Softening Skin Features

[gmitchel]

My new "Tip of the Week" describes the steps in a technique to soften blemishes, freckles, pores, etc. on portraits.

http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/DigitalDarkroom/TipOfTheWeek/2004SEP06/2004SEP06.htm


Most recent tip;

http://www.thelightsright.com/DigitalDarkroom/TipOfTheWeek/TipOfTheWeek.htm

Enjoy!

Cheers,

Mitch

[maderito]

Mitch,

Since you posted this thread, you're on the hot seat for this question:

How does Dust & Scratches work and how does it differ from the other forms of blurring (guassian, median filter, etc.)?

I use D&S a lot when dealing with blemishes, random specular highlights from flashes, some types of noise, etc. I'm not asking how to use D&S. Rather, what's the underlying digital filter. Does it ever make sense to add a little Guassian blur after D&S to soften any edges (like the ones that develop after using the median filter).

Maybe the simpler question is what's the difference between well-applied D&S and Guassian blur?

Thanks in advance. :)

[gmitchel]

Dust and Scratches is a noise reduction filter. It looks for dissimilar pixels and changes them. Radius determines how far it looks for dissimilar pixels. Threshold determines how different they have to be before the difference is eliminated.

Gaussian Blur is a blurring filter. It applies a weighted average to a pixel by looking at neighboring pixels. Radius determines how far it looks at neighboring pixels.

You can use a Gaussian Blur, but I would suggest a Smart Blur instead, if you want to use a blur filter. That way, you get a radius and threshold settings -- like the Dust & Scratches filter -- and you can also select a blur quality.

Cheers,

Mitch

[maderito]

Mitch -

That's a tidy and very helpful answer. Thanks again.

[gmitchel]

Glad to help! :)