Photoshop User - USA (2020-10)

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>^ OCTOBER 2020

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Step Nine: Now that the gradient is set up,

choose the Brush tool (B) and select a soft,

round brush with very low Flow, around 10%

or less, in the Options Bar. Paint with white on

the Gradient Map mask in problem areas, pay-

ing attention to any brightness changes.

It’s worth noting at this point that you can

also adjust the actual colors to suit your own

tastes or to set up color grading; however,

I recommend that you use a Hue/Saturation

or Selective Color adjustment so you can apply

global changes rather than deal with the color

stops in the Gradient Map.

To finish up, you may need some additional

touch-up using any combination of the follow-

ing techniques:

• Lower the Gradient Map Opacity value
  in the Layers panel


• Use Blend If in the Blending Options of
  the Layer Style dialog to smooth any
  harsh edge transitions


• Clip a Curves adjustment layer to the
  Gradient Map to change contrast


• Apply dodge-and-burn techniques
  below the Gradient Map.

Of course, this is a focused technique spe-

cifically for creating a consistent, smooth skin

tone. It will almost always need to be paired up

with additional techniques, and works particu-

larly well with frequency separation. Going on

from this starting point, you can add more color

stops to gain additional control over tonal vari-

ations, just remember that saturation changes

more dramatically from mids to highlights, and

is fairly constant from mids to shadows.

This same method can be used for correcting

makeup, or even applying “digital” makeup.

In this use, however, you’ll want to reduce

your selection area for highlights and shadows

to only the areas where you want to apply

coloration. It’s also likely that you’ll need

multiple layers to deal with different areas, such

as cheeks, lips, and eyes. n

Final portrait with Gradient Map color correction

Original model