Awareness of Advance Skin Retouch Techniques for Digital Darkroom Editors

Rich textured skin always scores high on the digital platform.  Every editor should be concerned with developing advanced skills for it.

Skin retouch is a common requirement for digital darkroom editors of all levels.  Making the skin look flawless while keeping the original texture is a skill learn with years of experience. It can be done with extensive pixel-based retouching available with imaging software.  With varied brushing techniques and a bit of color, tweaking the photos, editing can be spiced up to make the visuals look presentable to the viewer. It is not the mere cosmetic modification that lures the viewer but also the overall quality of the snap.

Photoshop offers many features for advanced skin retouch. It is also possible to give the photo a healing touch, add a matt finish or gloss and airbrush the skin. Even the delicate area around the eyes can be brightened with contrast. Clients who work for high-end fashion magazines, billboards, fashion house and printed media value such advanced skills of editors.  It is of a very high caliber and done by experienced editors only.  The fashion industry sells grand dreams and requires perfect images each and every time.  Flawless skin advertisements bring in more consumers and this has been achieved with the latest imaging equipment. Every single skin retouch is done in a complete manner.  A high-end camera like a Phase One P45 or P65 can produce a perfect shot.  Then the editor does a series of steps to create a striking portrait, to improve skin tones, modify shadow and light patterns to increase the effect and enrich the eyes and skin.

One of the keys to have a clear image with a skin retouch is with the magic wand tool. With the clear color background, the magic wand can design miracles. The editor zooms on the edit 200% and using a small soft brush like 21px/0 hardness he can get rid of the small imperfections.  Using smart filters to soften the skin gives the professional editor the ability to create the magic in the photo while maintaining its flexibility.

For altering and smoothing the skin color, one easy method is selecting a color as per the color channel to get the required shade.  Another method is to create an empty layer fill with a tan skin color set, then mask and reduce its opacity to suit the image. These techniques will give a smooth and even skin color while retaining its originality and natural shading. With the help of layers it is done. Try also some frequency separation with the help of two duplicate layers in the background. It can improve the color and texture of the overall edit.

This can be applied to highlight even the lips, the nose, the chin, the cheek, forehead and eyes.  Apply a blur with the magic wand tool in order to get the desired effect.  Leave the blending mode on normal and reduce the opacity of the layer according to the desired effect. Always learn to satisfy yourself with the image first before pleasing the client. Skin retouch maybe a deceptive art but convinces viewers if done rationally.

Skin Retouch - Unglamorous Job for Glamorous Faces

The skin retouch is the one of the most requested during any photo shoot. The skin retouch can be in the form of removal of acnes, freckles, or any random spots on the model or person's skin.

Photoshop provides the Healing Brush tool, which is a powerful and simple tool that can be used to remove imperfections in the skin. The tool is present in almost all version of the Photoshop. There are a number of options available for the use of this tool. To select the healing brush tool, select the image, which looks like a bandage icon in the toolbox. The tool can also be selected by using the shortcut key by pressing the J key on the keyboard. When the icon is clicked a number of options are revealed, including the spot healing brush tool, the healing brush tool, and patch tool.

The spot healing brush is the simplest of the three options and is used to take care of small imperfections in which there is an even area around the mark. The tool takes the sample from the pixels around the mark and matches it in terms of texture, lighting and the tone. After selecting the tool select a brush that is larger than the mark and simply click on the mark to remove it. For large marks or scratches, the brush can be dragged across the area.

The second tool, the healing brush allows the user to select the sample from which the marks can be blended to remove them. In this tool the user can select a sample or a preset pattern to remove unwanted marks. For example, there is an image in which there is fine detail of the imperfections. Now to remove this imperfection, first select the healing brush tool and press alt and click to select the source sample. Make sure to select the sample area that closely resembles the area around the imperfections. The things to look in while selecting the source include the texture, the tone and the shadows. After finalizing the source, click on the imperfections similar to the previous method used in the first tool. That’s it after some trail and errors, the mark will be completely removed.

The third and the most complicated one is the patch tool. This tool can be defined as a combination of the lasso tool and healing brush. The tool is good for correcting large areas of the image. The healing brush allows correction in the image based on the source or a pre-set pattern; the patch tool provides a number of different options. One of the most used one is to select the area of imperfection by dragging around it, similar to the lasso tool. While doing this, make sure to select the Source Mode in the option bar. Now drag the selection to an area where Photoshop can blend the imperfection and release. Like other Photoshop techniques, correcting marks using the tools need a lot of patience and attention to details.