Portrait Retouching Tutorial

[savona]

Portrait Retouching Routine
© 2006 Luis Valladares

This is a technique that I have patched together from various techniques I’ve learned over the years. It’s a technique that gives you some flexibility so you can customize it to the look that you like. I’ll present this in a step by step method but you don’t really need to follow it in this order. I present it in this order because it follows my general mindset of photo editing. This is, basically, to edit the global or general parts of the image first and then drill into the details. I would also like to mention that this should be looked at as a basic framework. Realize all photos are different and they may require more or less work than this example. As such, please understand that there are other issues that may arise that cannot be corrected using these methods. If you have any question about those, let me know.

Since I want to concentrate on the portraiture edit, I will assume certain things. First, I will assume you are working on a second copy of your image and the first is safe and sound. I will assume you are working in a layer capable format such as TIFF or Photoshop’s PSD. I will also assume you are using Adobe® Photoshop CS2®. It will work fine in Adobe® Photoshop CS® but there may be some differences. Next, I will assume you are working with the largest pixel dimensions you can and that you are starting with the color (White Balance), exposure and contrast corrected to your liking and/or need. So given that…. The original.



* Copy the Background Layer to a new layer. Rename it to a meaningful name. I use Correction Layer.
* Capture Sharpen the Correction Layer. This is a light sharpening I do to overcome the effect of the Anti-Aliasing filter on all modern digital SLRs. Some people do this and others don’t. I highly recommend it. I sharpen in two steps. This one and then a final sharpen that varies based on the output method and size.
* Create a Dodge and Burn correction layer, if needed. I do this as follows. Create a new layer from the Layer>New>Layer menu or by hitting Shift+CTRL+N. In the options box make Overlay the mode and mark the Fill with 50% gray box. Name the layer if you want. I use D&B Layer. Below is the snapshot of the dialog.



* Dodge and burn the photo if needed. This is simply done by painting (with the brush tool) on the newly created D&B Layer. By painting in black on the overlay layer you darken the image. Painting in white on the overlay layer lightens the photo. I often use this to bring some snap into darker hair or to darken selective shadows to add depth and dimension. Below you should make out some more detail in the hair. Optionally you might want to merge the Dodge and Burn layer with the Corrections layer to make the file size smaller.




* Fix the blemishes/defects. Now select the Correction Layer. On this layer you correct the blemishes using two tools. The Healing Brush and the Clone Stamp tool. In this photo I used the Healing Brush to remove some minor blemishes. I removed a line above her lip on right of her face. I also removed some birthmarks. If you have to use the clone stamp tool keep in mind this tool has the ability to lower the tool’s opacity. By doing this the tool becomes easier to manage and the clones blend in better. In the end you get some real nice corrections. I’d say I use the healing brush 70% of the time.




* Create the skin blur layer. This is done as follows. Copy the Correction Layer into a new layer by dragging the layer to the New Layer Icon on the layers pallet. Rename it Skin Blur. On that new layer run the Gaussian Blur (Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur) filter on it to blur the layer heavily. I use a radius that will blur the skin well beyond the loss of detail. This value will vary depending on the size of the image. Below is the look you should get.



* Mask out the blur. The next step is to mask out the blur with a layer mask. The easy way to do this is to hit the layer mask button on the layer pallet. This is the gray box with the white circle. You will get a white box (actually a mask filled with white) on the Skin Blur layer. Once you’ve done this you select the mask by clicking on the mask icon on the layer pallet. You then fill the mask with black. Pick the Paint Bucket tool from the toolbar. It may be under the Gradient tool. Make the foreground color black and then click anywhere on the photo. By doing this with the layer mask selected you will fill the mask (not the photo) with black. You will then have the photo back to the sharp image because the blurred layer is masked out.
* Soften the skin. You will paint in the blur now by, again, having the layer mask selected and then painting on the mask in white. Actually, you will paint with a low opacity so you will not paint it back in completely. Select the Brush tool and make the foreground color white. You can make the swatches (foreground/background colors) go to pure white and black by hitting “D” on the keyboard. Hitting “X” switches the swatches (background to foreground and back). Set the brush to a round profile and to the size you need to easily paint the face and skin. Set the brush edge to the softest possible. With the brush tool still selected, you will hit the “3” or “4” key to make the opacity of the brush tool 30% or 40% respectively. Now when you paint on the layer mask. Paint over the whole face. Don’t be concerned about the softness of the eyes and mouth, we’ll get that in the next step. The blur in the layer you have masked out will begin to only show through in a small amount. If you want to make it more apparent simply paint over it again. Each successive pass will show more of the blur. I suggest you do it in low opacity passes. ie. Less than 40%. This is so you get a nice, natural looking smooth finish. Obviously, this depends on two factors. First, how heavily the Skin Blur (layer) is done and second on how much smoothing needs to be done. I usually blur well and paint in at about 30% for the face and 20% for the rest of the exposed skin should it need it.
* Bring back the sharpness. This is really important because in most portraits you want certain features to be sharp. In most cases, the eyes, mouth and the nostrils. Yes, the nostrils. It may sound funny but believe me, it’ll make a difference. You will still be on the layer mask but you will now change the foreground color to black (Hit “X” on the keyboard) and then set the opacity to 100% by hitting “0” (zero) on the keyboard. Resize the brush to easily paint in the eye and leave the edge of the brush soft. Now you paint the eyes, eyelashes, eyebrows, mouth (lips, teeth, etc) and the nostrils. If you cannot see the nostrils then make certain to get the area just beneath the nose. I also tend to go over the curls of hair (like on this shot), jewelry, etc. If the hands are in the shot, give the fingers and fingernails a pass. In short, bring the details back. The photo should be around the stage shown below.



* Final output sharpen. At this stage comes my final output sharpen. This will vary a great deal on some factors so I won’t give you details. I will, however, give you some things to keep in mind. First, when you sharpen for print remember that the larger the print the more you can sharpen. Ie, an 8x10 print will take a more aggressive sharpening than a 4x6. Photos meant for web/online publishing or sharing will need less. This has to do with pixel dimension. Second, different paper/ink combinations can handle different sharpening. This has a great deal to do with your printer and paper. Matte papers, on pro printers typically take more aggressive sharpening. Lastly, sharpen until it looks good to you on the final product. This is a common mistake. Don’t judge the printed image sharpening amount by looking at your computer screen. There are times when the computer might render an image with halos but print spectacularly well. Judge the print sharpness on the print and online images on a screen.


This is the before and after look. The first thing I’d like to point out is that the idea with this type of work is subtlety. You don’t want to have all your shots look like porcelain dolls. The main places to see a difference are in the hair and the way it pops. The skin is smoother while still retaining some texture. If you want to see details, notice the birth marks missing on the neck and small blemishes from her nose gone. I would have necessarily removed these but I did here just to make the point. Notice how the lines on her neck are softer and less pronounced. Also note how the eyes seem to be sharper in the second shot. Remember it’s not that you sharpened the eyes alone, but rather softened the skin a tad. By doing this you notice other details more as well. In this case, on the second shot, you pay more attention to the delicate shadows than you do the details of her skin.



I hope this brief tutorial helps more than confuse. Since I make no claims to be a great writer, please feel free to give me your feedback as to how I can improve it.


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