How to soften a portrait picture ? (pic. sample)

feivel · Jul 1, 2004

chris

i like it in all regards except personally would like to see the orangey skin tone on the face match the more natural tone on the neck

try this if you want:
new layer
mode color
open brush, alt-click on a nice neck flesh color
paint over face (watch out for lips and teeth and eyes and hair)
adjust layer opacity if necessary
flatten

feivel

Chris 749 said:
feivel said:

willow

loredana said:

This is my first post here...a little bold to post a touch-up too,
but I figured I have to start somewhere.

Let me know if this is what you had in mind:

--
Lori

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Hi.
I have just finalised my attempt. I usually overdo portraiture, in
this case I have gone for supple.

or http://www.jane.chris.dsl.pipex.com/testing/testing.html

Regards
Chris

Chris 749 · Jul 1, 2004

feivel said:
try this if you want:
new layer
mode color
open brush, alt-click on a nice neck flesh color
paint over face (watch out for lips and teeth and eyes and hair)
adjust layer opacity if necessary
flatten

feivel

Absolutely

As soon as I saw my attempt matched to a previous posting I realised the tone was very hot. I will try your recommendation, thanks

Chris

feivel said:
feivel said:

feivel said:

willow

loredana said:

This is my first post here...a little bold to post a touch-up too,
but I figured I have to start somewhere.

Let me know if this is what you had in mind:

--
Lori

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Hi.
I have just finalised my attempt. I usually overdo portraiture, in
this case I have gone for supple.

or http://www.jane.chris.dsl.pipex.com/testing/testing.html

Regards
Chris

Click to expand...

Alan Byrd · Jul 1, 2004

I found an action that really works well on portraits:

Link to action:

http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/coolato/Softfocuslook.atn

Fotomania · Jul 1, 2004

feivel said:
what you need to do here is not hue/sat or other merely global
changes.

Hi again Feivel,

I am all but professional, but I have worked a lot with photographers and also arranged photo sessions. There's were I was taught to do it right when the photo it shot. The example here is no snap shot, not a once-in-a-lifetime shot were you were not able to get the settings right and not a picture of a lost relative you will never see again. That's why I thought it would be better to retake the shots.

The saturation trick, with a very feathered lasso gave about the same result as Loredana got. But still you can see it very clearly: Heavy makeup on the face, no makeup at all on neck, ears and arm. On fashion shots every single inch of skin that shows has makeup on. Yes, the hands too.

If someone was offended by what I wrote, I'm sorry. But I think the best for everyone, the beautiful girl and the photographer, would be to reshoot the picture, if possible.

Eva

feivel · Jul 1, 2004

Fotomania said:
Fotomania said:

what you need to do here is not hue/sat or other merely global
changes.

Click to expand...

Hi again Feivel,
I am all but professional, but I have worked a lot with
photographers and also arranged photo sessions. There's were I was
taught to do it right when the photo it shot. The example here is
no snap shot, not a once-in-a-lifetime shot were you were not able
to get the settings right and not a picture of a lost relative you
will never see again. That's why I thought it would be better to
retake the shots.
The saturation trick, with a very feathered lasso gave about the
same result as Loredana got. But still you can see it very clearly:
Heavy makeup on the face, no makeup at all on neck, ears and arm.
On fashion shots every single inch of skin that shows has makeup
on. Yes, the hands too.

i knew you were from the professional world

Fotomania said:
If someone was offended by what I wrote, I'm sorry.

nahh, for sure not, just a friendly disagreement

Fotomania said:
But I think the
best for everyone, the beautiful girl and the photographer, would
be to reshoot the picture, if possible.

of course

Fotomania said:
Eva

Fotomania · Jul 1, 2004

You did a very good job on this picture, I think. I guess it's as good as it gets. And I also noticed that you did a very smart thing - you cropped the picture tightly so most of the non made up areas are gone.
That's what I call an Extreme Makeover : - D

Eva

GCam · Jul 1, 2004

Kent C · Jul 1, 2004

This one I went with eva's/feivel's idea of balancing the skin tone, done with selective color and healing brush and then ran the slightest highpass/invert/softlight, using history brush for features.

orig. without the compression artifacts
http://www.pbase.com/image/30825448/original

Russell Brown's 'photo toner' for b&w adjusting for tone in hue/sat

--
Kent
http://www.pbase.com/kentc

digitalphoto · Jul 1, 2004

http://www.pbase.com/image/30826331

digitalphoto · Jul 1, 2004

kostik_y2k · Jul 1, 2004

Vikki Hansen · Jul 1, 2004

I don't know if this is what you'd call soft, but to me it's a softer look. There are some other things I would do (soften the hair), but ran out of time.

myalhi said:
I see a lot of very good portraits (especially on the walls of
professional photographers' studios) that are very well softened
and the skin looks very smooth and clean. I have tried that with PS
CS but could not even come close. All I could do with PS CS is to
blur the picture but the ones I saw was sharp pictures with soft
skin tones. When I ask them how they achiece this result, they say
they are doing some retouching with software, that's all. If that
is not a big secret, I would really love to learn how to soften the
portrait pictures without blurring them. Here is one for you guys
to play with it and teach me how. I highly appreciate any help,
PLEASE...

--
Mehmet
http://www.yalhi.com/myalhi

--
Vikki Hansen
http://www.lifetimephoto.com
http://www.pbase.com/vhansen/galleries

Jusko · Jul 1, 2004

Hi Vikki, I like your version best, what are your steps please ?

Best Regards
Jusko

LTP · Jul 1, 2004

Vikki Hansen said:
myalhi said:

I see a lot of very good portraits (especially on the walls of
professional photographers' studios) that are very well softened
and the skin looks very smooth and clean. I have tried that with PS
CS but could not even come close. All I could do with PS CS is to
blur the picture but the ones I saw was sharp pictures with soft
skin tones. When I ask them how they achiece this result, they say
they are doing some retouching with software, that's all. If that
is not a big secret, I would really love to learn how to soften the
portrait pictures without blurring them. Here is one for you guys
to play with it and teach me how. I highly appreciate any help,
PLEASE...

--
Mehmet
http://www.yalhi.com/myalhi

Click to expand...

--
Vikki Hansen
http://www.lifetimephoto.com
http://www.pbase.com/vhansen/galleries

TexasRebel · Jul 1, 2004

...in my use of the Eismann techniques you pointed me to earlier. In my version I use the three stage skin softening you identified here...

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1006&message=9190854

Please evaluate my progress.

p.s. I also did some sharpening using a mask. I did this after the skin softening, perhaps I should reverse this in my workflow...what do you think?

Robert Williams80668 · Jul 1, 2004

myalhi said:
I see a lot of very good portraits (especially on the walls of
professional photographers' studios) that are very well softened
and the skin looks very smooth and clean. I have tried that with PS
CS but could not even come close. All I could do with PS CS is to
blur the picture but the ones I saw was sharp pictures with soft
skin tones. When I ask them how they achiece this result, they say
they are doing some retouching with software, that's all. If that
is not a big secret, I would really love to learn how to soften the
portrait pictures without blurring them. Here is one for you guys
to play with it and teach me how. I highly appreciate any help,
PLEASE...

Another method courtesy of Secrets to Retouching People:

duplicate layer
gaussian blur to 6 pix
lower opacity to 50%
Erase details
duplicate layer
load highlights (ctr alt )
desaturate
change blend mode to soft light
reduce opacity to 35%

Works well but I can't tell it is a lot better than the other methods suggested.

--

Robert Williams
NAPP
PBase Supporter
http://www.pbase.com/robert8194

feivel · Jul 1, 2004

Bernadette Buechler · Jul 1, 2004

myalhi said:
I see a lot of very good portraits (especially on the walls of
professional photographers' studios) that are very well softened
and the skin looks very smooth and clean. I have tried that with PS
CS but could not even come close. All I could do with PS CS is to
blur the picture but the ones I saw was sharp pictures with soft
skin tones. When I ask them how they achiece this result, they say
they are doing some retouching with software, that's all. If that
is not a big secret, I would really love to learn how to soften the
portrait pictures without blurring them. Here is one for you guys
to play with it and teach me how. I highly appreciate any help,
PLEASE...

--
Mehmet

Tried a technique from katrin Eisman. Duplicate image,filter-other-highpass between 3 and 5,change mode to soft light so picture looks sharper, then do image-adjust-invert so it is now softened. After that used the diffuse glow filter to correct skin tone and finally used the blue photo filter at a low opacity. Still needs more work to fix the neck color though.

myalhi said:
http://www.yalhi.com/myalhi

ronald louis · Jul 1, 2004

Vikki Hansen said:
myalhi said:

I see a lot of very good portraits (especially on the walls of
professional photographers' studios) that are very well softened
and the skin looks very smooth and clean. I have tried that with PS
CS but could not even come close. All I could do with PS CS is to
blur the picture but the ones I saw was sharp pictures with soft
skin tones. When I ask them how they achiece this result, they say
they are doing some retouching with software, that's all. If that
is not a big secret, I would really love to learn how to soften the
portrait pictures without blurring them. Here is one for you guys
to play with it and teach me how. I highly appreciate any help,
PLEASE...

--
Mehmet
http://www.yalhi.com/myalhi

Click to expand...

--
Vikki Hansen
http://www.lifetimephoto.com
http://www.pbase.com/vhansen/galleries

--
Ron in Italy

Kost · Jul 2, 2004

Here is my take in color and in bw.:

Regards
Kost

myalhi said:
I see a lot of very good portraits (especially on the walls of
professional photographers' studios) that are very well softened
and the skin looks very smooth and clean. I have tried that with PS
CS but could not even come close. All I could do with PS CS is to
blur the picture but the ones I saw was sharp pictures with soft
skin tones. When I ask them how they achiece this result, they say
they are doing some retouching with software, that's all. If that
is not a big secret, I would really love to learn how to soften the
portrait pictures without blurring them. Here is one for you guys
to play with it and teach me how. I highly appreciate any help,
PLEASE...

myalhi said:
--
Mehmet
http://www.yalhi.com/myalhi

How to soften a portrait picture ? (pic. sample)

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