Makeup....

[KevC]

Hiya,

Could somebody please help me out with makeup? I have a photo shot with a P/S but there's a lot of red in one of the subject's face. Sorta like a rash or acne or something. There's much too much to heal brush it, and not really a good soft pale'ish white area to heal from. It's female, so I want to paint it a nice soft makeupy creame.

I've heard "airbrush it!" but I don't know where to start... I can't even find the tool (PSCS). Help please!

[PacAce]

Make a selection around the face and feather the selection.
Next copy the selection and paste it into a new layer.
Select the new layer and blur the image using Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Use a pixel value of around 8 or so (play with this if you have to. You want more blurring than less since you can adjust the final amount by adjusting the Opacity of the layer).
Select the Eraser tool and set the opacity to 30%.
Now, start erasing the eyes, the eye lashes, the area around the nostrils and the mouth. This will reveal the unblurred image of the layer below. Each time you use the Erase tool, you'll erase 30% of the layer so to completely erase through the layer, you'll need to go over the area 3+ times. The idea here is to erase all the parts where you want details so that all that's left is the blurred skin on the top layer.
You can then change the Opacity of the layer to get a more natural look of the skin.

If the pimples are really bad, blurring may not take that out. In that case, you should try to Heal or Clone out the pimples first before blurring the top layer.

[KevC]

Thanks for the advice!

However, I've tried your technique, and although it really does well in softening the skin, it's still red. They aren't really pimples, more so a rash or just a bad flash phto from a compact point and shoot. I've tried healing or cloning but as I said in the first post, there's no real "clean" or "clear" part of her face that I can clone with....

Any other advice?

[tim]

Kev, I highly recommend this book (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0735714118/qid=1107206467/sr=8-3/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i2_xgl14/103-1058892-7018242?v=glance&s=books&n=507846), I have it and it's great for all these types of things :)

[PacAce]

Thanks for the advice!

However, I've tried your technique, and although it really does well in softening the skin, it's still red. They aren't really pimples, more so a rash or just a bad flash phto from a compact point and shoot. I've tried healing or cloning but as I said in the first post, there's no real "clean" or "clear" part of her face that I can clone with....

Any other advice?
Here's another "trick". Click on the Eye Dropper tool and place the eye dropper over a part of the face that has the right color and click on it. That'll become your foreground color. Next, click on your favorite Brush tool of the appropriate size and start painting over the rash areas. You may have to keep adjusting the foreground color to match the skin color as you work on the different parts of the face. Use a lower opacity for the brush and build up the color gradually. Once you get the red off, you can then smooth out the skin with the first technique I showed you.

[PhotosGuy]

Beauty Retouching in Photoshop
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=101733&redir=1