve the detail on the border.
Frequency decomposition method
What is retouching using the frequency decomposition method? This is a method in which a photograph is decomposed into 2-3 frequencies. Skin tone and texture are separated into separate layers, resulting in a natural-looking and preserved skin structure. For processing, you can record an “action” and then use it when retouching similar portraits. First you need to create two duplicate layers - the top one is called “texture”, and the middle one is called “tone”. At the first stage upper layer is turned off, and the tone layer is blurred using a filter until all skin imperfections disappear. Usually a size of 20 pixels is sufficient. Then, having moved to the layer with the texture and made it visible, you need to select the “Image” item in the menu, and then select “External Channel”. In the drop-down menu of layers, select “Tone”, and in the blending modes - “Subtract”, the scale must be set to 2, the shift - 128. Now you need to click “OK”, and in the window with layers select the blending mode “Linear Light”. The “Texture” and “Tone” layers need to be combined into a group. To do this, just use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + G. After this, you can work on the “Tone” layer, evening out the skin color using the “healing brush”. The structure of the skin will not change.
There are other ways to retouch photos in Adobe Photoshop. They are quite easy to learn with online lessons and various guides.
