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Smoothening the skin while preserving the muscle tone

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mikan

mikan

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Hello, first time posting on this forum.

I have this image that I took today (RAW, processed in C1 + PS). I slightly sharpened it (C1) and increased the contrast (PS), to enhance the muscle tones. As a result, the skin looks a bit "rough", and I would love to smoothen it. My problem is, I can't find a way to smoothen the skin texture, while preserving the muscle tones. Any advice will be appreciated.

Note: This is one of the first images I took with off-camera flashes, hence the first time processing such an image. If anybody has any other tips to enhance this image, please let me know! :-)



e3da7d77713f4d5a85fc9267c96dd32a.jpg

--
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/136377341@N07/
 
I used Imagenomic Portraiture plus some touches with the healing brush.



2d72950b14214aa0a236c3038b4d5115.jpg



100% crop before and after:



2b55b9c325a54bbd987427a28ff82283.jpg
 

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Last edited:
mikan said:
Patsy Murphy said:
3bd50a4e68a04a0ca806d4e6394e6c1d.jpg

Regards Patsym
Click to expand...
Wow, that's really very good. May I ask how you did it? Is it something you can explain in words? If not, would you be able to point me to a tutorial that shows a similar method?

--
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/136377341@N07/
Click to expand...
There are many ways for smoothing skin, below is a link to a very detailed tutorial which would suit your image. The way I did it was to open the image in whatever raw converter you prefer and drag the Clarity slider to - 100 and then into Photoshop make a duplicate of that layer, go to Channels control click on the Red channel, hold down alt click on the mask icon, paint with a white brush on the skin at 100% and then reduce opacity to taste.


Regards Patsym
 
I prefer keeping the skin texture while smoothing the highlights and shadows by using frequency separation.

I use the free portrait retouching action, Portrait in a Pinch, from professional retoucher Kristina Sherk.

Portrait In a Pinch Action – Photoshop CS6 + CC | Shark Pixel Portrait In a Pinch Action

The video has terrible production values but it does convey how to use the action for portrait retouching.

Video Demo: Retouching Portrait Photography Using a Photoshop Quick Action by Kristina Sherk of SharkPixel | PhotoShelter Blog

It shouldn't be a problem to modify the action to smooth the skin and heighten the contrast of the highlights and shadows.
 
kind off old school...



c0cb6cd2da2b45ba9f77811a9e3828e5.jpg



--
And don't walk in front of a moving bus.
Unless it's going backwards.
Then walking in front is the smart move.
 






--
PX
 

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Last edited:
mikan said:
Hello, first time posting on this forum.

I have this image that I took today (RAW, processed in C1 + PS). I slightly sharpened it (C1) and increased the contrast (PS), to enhance the muscle tones. As a result, the skin looks a bit "rough", and I would love to smoothen it. My problem is, I can't find a way to smoothen the skin texture, while preserving the muscle tones. Any advice will be appreciated.

Note: This is one of the first images I took with off-camera flashes, hence the first time processing such an image. If anybody has any other tips to enhance this image, please let me know! :-)

e3da7d77713f4d5a85fc9267c96dd32a.jpg

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/136377341@N07/
Click to expand...
mmmm if you are using flash and at 1/3200 that means you are using HSS and from the horizontal banding I see, looks like you forgot to turn off the EFCS. So thats my tip ;)
 
Last edited:
Luis Gabriel Photography said:
mmmm if you are using flash and at 1/3200 that means you are using HSS and from the horizontal banding I see, looks like you forgot to turn off the EFCS. So thats my tip ;)
Click to expand...
OMG, I did not notice the horizontal banding until you mentioned it! Now that I noticed it, it looks like a fatal flow. I did a quick Googling to see if there is a way to fix the horizontal banding in PP, but I did not find any. I wonder if I could "rescue" this image...

I was not aware of the horizontal banding issue HSS can cause, and I don't think I would have been able to spot the issue on my image on my own. So thank you very much for pointing it out! I don't own any backdrop, and I did this during the daytime, so I had to increase the shutter speed VERY MUCH to completely kill the ambient light to simulate a black backdrop. In retrospect, I think I should have done this experiment in a darker room (or at night), so that I didn't have to increase my shutter speed that much and put my two flashes to full power! Another lesson learned. :-)
 
sabrina81 said:
I used Imagenomic Portraiture plus some touches with the healing brush.

2d72950b14214aa0a236c3038b4d5115.jpg

100% crop before and after:

2b55b9c325a54bbd987427a28ff82283.jpg
Click to expand...
Very nice! I have heard about Imagenomic Portraiture, but its high price makes me hesitate to puchase it. I have SkinFiner plugin, which was quite a bit cheaper and seems to work very well. After I saw your reply, I went back to it and played with various adjustment sliders, but I could not get your result (but that might be just because of my poor skills. :-)

BTW, Sabrina, I often see your posts in the Portrait forum, and I always get awed by the magical transformation your PP skills produce.

--
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/136377341@N07/
 
Patsy Murphy said:
There are many ways for smoothing skin, below is a link to a very detailed tutorial which would suit your image. The way I did it was to open the image in whatever raw converter you prefer and drag the Clarity slider to - 100 and then into Photoshop make a duplicate of that layer, go to Channels control click on the Red channel, hold down alt click on the mask icon, paint with a white brush on the skin at 100% and then reduce opacity to taste.


Regards Patsym
Click to expand...
Thank you very much for sharing your method! May I ask what you mean by the bold portion above? The only two options for Channels I could see are what's in the screenshot below, and the Channel Mixer Adjustment. But neither seems to be what you are referring to. (P.S. I still have a lot to learn in PS!) :-)

f18c4ec745214d58ba41a35afdbe55cb.jpg

--
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/136377341@N07/
 
Sailor Blue said:
I prefer keeping the skin texture while smoothing the highlights and shadows by using frequency separation.

I use the free portrait retouching action, Portrait in a Pinch, from professional retoucher Kristina Sherk.

Portrait In a Pinch Action – Photoshop CS6 + CC | Shark Pixel Portrait In a Pinch Action

The video has terrible production values but it does convey how to use the action for portrait retouching.

Video Demo: Retouching Portrait Photography Using a Photoshop Quick Action by Kristina Sherk of SharkPixel | PhotoShelter Blog

It shouldn't be a problem to modify the action to smooth the skin and heighten the contrast of the highlights and shadows.
Click to expand...
 
drh681 said:
kind off old school...

c0cb6cd2da2b45ba9f77811a9e3828e5.jpg

--
And don't walk in front of a moving bus.
Unless it's going backwards.
Then walking in front is the smart move.
Click to expand...
Thank you very much! Though I personally prefer to retain the muscle tones a little more. Maybe I can combine your method with dodge/burn as aquavideo suggested?

--
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/136377341@N07/
 
mikan said:
Luis Gabriel Photography said:
mmmm if you are using flash and at 1/3200 that means you are using HSS and from the horizontal banding I see, looks like you forgot to turn off the EFCS. So thats my tip ;)
Click to expand...
OMG, I did not notice the horizontal banding until you mentioned it! Now that I noticed it, it looks like a fatal flow. I did a quick Googling to see if there is a way to fix the horizontal banding in PP, but I did not find any. I wonder if I could "rescue" this image...

I was not aware of the horizontal banding issue HSS can cause, and I don't think I would have been able to spot the issue on my image on my own. So thank you very much for pointing it out! I don't own any backdrop, and I did this during the daytime, so I had to increase the shutter speed VERY MUCH to completely kill the ambient light to simulate a black backdrop. In retrospect, I think I should have done this experiment in a darker room (or at night), so that I didn't have to increase my shutter speed that much and put my two flashes to full power! Another lesson learned. :-)
Click to expand...
 
mikan said:
Hello, first time posting on this forum.

I have this image that I took today (RAW, processed in C1 + PS). I slightly sharpened it (C1) and increased the contrast (PS), to enhance the muscle tones. As a result, the skin looks a bit "rough", and I would love to smoothen it. My problem is, I can't find a way to smoothen the skin texture, while preserving the muscle tones. Any advice will be appreciated.
Click to expand...
If you are going to work on contrast, micro-contrast and sharpness in PS I wouldn't sharpen the file globally in C1 but do it at the end of the workflow (or sharpen only locally in C1: non-skin, in-focus areas). Also, I'd make use of the Uniformity sliders in the Color Editor tools to even out the skin tones. Then I'd take the file to PS and do contouring over there (see also this Phlearn tutorial). I suppose the horizontal banding could be taken care of with the Uniformity sliders in C1 as well, or you could use levels or curves for that (applied on a separate layer and painted in where necessary).

--
Marcin
 
Last edited:
Luis Gabriel Photography said:
hahaha no worries, the first time that it happened to me I was like WTH! :D
Maybe you can try this thread...looks like it worked fine for that user:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4164497#forum-post-59653258

Good luck :)
Click to expand...
Thank you very much for the link. I tried it, but it does not seem to work very well, while trying to preserve the muscle tones. I bet it would work well on a typical portrait, though.

BTW, I edited the original image following some advices on this thread, and the banding issue is less noticeable, but still definitely there. I got curious and posted it on a local photography club on FB if anybody could spot the "flaw". To be fair, I also mentioned that I had to use a very high shutter speed to kill the ambient light to imitate a black backdrop. So far, one person has noticed it, but after I mentioned Hint #2 "HSS". I'm curious if you spotted the banding issue right away. :-)
 
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