skin cleaner beofore & after

[Mike Panic]

this really belongs in several forums... im posting it here to get an opinion as to which you prefer, before or after.

this could also go into the post processing or into the photoshop forum.

i installed a freeware piece of software from mediachance.com called DCE (http://www.mediachance.com/plugins/index.html) - it is a photoshop plugin... all of the filters it does are pointless to me (so far) expect for the portrait skin cleaner. media chance does offer a small standalone product called clear skin fx, which apperently does the same if not extremely similar things as the photoshop plugin. the attraction to the photoshop plugin is that i can batch / automate a process

before the skin cleaner filter - no unsharp mask done:

http://www.uploadpixels.com/upload/1113369357_uploadpixels.com_skin_01.jpg (http://www.uploadpixels.com/index.php?file=1113369357_uploadpixels.com_skin_01 .jpg)

after the skin cleaner filter - no unsharp mask done:

http://www.uploadpixels.com/upload/1113369397_uploadpixels.com_skin_02.jpg (http://www.uploadpixels.com/index.php?file=1113369397_uploadpixels.com_skin_02 .jpg)

it is clear that some USM needs to be done (at least to me)

but which do you prefer, and if you have comments plz give them on one or the other

[J Rabin]

The 2nd on introduced an odd but subtle greenish-yellow color cast on my calibrated monitor. Yuch. What is the purpose of the plug-in? Cleaner? Is it like SkinTune from PhotoTune.com, only messes up the hue/saturation?

[tim]

I prefer the 2nd, but you can go further. Get this book (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0735714118/qid=1113377332/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/104-4680916-2539966). I don't have a before/after picture handy, but that books tells you how in easy steps.

[Jesper]

Yes, I also like Scott Kelby's book to which Tim refers. It describes a lot of techniques to make portaits look better. Last week I made some portrait photos of a friend. This is what I did with them in Photoshop, all with the techniques described in the book:

- remove spots and blemishes (using the healing brush)
- make dark circles under her eyes look better (using the healing brush on a copy of the layer and use layer opacity)
- make the white of her eyes more white (select the white, use Hue / Saturation to desaturate red and increase brightness a little bit)
- make her eyes sparkle a little bit more (select the pupil, use Unsharp Mask, etc.)
- make her teeth whiter (select teeth, use Hue / Saturation to desaturate yellow and increase brightness)
- make her skin look smoother (select skin, copy layer, use Gaussian blur, change opacity of the layer to apply the effect so that it looks good)

[tim]

I found that smoothing skin on men doesn't look right, and neither does removing too many wrinkles. I make a 45 year old man look like a 16 year old boy when I overprocessed a photo!

[kraterz]

Umm... I couldn't find any DCE freeware plugin for PS, they only have a 30 day eval version. They have a standalone program which is freeware. Which one are you using?

[PhotosGuy]

Looks to me as if it applies a gaussian blur to everything - even the eyes. You can do the same thing on a 2nd layer & then erase the parts you want to keep sharp. Adjusting the opacity of the layer will give you fine adjustments to the blur, too.

[tim]

Looks to me as if it applies a gaussian blur to everything - even the eyes. You can do the same thing on a 2nd layer & then erase the parts you want to keep sharp. Adjusting the opacity of the layer will give you fine adjustments to the blur, too.

That's pretty much what the book says to do.

[GyRob]

i use one call Noiseware a free download.
usm would help, like 2 best .
Rob

[tim]

i use one call Noiseware a free download.
usm would help, like 2 best .
Rob

We're not talking about noise reduction, we're talking about smoothing out pores and blemishes in skin.

[Hellashot]

Looks like it just blurred her skin.

[tim]

Looks like it just blurred her skin.

That's more or less what it is, just with a layer mask to prevent blurring other things, and an opacity setting so as not to lose all the texture.