I have to agree with Mike (zoomer) here. I think all but one of the examples posted are way over done. We've gone from acne to unreal looking skin. First, I wonder if smoothing the skin to this extreme is going to be slightly offensive to this girl or make her feel even more self-conscious about her acne than she may already be. Second, it just doesn't look real. You've lost almost all skin detail. She looks plastic.
I've learned to do skin smoothing using the varied layer technique like Jiro has shown. It'ts effective but I have found that tools like Portrait Professional or Imagenomic Portraiture can do just as good of a job or better with a few simple clicks. I don't see the point anymore in wasting my time doing it manually with layers.
As Mike pointed out, I would bump the exposure a bit, use the healing brush to remove some of the largest blemishes and then maybe run it through Portrait Pro or Portraiture on a second layer then adjust the opacity to my liking. I would want some skin detail left, even if it means leaving some of the smaller discoloration and/or blemishes.
jiro
OMG somebody shoot me . Just kidding.
Really though some people enjoy that kind of involved process, they like working through all those steps. To each his own.
Just curious how long does that take to do one photo following all those steps?
About 25 - 30 mins. I've been doing this for a lot of time before when I don't have a DSLR yet. ! Sorry for being 'anal' about the procedure. It's too lengthy because I tried to explain everything in detail. but in reality it's not that really too hard. I just like to fiddle with photoshop most of the time. I've been using it since version 7.
Your work with the Portrait Professional is really right on the money, btw. thumb
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Just trying to help out for next time.
The last example is overdone at least by half. If your intent is to provide soft focus shot for a girl of her age then this is certainly a good example of that, however I am pretty sure that is not what a girl of her age is looking for.
First of all do not take pictures this close of girls with really bad skin.
In processing first thing to do is increase the exposure so the skin is very bright without blowing out, that will clear up half your problem right there. The darker the exposure the redder and more pronounced the acne becomes.
For people with acne like this Portrait Professional is a lifesaver....just don't over do it. Less is more with skin cleaning.
The girl knows she does not have perfect skin, don't make it perfectly pristine, people won't recognize her. Clean up about 90 percent of it, leave some skin detail. You can clone out the last of the large blemishes and you will still retain some sharpness in the photos.
I am attaching a photo of a girl with skin almost exactly like that of the girl in your thread...this is done in Portrait Professional and with some additional cloning to clean up big problem areas. Just to show that it is very possible to clean the skin and retain adequate sharpness in the photo, 5 minutes work:
Thank you, Zoomer. You addressed the ex act question I've had on my mind while looking at this girl. (an yes, never photograph someone this close who has bad skin, first and foremost) -
- seeing all these re-touches, while educational, makes me ask, as I often do when considering how to improve a portrait, "how much is too much," and at what point do we begin to insult someone by changing him or her?
Just to clear up (pardon the pun) about insulting her by overdoing the process. I normally don't do major touch ups to skin as i prefer my photos to be more authentic. Then again as I look back almost all of my brides have had really good skin that I have not had to fix, this is my first adventure into Senior portraits. In this case she and her mom actually asked me to fix her skin in all the pictures. She had actually had really nice skin up until about 6 months ago and as you all know different stages of growing up hit at strange times. she is also on medication to fix the problem. We had actually rescheduled the shoot twice allowing her skin to improve.
I do agree with you zoomer, the more i look at it, my picture does look a bit to fake and I am going to try and tone it down a bit. The picture you attached is awesome BTW.
Also, completely see what your saying about not shooting that tight on someone with bad skin, point very well taken. I should have known better but I was having to much fun playing with my shinny new 85mm 1.2L. It was my first time shooting with this lens and I can sure see why so many have switched from zooms to primes.
Such a pretty young lady. Accutane would probably work wonders for her.
Yeah it really would. My son is on it, he had twice as much as she does...and now he has small patches. It's tough when you have that much...you loose so much confidence in yourself. Makes me sad. Poor thing.
Had a few minutes today to mess with this...
Brightened it....added contrast...Portrait Professional...5 minutes of cloning...sharpened it.
Yeah it is a completely different looking picture....maybe not for everyone....this is just how I do it.
The brightness takes the red out of the skin which is half the battle.
Had a few minutes today to mess with this...
Brightened it....added contrast...Portrait Professional...5 minutes of cloning...sharpened it.
Yeah it is a completely different looking picture....maybe not for everyone....this is just how I do it.
The brightness takes the red out of the skin which is half the battle.
Nice Edit Zoomer, I would venture to say this take on the portrait is what the young lady is looking for. Subtle compared to other takes as it makes the skin work look like a byproduct of the edgy processing...very age appropriate
jiro
OMG somebody shoot me . Just kidding.
Really though some people enjoy that kind of involved process, they like working through all those steps. To each his own.
Just curious how long does that take to do one photo following all those steps?
My process took about 5 minutes. If you are working more than 5 minutes on each photo, you are losing money.
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I've learned to do skin smoothing using the varied layer technique like Jiro has shown. It'ts effective but I have found that tools like Portrait Professional or Imagenomic Portraiture can do just as good of a job or better with a few simple clicks. I don't see the point anymore in wasting my time doing it manually with layers.
As Mike pointed out, I would bump the exposure a bit, use the healing brush to remove some of the largest blemishes and then maybe run it through Portrait Pro or Portraiture on a second layer then adjust the opacity to my liking. I would want some skin detail left, even if it means leaving some of the smaller discoloration and/or blemishes.
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About 25 - 30 mins.
Your work with the Portrait Professional is really right on the money, btw.
http://imagesbyjirobau.blogspot.com/
Thank you, Zoomer. You addressed the ex act question I've had on my mind while looking at this girl. (an yes, never photograph someone this close who has bad skin, first and foremost) -
- seeing all these re-touches, while educational, makes me ask, as I often do when considering how to improve a portrait, "how much is too much," and at what point do we begin to insult someone by changing him or her?
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I do agree with you zoomer, the more i look at it, my picture does look a bit to fake and I am going to try and tone it down a bit. The picture you attached is awesome BTW.
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Yeah it really would. My son is on it, he had twice as much as she does...and now he has small patches. It's tough when you have that much...you loose so much confidence in yourself. Makes me sad. Poor thing.
Brightened it....added contrast...Portrait Professional...5 minutes of cloning...sharpened it.
Yeah it is a completely different looking picture....maybe not for everyone....this is just how I do it.
The brightness takes the red out of the skin which is half the battle.
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My process took about 5 minutes. If you are working more than 5 minutes on each photo, you are losing money.