“FREAKY” SKIN SMOOTHING TECHNIQUE IN PS
Skin retouching is a delicate balance between getting the skin
smooth, and still keeping enough of the detail to prevent the
face from looking like plastic. Here is a method that works
exactly the opposite of the way you would think it should.
Diana, our model for
today’s tutorial has
great skin, but the sharp
details revealed with a
quality lens means that
skin can look overly
detailed and that can be
distracting.
As we can see in this
image, there is quite
a lot of texture in the
skin and also a little too
much detail for a beauty
or glamour shot. So let’s
get started smoothing…
The first step is to crea te
a duplicate layer using
Ctrl + J (Cmd + J for Mac)
Now we need to invert
the new layer using
either Ctrl (Cmd) + I or
from the menu as shown
here.
This creates a rather
“freaky” version of our
portrait, kind of reminds
me of my old darkroom
days, but things are
about to get even
stranger.
52
NM CliQ Magazine | November 2015
Next, we apply the Vivid Light
Blend mode within the Layers
Palette.. and everything turns..
Grey
What we have done
now is effectively
created a second layer
that cancels out the
first layer. This is the
layer we will work
on to remove any
unwanted blemishes
while retaining the
underlying
skin
texture.
At this stage, we convert the layer
for Smart Filters. This allows us
to be able to go back and adjust
our smoothing settings rather
than rework each stage. Another
benefit of using the Smart filters
is that you can easily create an
action to achieve this technique
and adjust the settings for
individual images.
This screenshot shows an icon
in the bottom right of the layer
preview, showing that this layer
is now ready for Smart Filters.
And now for the fun stuff. As
strange as it sounds, we are
going to Sharpen the layer
using the High Pass Filter. This
will have the unusual effect of
blurring the overall image. If
this confuses you, just think
that we are working on the
opposite of the original image,
so sharpening to blur makes a
weird kind of sense.
Change your pixel
radius in the High
Pass pop up box
so that the skin
no longer shows
any blemishes. Be
careful not to go too
high, although as this
is a smart filter we
can fine tune it later
if required.