Rollover the Image to compare the "before-and-after" versions.
This video tutorial offers step-by-step instructions on color correction, skin and face corrections and smoothing, removing wrinkles on the face and clothing, reducing blur, and more. Below, you will find an outline of my workflow, along with step-by-step videos and more detailed outline.
Workflow: summary outline
1. Global color and level adjustments using "levels" and "selective color"
2. Partial color adjustments (face and arms) using lasso (to make selection) and "selective color"
3. Face retouching 1 (remove blemishes and wrinkles) using "healing patch" tool
4. Eye definition - drawing eye lashes and "sharpening" pupils/retina using "smudge" tool
5. Smoothing skin tones using "gaussian blur" and "paint brush"
6. Drawing eye reflections using "paint brush"
7. Adding cheek and lip color (blush and lipstick) using "paint brush"
8. Removing wrinkles on fabric using "healing patch" too
9. Noise reduction
Step 1: Global Color and Levels Adjustment
1. Duplicate the level
2. Adjust levels (tip: by holding the ALT key down while dragging "levels" handles, you can see over-exposed areas: if you are dragging the right handle to the left - the pure white areas on the screen are over-exposed, their color values are 255/255/255). Levels adjustment is always my first step in any image post-processing. The right handle looks for brightest areas of the image and exposes them first, then moves on to the next brightest area and brightens it, and so on. The middle handle controls the image's overall light/brightness.
3. Adjust overall image color. I prefer using "selective color" option as it gives me most control over color adjustment.
Step 2: Partial color adjustments (face and arms)
Whereas I am satisfied with the overall color of the image, I want the face and the arms to be more "sunlit", to have a brighter, sunnier, summer-y, color scheme. Thus, this step.
1. Using the "lasso" tool with relatively large feathering (in my case, feathering set to 15 for an 8mp image; feathering will depend on the size of your image), select arms and face. You do not have to be precise as feathering will smooth out color transitions between the selected area and the rest of the image. Always err on the side of selecting "more" - drag the lasso on the outer side of the face, for example. If you need to, you can use the magic eraser set to a soft brush to correct your selection, if you have selected too much. If you have a tablet - use it! It will allow you much greater precision.
2. Copy the selection onto a new layer: CTRL+J
3.Adjust the selection's color using "selective color".
4. After you are done, merge the selection down using CTRL+E.
Step 3: Basic Facial Skin Tone Correction (removing blemishes and wrinkles)
1. Duplicate the top layer: this way, you will work on a copy of the layer that has all your previous edits. If, for some reason, you are not happy with the corrections, you can just discard it without losing all your earlier work. To avoid errors, I also like making the underlying (previously corrected layer) invisible.
2. Use the "healing patch" tool to "heal" all the blemishes. Some like using the "healing brush" tool for this purpose. They are basically the same, I like the patch because it allows me a bit more precision and control. For best results, use a smooth, even part of the face as a "source" for the patch, and then drag it over onto the part of the face that needs "healing" - blemishes, wrinkles, etc.
Tip: for easy panning around the image, hold the "space" bar.
3. I have used the healing patch to correct both the skin unevenness and uneven lighting, this is not shown in the video, but I also used the healing patch around the nose to eliminate harsh light and some glares.
Step 4: Eye Definition - Eye Lashes
As you can see, in this image the eyes are a little too soft/blurry. In this step, I am going to give the eyes greater sharpness and definition and expand the eyelashes. The first step, of course, is to copy the most recent edits onto a new level.
1 .Define eye lashes: using the "smudge" tool set to about 70-80% strength, with a round soft brush set to "pen pressure", define and enhance eye lashes by "pulling" the existing eye lash color outwards in brief, fast strokes.
2. Using the same strategy (smudging), define details of the eye (pupil and retina) to make color transitions less blurry.
3. If you want to create a more realistic effect, or if the smudging technique made the image look less like a photograph and more like a drawing, use a semi-transparent eraser (set to half-strength, about 50%) to erase the area around the eyes and eye lashes. Merge layer down.
Step 5: Even out skin tones
Sometimes, after using the patch tool to eliminate wrinkles, blemishes and uneven lighting, it is still necessary to even out the skin tone and improve the overall look of the skin. This can be done in a couple of simple steps by using a combination of "gaussian blur" and soft paint brush:
1. Using the wand tool, select the areas of skin that need to be evened out. Copy the selection to the new level by pressing CTRL+J
2. Use a very small amount of "gaussian" blur (usually I use 0.5-1.2 pixels for an 8mp image). Basically, only select the minimally necessary amount of blur.
3. Using the eraser tool, erase the areas around the eyes, eye brows and the mouth - these areas do not need any unnecessary blur, on the contrary, we want them to appear as sharp as possible. Merge down.
The skill still looks somewhat dull. Gaussian blur is a good first step for creating a smooth skin tones as it evens out areas of color transition. In most cases, there may still be some apparent uneven patches of skin left. To eliminate this unevenness, we will draw over it.
4. Create a new level. Using a color picker, select a somewhat light, healthy skin tone from the model's face
5. Using a large, soft brush set to small strength (about 10-13 %) paint over the face. The fact that the brush is soft leave the image realistic as the skin and skin tones can still be seen through the "paint", but at the same time, painting events out all the left-over uneven skin tones.
6. Use a large soft, strong (80-90%) eraser around the contour of your selection (this assures a smooth transition between the image and the area that you are painting over), and around the eyes and the mouth (here, you may need to use a small eraser)
Step 6: Draw Eye Reflections
Adding a little sparkle to a model's eyes can make a huge difference in the overall image. It can make an image more vibrant, dynamic, playful and intriguing. If a flash or lightsources do not create natural reflections in your model's eyes, you can add sparkles in photoshop - it is very easy.
1. Create a new layer
2. Using a hard-edged, small (1-2 pixels), white brush draw a small reflection on the new layer.
3. If necessary, use eraser set to 30-50% to erase some of the reflection to make it look more photo-realistic and to blend it in with the underlying layer. Merge the layer with the reflection down.
Step 7: Enhancing Cheek and Lip Color (Adding Blush and Lipstick)
Sometimes, after evening out skin tones and removing all the blemishes, skin tones still appear somewhat dull or flat. In this step, we will add (by painting) some blush to the cheeks and some color to the lips.
1. Create a new layer. From the color palette, select a dark red color. Then, on the new layer, use a large, soft, paint brush set to 10-20% to add some color to the cheeks.
2. Use various sizes and degrees of eraser to erase around the contours of your "painted" blush to make it look realistic.
3. For more realistic effect, lower transparency of the layer before merging it down.
4. Follow the same strategy to enhance lip color: create a new layer, select a dark red color, using a small, soft, round brush set to 10-20% paint over the lips. Use eraser set to 100% to erase around the contour of the lips. Use eraser set to 30-60% to erase some color from the lips to reveal the underlying glow. Merge the layer down.
Step 8: Removing wrinkles on fabric
This step is necessary as the model's pink top has some unseemly wrinkles. It is fairly easy to remove them as the process follows the same logic as removing wrinkles and blemishes on skin - just use the "healing patch" tool to patch over the wrinkled area. Here, the challenge was to make sure that the pattern of the "source" matched or was similar to the pattern of the area that we were patching over. In the end of this short video I also show some comparisons between the original image and the nearly-final image. There is just one last step left.
Step 9: Noise Reduction
In many cases, especially after extensive levels and color correction, noises becomes too apparent and needs to be reduced. There are many software programs that help with noise reduction, their drawback is that they apply global changes to the image. Manual noise reduction offers much more control over the final output. Here, I will show you one of the most basic strategies I use to reduce noise in my images (more in-depth tutorial on noise reduction coming up shortly).
In this image, there is most noise in the green area - this is where I have applied most color correction to bring out and saturate the greens and the yellows. Given the nature of this image (shallow depth of field, focus on the model, the background out of focus), it is very easy to reduce noise from the background:
1. Duplicate the layer
2. Apply a small amount of gaussian blur to the level (usually 0.5-1.5 pixels). Using a round, soft brush set to 100% erase the model so that the underlying un-blurred layer shows throught.
Workflow: summary outline