Fixing the shiney (oil shine) spots...

[jenirose3]

I'm just starting to edit my first glamour/fashion/boudoir shoot. There are some shots with an oil shine on her t-zone. I have found a really great processing method for the skin but the article talks about clearing up major issues first. Prior to doing the processing. I've tried the processing without fixing the oily/shiney areas and it looks ok. I'm thinking if I can just tone the areas down at least it will look better. Definitely something to remember for next time! I will pack in a few packs of the oil blotting sheets.

What method do you use to remove or tone down oily/shiney spots?

Thx so much
Jeni


PS I will post some before and after shots to this thread.

[azccw999]

The best thing to do is post a pic. You will find that you won't get much of a response without having a pic. You will also get a better response in the post processing section.

With that said, usually if you have shine spots from oil, they tend to be blown (meaning no detail) so there isn't much to fix unless you really dig in with some heavy duty cloning. This would depend on how much there is to fix also (where an example image comes in handy). Oil is tricky and can foul things up pretty quick, I live in AZ and oil/sweat is a constant challenge.

There are a few options to help with this by doing a single RAW image HDR conversion or masking in a darker version but I haven't had alot of luck with either of these perhaps someone else has a better solution?

[thebrewer]

It is hard to say without a pic. Depending on how things look I would start with some cloning, healing brush and perhaps some Gaussian blur. You may be stuck with it, but by softening the edges you may be happy.

[Rai33]

Hopefully the MUA does a good job. If not in pshop I do the following:

- sample skin colour just adjacent to shiny hotspot
- paint shiny area with soft brush
- change layer to darken and reduce opacity
- add original layer on top with high pass sharpening and mask to reveal just the treated area to add back texture if required

[bsmotril]

Duplicate the layer. Pick the clone tool, set the opacity to about 30% with a soft edge brush. Change the blend mode to darken. Now select an adjacent skin area without sheen as your clone selection, and dab the clone tool over the shiny spots. Adjust that layers opacity to tune the final result.

[jenirose3]

Thanks. I'm gonna try each of these and I will post some before and afters.

[poloman]

I use the clone and darken method the most. Sometimes I have found using the patch tool advantageous after the clone and darken.

[dsmPhotoCompany]

Here is one method I've used some...got it from another photog I've communicated with a lot on another site, just copying his detailed info here. I've used it some, it works. Takes a bit longer than a couple of the others listed here, I do think it can produce cleaner results. I also think there could be better (and quicker) ways to do it....but this is not failing for now.


- Use "Select -> Color Range" and use the eye dropper tool to select the color of the glare. Adjust the fuzziness slider to get the glare but not what you don't want - a setting of 16 for fuzziness seems to be what I end up with many times.
- Use "Select -> Refine Edge" and settings of all zero except for about 4 pixels for "feather" and 40% for "expand/contract" - this will help transition your powdering to the unedited part of the photo. After you use this method several times, you'll change these settings a bit based on your image.
- Use "Layer -> Fill Layer -> Solid Color" (or you can pick the little half black and white circle icon at the bottom of the layers icon and select the first option "Solid Color"). Use the color picker tool to select a color very close (nearby) to your selection that matches the skin color and fills in the glare. Pick a few times until you see something that looks good.
- Change the blend mode of the color fill layer to "darken"
- Adjust the opacity of the blend layer way down - about 30% will probably be all you need - so that some of the glare still is visible retaining the original contouring.

If you made your glare selection too small, you can go back and reselect it using a larger value for fuzziness or a larger value for the "refine selection" feathering or expansion. If the color doesn't quite blend, you can double click the color fill layer icon and use the color picker tool to find a more suitable color.

[amonline]

One of the best and simplest tutorials I've found for the "oil" issue: http://creativetechs.com/tipsblog/quick-skin-tone-retouching-in-photoshop/

You can download/save an animated gif (at the top) to keep for future reference.

[Rai33]

The two last methods are really the same principle as the method i use - only thing missing is the add back of skin texture as a final step if needed. Personally I have never needed to spend time masking, refining and getting the mask as accurate as possible as changing the blending mode takes care of it.

Report back how you go!

[amonline]

Good point about the texture. I do that as well as I cannot stand over smoothing and fake pp. I have a killer flv tut, but I cannot find the girl's website to post a link.

[jenirose3]

Here's the original and the shine fix using the choose color range and the lowering the brightness by about -15 method...

[jenirose3]

Here's the final with skin processing. This is my first one so let me know your thoughts. Too much? Get rid of more shine prior to processing?

[hawk911]

Looks great to me.

[fuzed]

jeni, nice shot, but it looks like youve over smoothed the skin in the last one, it looks as though her skin is not real...

[pwm2]

Third one isn't a human. It is a computer rendering - maybe from Final Fantasy. Don't overdo it.

[Michelle Brooks Photography]

One of the best and simplest tutorials I've found for the "oil" issue: http://creativetechs.com/tipsblog/quick-skin-tone-retouching-in-photoshop/

You can download/save an animated gif (at the top) to keep for future reference.
I'm trying to follow this tutorial, but on step 3, it directs you to Create a new Photoshop Layer & fill with your skin color (taken with the PS Eyedropper). How do you "fill with your skin color"?

[amonline]

Select a flesh color as seen in the previous image. Click the new layer (if not already active) Use the paint bucket to drop the color into the selected area. (selection from step 1)