Need HELP with Portrait improvement PLEASE!

[Lisard]

I made several shots of a neigbors daughter with realy bad acne. She is an exceptionally pretty girl but all that acne just ruined a headshot. I was trying to improve it in photoshop (I am not a pro here) but all my skills are limited using "healing brush" and "clone stamp". I use it all the time to remove a zit or two but here I am dealing with very serious acne condition. I spent about 2 hours but it still looks horrible. Could you please advise what ease can I try. Or where can I read about these techniques? Her Bday is coming next week and I really want to make her a present - nice portrait framed) :)
Thanks!

[robertwgross]

I don't use Photoshop, but in Corel PhotoPaint, there is a Sponge tool. It will absorb color saturation from an area as you paint over.

---Bob Gross---

[CyberDyneSystems]

Topic moved to "talk about Photography"

Lisard,
There are a number of things you can try.

First make a duplicate layer to help with the process.

1. You can try the "Guassian blur" filter. You can either make a selection of the skin tones and blur only those areas, or you can blur the whole leayer and then erase the parts that you don't want blurred, revealing the unblurred layer beneath. Or you can use the Histroy brush to remove the blur form areas that you don't want blurred. These same steps can be used with the "Smart blur" filter as well. You'll have to tweek the settings in eiter one to get the desired effect.


2. You can try the "smudge" brush as well,. set to about 20% max with a sift edge and work in small alomost circular motion. But now that PS has a heal brush etc.. this is not much different.

[stopbath]

You might be able to use a red filter to obliterate the red blotches. This would require you to shoot black and white.

Also you could convert you current shots to black and white and modify your red level.

You could also apply blur to the selected skin area to even out remainder.


Also, careful application of make up prior to shooting might help too. There might be something that hides the blemishes with a skin tone cover. Soft lighting may limit the effect of any bumps in the skin.

[MediaMagic]

The Patch Tool in photoshop CS has become my favorite tool for removing acne. I'm not sure if that will help in your efforts, but it works well for me. It also takes a bit of practice (as does the clone stamp or healing brush), but you can make larger sweeping changes and blend them.

David

[slejhamer]

Topic moved to "talk about Photography"


CDS: Why not the "post processing" forum?

Lisard: Try to take a look at Katrin Eisman's book "Photoshop Restoration and Retouching." It will give you quite a bit of info on ways to best use the healing, patch and clone tools for this type of work.

[CyberDyneSystems]

lol, your right,. it was the thread title,. it seemed less post processing based on the title,. but of course your right,. the content is pretty much post processing,. here I'll fix that by making it more Portrait in general.

In the future you can also try a soft focus technique while shooting. It was allready suggested that soft light will help,. but soft focus is an age ld technique that we now eschew most of the time.

Canon even still makes a lens for this purpose,.. but you can try usiing a diffusion filter as well (the old guaze/vasaline tricks too)

:mrgreen: There, now we are talking protraiture techniques,. and thus photography :)

[slejhamer]

lol, your right,. it was the thread title,. it seemed less post processing based on the title,. but of course your right,. the content is pretty much post processing,. here I'll fix that by making it more Portrait in general.

In the future you can also try a soft focus technique while shooting. It was allready suggested that soft light will help,. but soft focus is an age ld technique that we now eschew most of the time.

Canon even still makes a lens for this purpose,.. but you can try usiing a diffusion filter as well (the old guaze/vasaline tricks too)

:mrgreen: There, now we are talking protraiture techniques,. and thus photography :)

Thanks CDS. Sometimes we patrons need to keep the moderators in line. :P

But let me bring this back to post processing: adding soft focus with PS gives much more flexibility than using a softar or other soft filter, IMHO. Some purists will argue that the effect isn't quite the same, and that's probably true. If you play around enough, the PS effect can actually be better! :twisted:

[Bruce Hamilton]

Seeing this thread makes me think of something anybody who does a lot of portraiture work needs... A makeup case. It's amazing what a little dab of CoverGirl will accomplish.

[MediaMagic]

Seeing this thread makes me think of something anybody who does a lot of portraiture work needs... A makeup case. It's amazing what a little dab of CoverGirl will accomplish.

This is true. Does anyone know of a good reference/book/video for photography specific make-up techniques? I would imagine that techniques and shades would vary depending on the light, skin tones, etc. I admit to being absolutely clueless.

I know how to use cover cream, but that's all I know how to do.

David

[IndyJeff]

Sometimes a diffuser or soft filter will reduce the acne. I don't know about if it is a real bad case tho. Between makeup and a filter it shoudl make a pretty presentable picture.


Of course PS and a little time can take it all away but, you have to be pretty patient and meticulous to do so.

[Lisard]

Thank you everyone!
Unfortunatelly I couldn't put the makeup on the girl. I guess she would be offended if I offered. She is very confident teen and really is not trying to cover it anyhow. She agreed to pose for the portrait on my daughter's Bday party. It was sort of candid shot that turned out to be a very good one. The lighting was perfect (outdoor natural) and she is very photogenic. I just wanted to make this picture perfect and maybe even to include in my portfolio.

[stopbath]

Thank you everyone!
Unfortunatelly I couldn't put the makeup on the girl. I guess she would be offended if I offered. She is very confident teen and really is not trying to cover it anyhow. She agreed to pose for the portrait on my daughter's Bday party. It was sort of candid shot that turned out to be a very good one. The lighting was perfect (outdoor natural) and she is very photogenic. I just wanted to make this picture perfect and maybe even to include in my portfolio.

Hmmm... if she would be offended by you offering her cover makeup, how will she feel about a portrait with the acne removed by software instead? :?

[Bruce Hamilton]

Hmmm... if she would be offended by you offering her cover makeup, how will she feel about a portrait with the acne removed by software instead?
Just because she won't wear makeup doesn't mean she likes having acne. Seeing how pretty she is without it would probably make her exstatic.

[Lisard]

Thanks everyone! I spent a couple hours using both healing brush and clone stamp. Ahhhhhh..... After that I just aplied sephia filter. Removed noise. That was WOW! Of course I have lost the sharpnes, but photo looked fantastic. I guess in such cases sephia or B&W will do the trick. Otherwise I couldn't get the redness out of her face.

[msvadi]

Actually, the patch tool is much-much better than the clone stamp for that purpose. It preserves the texture and you can achive remarkable results with it. That's what Katrin Eismann recommends in her "Photoshop Restoration & Retouching", which is a very good and popular book.

By the way, the book describes several techniques on improving the skin look and portraits retouching in general. I like this on in particular:

0. duplicate the background layer and work on the copy.
1. apply "Gaussian Blur" 15%-50%
2. create history snapshot
3. undo "Gaussian Blurr"
4. select "History Brush", set the source to the snapshot created in 2.
5. set the mode to lighten, opacity to a small number and paint over the entire skin.
6. set mode to darken, paint again over the skin.
7. if needed, adjust opacity of the duplicate layer to make the effect you created more subtle.

[Conk]

Here is a very easy tutorial with great results.
http://www.okongraphics.com/tutorials/portraitretouch.html