This lesson covers the techniques of processing human skin in a photograph. You'll learn how to use PhotoShop to make skin look flawless in your photo without looking like plastic. As an example, a photograph of a fifty-year-old woman is chosen.
1. Create a new layer - drag the background (background) to a new layer (create new layer) in the layers palette. The goal is to blur this copy to get the basis for the new skin (filter (Filter) – blur (Blur) – blur on the surface (Surface Blur)).
The Radius slider sets the intensity of the blur. The "Threshold" slider is responsible for the sharpness of the image. The sliders should be set so that all wrinkles and skin texture are smoothed out.
The Surface Blur filter is often used in this kind of operation. He appears in Photoshop versions CS2. Users of CS versions can use the Median filter (Filter - Noise - Median), which gives a similar result.
2. The blurry layer needs to be hidden under a layer mask. To do this, hold down the Option/Alt key and click on the Layer mask icon. Then you need to paint over with white those areas of the skin that need to be smoothed. To see if there are gaps left, you can turn off the visibility of the background layer by clicking on the eye icon in the layers palette.
3. Create a new layer (Layer - New - Layer). A dialog box will appear. Check the box next to "Use Previous Layer To Create Clipping Mask". Then, using a large soft brush, paint over the skin - the opacity should be low to smooth out the colors and tones. Select the blurred layer and move the opacity slider to reveal the old skin.
4. Create layers “Lightening” (Dodge) and “Darkening” (Burn): to do this, press Option / Alt and click on the icon new layer. Change the mode to “Soft light” (Soft Light), check the box “Fill with a neutral color of the “Soft light” mode” (Fill With Soft-Light-Neutral Color).
Use the Dodge tool to lighten wrinkles. To avoid the effect of plasticity on the image, you need to add textures to the skin.
5. Create a new gray layer. In the dialog box, select the “Overlay” mode, check the box next to “Use Previous Layer To Create Clipping Mask” and check “Fill With Overlay- Neutral Color).
6. Select the "Texture" layer in the "Overlay" mode, go to the "Noise" filter, add noise, check the "Uniform" and "Monochrome" boxes. Then, in Overlay mode, with the Texture layer selected, go to the Blur > Gaussian Blur filter to soften the edges a bit.
With the advent of the digital age, glamor photos have been retouched by skilled photographers to remove skin imperfections. Today, with advanced image editors such as Adobe Photoshop, you can easily achieve realistic results in retouching. However, many existing retouching techniques remove too much detail, making the skin look plastic and unrealistic. In this tutorial, we'll teach you an effective retouching technique without texture loss in Photoshop.
Step 1. To get started, go to the menu File (file) – Open (open), to open the photo you would like to edit. Since we will be working with fine details, it is important that the image is high resolution so that skin details are visible. The image I chose has a high resolution 10 megapixels with fairly detailed skin.
Step 2 In the next step, we duplicate the layer twice and apply two filters to each of the new layers. Because the image I'm working with is a hefty 31MB photo, the process of applying the filter will be CPU intensive and slow to apply. Before I continue to duplicate the layer, I need to use the tool Lasso (Lasso), to create a skin selection and duplicate just that area. This will reduce the number of pixels you need to work with and reduce the load on your computer. You don't have to do this if you don't need to. This might be helpful if you don't have powerful computer With large quantity random access memory, or if your photo isn't that big.
Step 3 So, press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + J or open the menu Layer (layer) – Duplicate layer (Duplicatelayer), to duplicate the layer. Do this again to get two layers. Now rename the top layer to " High frequencies” (High Pass), and the middle layer in “Low Pass” (Low Pass). As you might have guessed, on the layer “High frequencies” (High Pass) we will apply a filter Colour contrast (highPass), and on the layer "Low Pass" (Low Pass), we will apply a low pass filter.
Step 4 Let's start with the Low Pass layer. In the layers panel, click on the eye next to the High Pass layer to hide it and select the Low Pass layer we will be working on.
Step 5 Instead of applying a low pass filter, also known as a Gaussian blur (GaussianBlur), we will use the Blur filter on the surface (surfaceBlur). Select menu Filter - Blur (filter – Blur) and select Surface blur (surfaceBlur). The Surface Blur filter (surfaceBlur) will blur the image but leave the edges intact. It is great for smoothing the skin without losing contours.
Surface blur (surfaceBlur)
provides two options:
Radius (Radius):
This setting specializes in the size or strength of the blur. Use a larger setting value for a larger image.
"Parameter Radius (Radius)
determines the size of the area selected for blurring” (Adobe Help Center).
Threshold (Threshold):
This option allows you to define the area to be blurred.
"Parameter Threshold (Threshold)
controls how much the tone values of neighboring pixels should differ from the value of the center pixel before becoming part of the blur. Pixels with a tonality value less than the value set in the parameter Threshold (Threshold)
, are excluded from the blur" (Adobe Help Center).
To get started, install Radius (Radius) and Threshold (Threshold) so that the image is blurry but still legible. Then lower the value of the parameter Threshold (Threshold) and stop when the edges are sharp. Now adjust the setting Radius (Radius) so that the skin becomes smooth.
Step 6 We have finished working on the layer “Low frequencies” (Low Pass). Now we will work with the layer “High frequencies” (High Pass), which will show fine details such as pores and bumps. Select the layer, click on the eye next to the layer “High frequencies” (High Pass) and change the layer blending mode to Linear lighting (Linearlight).
Fine skin blemishes become more visible on neutral skin tones and less visible on darker skin tones. To simulate this natural effect, we will add layer mask (layermask),
which will reduce the visibility of jaggedness on dark skin tones in the image. Add layer mask (layermask)
by clicking on the button
or by going to the menu Layer - Layer Mask (layerMask)
and choosing "Show all" (RevealAll).
Step 7 Now we will add to the image External channel (applyImage) to apply a copy of the image to the layer mask. We now have a layer mask that defines and reduces the effect on those dark areas.
Step 9 We will then apply the filter Colour contrast (highPass). We'll need a lot of fine adjustments in the next step, so before we start, set the image zoom to 100% so that the skin is visible.
Step 10 Select Filter - Others (filter –
Other)
and select a filter Color contrast (High Pass). In the filter Color Contrast (High Pass) install small value Radius (Radius),
to make the skin look natural.
Technique: Click on the slider Radius (Radius)
and press the up and down buttons to more precisely reduce or increase the amount of effect applied.
Note. from translator: You can also use the mouse scroller: scrolling down decreases the radius value, and scrolling up increases it. This technique also works when increasing/decreasing the brush size and other parameters inphotoshop, where scrolling is possible.
"Color Contrast (High Pass) keeps the edges of the details in the indicated radius where sharp color transitions occur, and suppresses them in the rest of the image (a radius of 0.1 pixels preserves only the edges of the pixels). The filter removes low frequency details in the image and gives the opposite effect. Gaussian blur (GaussianBlur) (Adobe Help Center).
Step 11 Now we'll go back and tweak the settings a bit. layer mask (layermask). In the layers panel, click on layer mask (layermask), to activate it. Then go to the menu Image - Correction (Image – Adjustments) and select a tool Brightness/Contrast (brightness/ contrast) , reduce contrast (contrast) and adjust brightness (brightness) so that the roughness of the skin becomes less visible in dark areas and more visible in bright areas.
Step 12 We're done smoothing out the skin, but now the whole image is blurry. We need to use layer mask (layermask), to erase the effect from areas that are not skin. Select the top two layers and press Ctrl+G or go to the menu Layers (Layers) and select Group Layers (groupLayers), to group the layers. Then add a layer mask by going to the menu Layers - Layer Mask (layer – layerMask) and choice hide everything (Hideall).
Sometimes photographers have to work very hard to get sharpness out of a not-so-good shot. To do this, you need to use the appropriate tools in Photoshop.But it turns out that many today are interested in blurring photos in Photoshop. This is necessary not to spoil the picture, but for artistic purposes. This way you can make yourself stand out in a group photo. The main forces of editors are focused on the reverse procedure, that is, sharpening, but the range of blur tools in this case quite solid is used. It is also necessary to figure out what tools are more today - clarifying or blurring. In any case, washes are one of the most commonly used filters. The number of diluters grows from version to version. So, for example, in Photoshop CS5 there were 10 blur filters, and in version CS6 there were already 14. All the power of blur tools in Photoshop is concentrated in the Blur submenu in the Filter menu. It is possible to list all the goals and causes of blurring for a long time, however, in the overwhelming majority of cases, the main task of this type of processing is to highlight the main object by defocusing the background space, as well as giving volume to the entire image as a whole.
Blur and Blur+ filters
by the most a simple means To reduce the sharpness is the Blur tool in Photoshop. This tool has no settings, so the introduction of parameters is not required. "Blur +" means stronger blur. If this is not enough, then using the key combination Ctrl + F, you can start re-processing.
Gaussian blur
One of the most popular blur tools is a tool that uses a Gaussian curve blur algorithm. In this case, using the "Radius" slider, you can select the appropriate degree of blur. Everything here is as simple as in the previous case, but it is much more effective.
Frame blur
This filter is also adjusted only by the radius slider. The algorithm of its operation is somewhat different from the previous filter. In this case, blurring is carried out by averaging the colors of neighboring pixels. The engine just changes this average area.
"Smart" blur
The smartest blur in Photoshop is called SmartBlur. In the Russian version of the program, the word "smart" was put in quotation marks. Here, in addition to the blur radius, you can also set the quality and processing threshold. You can also choose one of the additional blending modes in addition to what would be set by default.
Radial blur
This filter, depending on the selected blur method, allows you to simulate blurring of the image associated with camera rotation. As a result, the image remains sharp in the center, while blurring at the periphery. In this way, you can also get the effect that occurs when a camera zooms in sharply. You can adjust the strength of the blur using the Quality slider.
Simulating image blur when shooting dynamic subjects
Using the Motion Blur filter, Photoshop can create a very characteristic blur effect in a photo, which occurs when shooting a fast-moving object. For this reason, in addition to the intensity of the effect, which is adjusted using the "Shift / Shift" slider, the direction of movement is set.
Surface Blur
The name of the Surface Blur filter can literally be translated as "surface blur". For some reason, in new versions of Photoshop, this filter is called Surface Blur. This is a fairly legible filter that blurs the image while retaining borders and lines to the best of its ability and the user's settings. Therefore, this filter is often used to combat digital noise and grain by manipulating the "Radius" and "Isohelia" parameters.
Average blur
There is another effect in Photoshop, the activity of which can hardly be called a blur. This filter simply completely fills the entire image or only the selected area with an average color. given image or fragment. If you apply this filter on a duplicate to the entire image, and then reduce the opacity of the copy, you can even out the image in tone. For such purposes, this solution is not the most optimal solution. But if you blur-average a certain fragment, while lowering its opacity and making an inscription on it, it can turn out to be quite interesting.
lens wash
This phrase translates the English name of the LensBlur filter. In Russian-language versions of Photoshop, this tool is called "Blur with a shallow depth of field." Such a blur in Photoshop is used in cases where the ideal sharpness of the entire photo does not suit the user for compositional or other reasons. So, for example, such a blur can be used when only a certain object or area should remain in focus. You only need to tell the filter what should be further and what should be closer in the picture. Thus, you will create a so-called depth map, which can be a linear or circular gradient built in the alpha channel from black to white. When calculating the blur algorithm, the savvy filter will immediately realize that the black areas are those that were closest to the camera. As they move away, they are followed by all shades of gray. The white areas are at the maximum distance from the camera. Here you need to perform an intense background blur. The filter will do the rest at its best, following the settings you give it. An empty alpha channel is created in the channels palette using the corresponding button. Then, opening the eye in the RGB line to see the photo itself, it is filled with a black and white gradient. In this case, it is necessary to draw from the closest point to the farthest line, which should correspond to the desired angle of view. Next, you need to close the visibility of the alpha channel, return to the RGB channel and enable the LensBlur filter. After that, in the "Source" list, you need to select our alpha channel, click on the area that should be in focus, or set the distance to the focus point with the "Focal length blur" slider. Use the Radius slider to adjust the amount of blur. All other settings are pretty subtle effects that are rarely used for regular photos. Therefore, you can safely click on the "OK" button and admire the realistic blur in Photoshop with complete satisfaction. Blur can simulate the depth of field of the depicted space.
Hand Blur Tools in Photoshop
Along with special filters and blur plug-ins that do all the “dirty work” for the user, Photoshop also provides manual tools for these purposes. With them, you can do almost everything that filters do, and even a little more. In addition, the quality in this case is higher, because it is still handmade. We are talking about two of the three tools of the group, which is headed by the BlurTool tool (“Blur”). By design, this tool is a brush, in which the “Intensity” parameter performs the pressure function in the settings. Depending on the hardness and size of the selected brush, the BlurTool tool allows you to blur the entire image at once or only certain details. This tool replaces sharp edges with smooth transitions. In addition, it skillfully softens the contours. If you keep the mouse button pressed, the brush will work in spray mode, thereby enhancing the blur effect. V good hands this tool can do almost anything. BlurTool will do a great job of creating a blurry background.
The Smudge Tool, or, as it is called in the Russian version, "Finger", allows you to smudge the picture in such a way as if you ran your finger over it. To control the strength of this effect, you must use the "Intensity" parameter. Unlike the neighboring tool, there is a “Finger drawing” function here. If you select it, you will be able to smudge the first color. The practical use of this tool is necessary when you need to paint on the finest details when selecting such complex objects as wool, hair, fur, and so on. Also, this tool is used to simulate painting.
Blurred edges
With such a variety of blur tools, methods, and techniques at hand that can turn a fairly ordinary photo into a real masterpiece, blurring the edges in Photoshop is very simple. To do this, you just need to select the area that should not be affected. You can blur the periphery using one of the filters listed above. As a rule, Gaussian Blur is used for this purpose. If you use standard tools for selection, then feathering is set for them to obtain the main border. If the Quick Mask is used for this purpose, then the smoothness of the transition is controlled by the opacity of the brush. The selection in all cases must be inverted by pressing the Shift + Ctrl + I keys, otherwise the image itself will be blurred, and not its edges. You don't have to use a selection, as you can blur the edges manually using the BlurTool.
The Average filter finds the average color of an image or selection and then fills the image or selection with that color to make it look smooth. For example, if an area with grass is selected, this filter will convert the area into a uniform green patch.
"Blur" and "Blur+"
Blur filters are designed to reduce the sharpness of an image and provide varying degrees of softening effect. These filters find the most intensive use in the work to correct small errors. Blur filters smooth out transitions by averaging the characteristics of pixels near the hard edges of sharp lines and shadow areas in an image.
Blur
Eliminates noise when there are significant color transitions in the image. Blur filters smooth out transitions by averaging the characteristics of pixels near the hard edges of sharp lines and shadow areas in an image.
Blur+
Produces an effect that is far more intense than the effect of the Blur filter.
Note.
Before applying the Blur filter, deselect Lock Transparent Pixels in the Layers panel.
The result of blurring the background of a photo
Gaussian blur
This filter quickly blurs a selection by an adjustable amount. A Gaussian distribution is a tapered curve that Photoshop Elements calculates when it applies a weighted average to pixels. Applying the Gaussian Blur filter reduces detail and creates a hazy effect. In the "Radius" field, you can set the values of the radius, which determines the degree of blur (the larger the radius, the stronger the blur).
Blurring at shallow depth of field
The Shallow Depth of Field Blur tool creates the effect of reducing the depth of field of an image in space, causing some objects in the image to remain in focus and others to be blurred. The parts of the image that will be blurred and that remain in focus depend on the layer mask, the selected area saved, or the transparency settings applied. How the blur appears depends on the selected aperture shape. The shape of the diaphragm is determined by the number of its shutters. Aperture shutters can be changed by bending (rounding) or turning them. Using the View Options, see how the photo changes when you change settings in the Shallow Depth of Field Blur dialog box.
Motion blur
The Motion Blur filter blurs in a specific direction (range -360º to +360º) and at a specific distance (range 1 to 999). This filter creates an effect similar to taking a picture of a moving subject with a constant exposure time. In the "Radius" field, you can set the values of the radius, which determines the degree of blur, and in the "Distance" field, you can set the distance at which the blur is performed.
Radial blur
Simulates camera blur when zoomed or rotated to create a soft blur effect. In the "Effect" field, the degree of blurring is set, and the "Method" group of switches allows you to select one of the blur methods: "Ring" method - simulates blurring of an object during rotation, allows you to set the rotation angle. Method "Linear" - simulates the blurring of an object when zoomed in, allows you to set values in the range from 1 to 100. The group of switches "Quality" determines the quality of the blur: "Medium" (quick blur, but with more grain), "Good" or "Best" (smoother result). However, the blur quality levels are the same unless the effect is applied to large selections. In the "Center" field, you can manually, using the mouse, move the center of the blur.
When you mention retouching, people often think of the impossibly flawless haute couture models and cover girls they see in magazines. In photographs of this kind, there is no need to achieve realism. Instead, photographers try to make the impossible possible. Flawless leather is allowed, but at the same time, it should not look like plastic.Often the task is to create a similar effect to a person who is not even close to the ideal. You must know how to completely restore the skin, if the task at hand calls you to do so. Of course, today nothing is impossible.
In this example, we'll be working with a snapshot of this attractive woman in her fifties.
It's no wonder that in our youth-obsessed culture, photographers are being asked to strip three decades of various writers, musicians, actors, and actresses off their faces. Because movies and television are still low-definition, people often can't tell how old their favorite idols are. I'm not going to expose anyone here, so we're just going to completely reconstruct this woman's skin.
Result:
Step 1.
As usual, we start by creating a new layer. In this case, we duplicate background image(background) by dragging it onto the create new layer icon in the layers palette. Our goal is to blur this copy as a base for the new skin, so let's rename the layer (double click on the name of the copy layer) and name it Surface Blur(Surface Blur).
Select Filter – Blur – Surface Blur (Filter – Blur – Surface Blur).
Surface blur filter(Surface blur) appears in the version of Photoshop CS2, it is especially often used in such operations. This blur preserves the transitional edges, but at the same time controls the creation of a very smooth blur.
Slider Radius(Radius) controls the intensity of the blur, and the slider Threshold(Threshold) sets how much the image should remain sharp. Unlike other blur filters, a high Threshold setting produces a greater blur effect. You need to adjust the sliders so that absolutely all wrinkles and skin texture are smoothed out, leaving the main elements unaffected.
Note: users of CS versions can use the Median filter Filter – Noise – Median (Filter – Noise – Median). This filter only has one slider, but you can get a similar result, although not as good a smoothing effect.
Step 2
We need to hide this blurry layer. layer mask(layermask). Press and hold the Option/Alt key and click on the icon Layer mask(Layer mask) at the bottom of the layers palette
This action will create a black layer mask and hide the blurry layer, revealing the original image. Now just paint over Layer mask(layer mask) white to cover those areas of the skin that you want to smooth out.
The area you are working on may be barely visible if you paint over everything. You can turn off the visibility of the background layer to see if there are any gaps left. To do this, click on the eye icon next to the thumbnail of the background (background) layer in the layers palette.
Carefully bypass those areas that need to be preserved while painting over “bad” skin - eyes, lips, etc. At this point, you should have something that looks like the image below:
Step 3
Skin will be smooth, but colors and tones may appear patchy. To fix this, create a new layer, but to do this, hold down the Option / Alt key and click on the icon for creating a new layer (new layer) to bring up a dialog box with the parameters of the new layer (new layer). Note. translator Layer – New – Layer (Layer – New – Layer), now the necessary window should open in front of you. Check the box next to Use Previous Layer To Create Clipping Mask.
This will allow the previous layer's mask to control the new layer being painted. Take a big soft brush and swatch the colors from the blurred skin (Option/Alt + click to turn the cursor into pipette(Eyedropper) and take a color sample) and paint over with a very low opacity (opacity) to gradually smooth out the colors and tones.
At this stage, you need to restore some hints of the old skin. Select the blurred layer by clicking on its thumbnail in the layers palette. Move the opacity slider a little to the left to reveal the old skin.
Step 4
Now we need to create layers Lightening(Dodge) and Blackout(Burn) and highlight any unattractive wrinkles on the left. Option / Alt + click on the icon for creating a new layer (new layer) at the bottom of the layers palette. This action will open the New Layer dialog box. Note. translator: if after the perfect manipulations you did not open a window, like the author, try to go the following way: Layer – New – Layer (Layer – New – Layer), the required window should now open in front of you.Change the mode to Soft light(Soft Light), and then check Fill with a neutral color mode “Soft light” (Fill With Soft-Light-Neutral Color). This action will fill the new layer 50% in gray(50% grey). You must save the mask you created for the blurred layer. Use the tool clarifier(Dodge) to lighten wrinkles. In the picture you can see how the layer with clarification will look like if you change the mode from soft light (Soft Light) to Normal / Normal (Normal).
In this case, the woman's skin appeared to be very smooth with little bits of texture from the original skin. To save the image from the plastic effect, you need to add even more texture to the skin. I experimented with all kinds of different approaches. Although I am not entirely satisfied with the presented technique, on this moment She approached me to simulate the texture of the skin. I will keep experimenting until I find the best texture.
Step 5
So, again create a new gray layer overlap (overlay). Option/Alt + Click on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette to open the New Layer dialog box. Check the box next to Use Previous Layer To Create Clipping Mask, select overlap(Overlay) from the drop-down menu of modes (mode) and check Fill with a neutral color of the Overlay mode (Fill With Overlay-Neutral Color) (50% gray (gray)).
The layers palette should look like the image below:
The last three layers have been adjusted with opacity and layer mask(layer mask) layer with blur. To have a clearer idea of how the Texture layer will affect some things, temporarily increase the opacity of the blurred layer by 100%. You won't see the original texture, but you will see the texture you are about to create. You will also see lightened lines where wrinkles have been lightened; you can temporarily turn off the visibility of this layer if it will distract you.
Step 6
Select the Texture layer in Overlay mode and go to Noise filter(noise) Filter – Noise – Add noise (Filter – Noise – add noise). Check the boxes Uniform (uniform) and Monochrome (Monochromatic) and add enough noise to make the image look like a frame of a three-dimensional movie.
The ideal value for this filter depends on the size and resolution of the file. Basically, there are no hard and fast rules that apply to all images. Rely on your own judgment and occasionally test print to see subtle effects such as noise.
Many photographers would settle for this effect, but this noise is too harsh for our purposes. With the Texture layer selected in Overlay mode, go to Blur filter(blur) Filter – Blur – Gaussian Blur (Filter – Blur – Gaussian Blur)), use just a little blur to soften the noisy edges without completely smoothing them out.
Step 7
Sometimes this is enough to do what you want, but usually I create a more complex set of textures to mimic real skin. So go to Filter Embossing(Emboss) ( Filter – Stylization – Embossing (Filter – Stylize – Emboss)).
The texture still looks unattractive, so we need to tone it down a bit. You can properly transform any filter after using the Fade command. Go to the Edit menu (right after applying the filter) and select Editing - Fade Emboss Forum !
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