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Editor's note: This excerpt first appeared in photographer and author Harold Davis' recent Focal Press book, Photographing Flowers: Exploring Macro Photography with Harold Davis.
The closer you...
Digital photography requires a solid workflow, allowing for
professional preparing of digital photo files for the web and
print. For the Digital Photography Workflow series, we consulted with
a number of experienced professional photographers who are also
stellar photo.net members and frequent contributors to the Photo.net Digital Darkroom
forum, to walk us through their specific photography techniques
and tips on post-processing images.
In this article, Jean-Sébastien offers advice on how to achieve
skin softening using low and high pass filtering. The article is
enhanced with illustrative figures and screen shots, and includes
example images from Jean's portfolio. Whether you are just
entering the world of digital photography and need some tips and
advice on how best to post-process your images, or are a seasoned pro,
the insights shared here should be helpful with your own digital
post-processing techniques.
Advanced skin softening with low and high pass filtering and noise reduction
This tutorial will show you how to adjust a model's skin without
losing skin structure and texture. I call this approach "High Pass +
Low Pass Filtering." It splits the image into two layers:
One layer holds the texture and fine details of the image (high frequencies)
One layer holds the tones of the skin and its color (low frequencies)
Furthermore, we will apply noise reduction to create a clear frequencies layer.
My example is a close-up of a face. Your first job is to clean up
the main problems like spots, bumps, and skin imperfections with the
healing brush tool. This is a fairly easy job so I won't go into
details here. We will see here how to reduce and adjust both the
texture and tones of the skin. On this image, my goal will be to make
the texture of the skin less obvious, as well as brightening the side
of the mouth and the bottom of the eye.
Step 2
Step 2: Layer Mask
Make a rectangular selection around the face and duplicate it twice
(Layer->New-> Layer via Copy). You will end up with two layers: the
topmost one will hold the texture, while the tones and softening is
handled by the second one. I've renamed them for easier
understanding. Select both of them and group them, and add a mask to
the group with Layer->Layer Mask->Reveal all. Adding a mask is
important as it will help you with hiding parts that shouldn't be
affected by corrections, such as the eyes, the mouth, and the side of
the face. To hide things, just paint on black over the mask. This will
be typically done at the end. For the moment, just focus on the main
corrections without looking at parts that shouldn't be affected, such
as the eyes, hair, etc.
Step 3
Step 3: Apply Surface Blur
Hide the texture layer and select the retouching one. To create
the low frequencies, you simply need to soften or blur the image. I
suggest to pick up Filter -> Blur -> Surface blur. Use a radius of,
say 7, and raise the threshold towards 11. This should blur the skin.
If you own an older version of Photoshop, a Gaussian Blur will do it
too, but color blending will occur on the edges.
Step 4
Step 4: Remove unwanted elements using a soft brush
Still on the retouching layer, pick up a soft brush with a low
opacity (20% is fine - you can change this on the top bar). Now gently
paint on top of your image to remove elements that you don't like. Use
Alt + Click to pick up a color and then paint over the layer. Your
result should be pleasing, even if it lacks texture. On my example,
I've brightened the areas that I didn't like much on the original
image.
Step 5
Step 5: Noise Ninja plugin
Now activate and show the texture layer. Next item is to retrieve
the details that have been lost. I will use the Noise Ninja plugin
here. As with other noise-reduction plugins, Noise Ninja needs to
estimate the noise in your image. This profiling is done on specific
rectangles that should only contain noise and rather few color
changes. I've cleaned up the rectangles that were automatically
created by right-clicking on them and then just drew mine. As you can
see, I've picked up an area with almost no changes in colors and
luminosity. Now select the Filter tab. Your goal is to adjust the
image so that some texture remains, but not too much. I would suggest
to lower the contrast (I've picked up a value of 5) and apply no
Unsharp Masking (USM) amount (value: 0). USM will try to enhance high
frequencies, which is not something that I want. Just play around
with these values. The ones I gave as a guideline should be a good
start. Once you are satisfied, press OK and apply the filter.
Step 6
Step 6b: Change texture layer from normal to overlay
Step 6a: Apply high pass filter
We now have two layers: texture contains the softened skin but
had some dark areas that were fixed on the retouching layer -
unfortunately, loosing texture at the same time. How can we combine
both? This is actually quite easy: on the texture layer, apply Filter
-> Others -> High pass with a radius of roughly 8. This makes a gray
image with only details available. Don't panic! This is normal. Now
go to Image -> Adjustments -> Hue / Saturation and use a saturation of
-100. This is necessary as some color artifacts are created by the
High pass filter. Finally, in the Layers window, change the blending
mode of the texture layer from Normal to Overlay. You will now
successfully see your texture merged with the previous retouching. If
your texture isn't strong enough, apply an Image -> Adjustments ->
Brightness/Contrast on it and pump up the contrast a little more.
Step 7
Step 7: Final edited image
This is it. Just paint in black on the mask of the group
to remove areas that shouldn't be processed. Remember that masks are
quite helpful. You can, for instance, add a mask to the texture layer
for finer control, and paint in black on it to hide parts that are too
textured.
Conclusion
I hope that you have enjoyed this tutorial. High + Low pass
filtering add an interesting new dimension to your work and can be used
on several problems.
Jean-Sébastien Monzani is a Swiss and French
full-time freelance photographer and graphic designer. Elegance,
simplicity, a strong sense of composition and emotions are key
elements in his work. His images are often constructed as
photo-series—something between fashion photography and movie
storyboards. The sequence of shots usually tells a little story but
each image also works independently. Since he often tries to convey
atmosphere in his photos, he mainly shoots on-location, almost
exclusively in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he lives.
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The Photoshop maneuvers explained here are clear and very potentially useful.
The danger in using these powerful techniques to reduce skin texture is always that it can easily make the subject look more like a corpse, a wax dummy, or a mannikin. With a young, beautiful subject expecially, such as you have here, I always prefer to leave their texture completely untouched, except for the blemish removal that you first mention.
Of course this is all a matter of taste. But I think traditional professional practices are consistent with what you demonstrate here. This is why the great majority of images you see in fashion magazines these days are a collection of ghoulishly lighted wax dummies- and why so many people pay no attention to them.
Don't mean to be contentious, but it's an interesting subject. In the pre-Photoshop days, the wax dummy effect was de rigeur using makeup, which to me was always equally unappealing.
I do appreciate the technical usefulness and time and effort behind what you present. This should be a springboard for discussion!
A well written and concise article. I am learning these techniques myself and found it very useful. I do however agree with Mac that these techniques are sometimes over-used. I prefer to convey the "real" person but do however repair minor imperfections like skin blemishes and scars which may detract from the image.
I do agree with you: I don't like over-processed photos that look like "dolls", that's why I wrote this tutorial: you gain more control on what level of details you would like to keep than with a gaussian blur, for instance.
Actually, I quite rarely use this technique, only from time to time on extreme closeups. But what is interesting is that it can be used on many other things too.
Thanks for the time and trouble you have taken.
One of those items to bookmark for future use.
Like your work by the way.
You make technology work with you.
That's art.
I second Mac above. I have done my share of portraits, not glamous pictures of celebrities, but portraits of people. I think the texture of one's skin, including the blemishes, is the most important part of that person.
In fact, one of my favorite models had a mole on her forehead. I tried to photoshop it out 20 years ago, but she told me that she wants it on the picture as it is almost her way of identifying herself. I learned an important lesson then, that we are what we are.
I think character in a face is more important than perfection of skin tones, and that the best portaits are achieved by taking the time to study the model, engaging her in conversation and making useful eye contact. Everything else is seconday.
Now, that said, I applaud the time you have taken to prepare this article, which, I presume, would come in handy for those who are faced with the demand to photograph an older model still who obsessed with reversing the effects of a richly lived life. Philosophically, I do not identify with people like that, and thank my lucky stars that my daily squares do not depend on feeding their misguided predilections.
I used to work in photographic services back when we retouched the actual fiber print and I also worked doing retouching digitally later. I can guarantee you that all model’s and actors shots as well as other portraits are retouched drastically. When we worked on fiber prints, I swear there would be nearly nothing left of the actual face! I once read that you should photograph a performer as one would see them from the audience. In other words, you aren’t looking down their pores. So while the idea of a “natural” photograph is nice, people want to be seen as their ideal self. In in the performance and fashion world, a retouched photo is a must. Interesting technique. A good technique for the tool bag. Thanks for sharing.
Nice Tutorial... In fact There is many ways to Retouch a Skin Face ...
Contrary to popular belief, digital photo restoration and repair is not about computer magic; it's about art, experience, knowledge, hard work, and, dare I say, love.
I attached here a sample of skin retouch ... The quality of photo is low but Anyways I've been trying to hide all the blemishes from the skin ...
