How to skin retouch with photoshop

How to skin retouch with photoshop

Duplicate the background image and rename it to Layer 1.

Go to Filter > Other > High Pass and set the Radius to around 4.5 pixels.

Change the Blending Options for Layer 1 from Normal to Soft Light and uncheck the eye to make Layer 1 invisible for the next step.

Duplicate the background image again and rename it to Layer 2. We’re creating an extra layer with an automatic smoothening underneath the skin, so pop it under Layer 1 and go to Image > Adjustments > Invert. Next go to Filter > Other > High Pass, set it to 4.5 pixels and for this layer change the blending options toOverlay. After doing this you can make Layer 1 visible again.

As you’ll see the image will be just slightly blurred and smoothen out but not the edges. On Layer 1 continue retouching using the Elliptical Marquee Tool. Circle the areas inside the face that need quick fixing, go to Filter> Noise > Median and max the pixels out to 100 pixels. To make the process faster, repeat process in all areas using Ctrl-F (Command F on the Mac). This is a shortcut to apply the last filter which just makes life so much easier for you. I would suggest applying the Median effect as much as you can before you move on to the next step.

Flatten Image and use the Clone Stamp Tool mixed with a Soft Brush with the Flow set to around 30% to manually select areas next to one another, blend it in as much as you can using this tool to make further improvements to the skin. (The Clone Stamp was used no more than 10 times in the example below to show you how smooth it can go).

If you find that it is getting too smooth for your liking then its really up to you to take a step back, use less Clone Stamping and re-size the brush correctly. This is just a quick demonstration to give you guys an idea of how to quickly clear up skin, with more time, effort and of course accuracy you will get a much better result.

This is an additional step that you don’t need to follow, I just threw it in to add that extra bit ofshadow to overall image. Go to Image > Adjustments > Shadow/Highlight, then set the amount of Shadow to 20% and the Highlight can be left on 0.

via: http://photoshopland.com