Amateur Photographer - UK (2019-09-06)

subscribe 0330 333 1113I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI 31 August 2019 37

4 Applysurfaceblur
Nowourtwolayersaresetup,wecanretouch
eachindividually.FirsthighlighttheColourand
Tonelayer.WecanusetheSurfaceBlurfilter
tocorrectinconsistenciesbetweenskintones.
GotoFilter>Blur>SurfaceBlur.Choosea
RadiusandThresholdthatjustremovesany
blotchiness – here 13 and 9 works for us.

5 Cloneawayblotchiness

Makea newemptylayerthengrabtheClone

toolandsetit toSample:CurrentandBelow.

Hit2 for20%toolopacity,thenAlt-clickto

samplecleanareasof skinandpainttotone

downblotchiness,roughpatchesof tone,and

hotspotsaroundtheface.We’vealso

improved the background here.

6 Retouchtinydetails

WhiletheColourandTonelayeris usedtofix

unsightlytonalissueslikeeyebagsandblotchy

skin,theDetaillayeris forfixingsmallpimples

andlinesaroundtheface.Highlightit nextthen

grabtheSpotHealingBrushtool.Makesure

‘SampleAllLayers’is unchecked,thenpaint

to remove these small imperfections.

10 quickportraittips

Dodgeandburnfaces

toenhance expressions

Makea duplicateof youroriginallayer.TheDodgeandBurntoolscansometimes
haveanadverseeffectoncolours,sotocombatthiswecanchangetheBlendMode
of theduplicatelayertoLuminosity.Thisway,anychangestothislayerwillhaveno
effectontheoriginalcolours,justonthebrightnessof thepixels.Asforusingthe
DodgeandBurntools,thisis bestdonewitha lowExposureof around10%(setthis
in thetooloptionsat thetop).TheDodgetoolis typicallybestwithRangesetto
eitherHighlightsorMidtones,whiletheBurntoolmostoftenshouldbesetto
MidtonesorShadows.
Moreimportantthanknowinghowtododgeandburn,is judgingwheretodoit,
andhowmuch.Withfaces,theaimis toenhancetheshapeof theface.Sowe
usuallylightentheforehead,topsof thecheeks,lips,noseandchin,anddarkenthe
undersideof thecheekbones,thejawline,theinsideof themouth.If thesubjecthas
aninterestingexpression,wecouldalsoDodgeandBurntoemphasise it, perhaps
by darkening smile lines or lifting the ridges in a furrowed brow.

1

Zoomquickly

Scrubbyzoomingcan

saveyoulotsof timewhen

retouching– holdCmd/

CtrlandSpacethendrag

righttozoomin and left

tozoomout.

2

Brushcontrols

Allbrush-basedtools

in Photoshop– including

theretouchingtools

describedhere– usethe

same] and[ shortcut for

resizingthetip.

3

Non-

destructive

cloning

Whenhealingorcloning,

makea newemptylayer

thensetthetoolsto

‘SampleAllLayers’

tokeeptheedits

non-destructive.

4

UseOpacity

Bykeepingyour

retouchingonseparate

layers,youcantone

downaneditat anytime

simplybyreducing the

layeropacity.

5

Smoothskin

withHighPass

Duplicatea layeranduse

theHighPassFilter,then

invertit, settheBlend

ModetoOverlayandadd

a masktoconfinethe

softening effect to the skin.

6

Fixstrayhairs

Whenretouching

strayhairs,trimthem

offat therootwiththe

Clonetoolthenusethe

healingtoolto remove

therest.

7

Sharpen

thedetails

TheSharpentoolcan

beveryusefulfor

selectivelysharpening

partsof a portrait like the

lashesorlips.

8

Addpunch

toportraits

Portraitswilloftenbenefit

froma quickboostin

contrastandcolour- add

a CurvesAdjustment

Layerandplotan

S-shapedcurveline.

9

S w i ftl y

selectskin

If youwanttoquickly

selectskin,goto

Select>ColorRangeand

you’llfinda ‘SkinTones’

presetin theSelect

dropdownwithin the

command.

1 0

Enhance

hairtexture

Haircanbeenhanced

withtheOilPaintfilter

(Filter>Stylise>OilPaint).

Onceapplied,usea mask

to restrict the effect to hair.

BEFORE AFTER

Use the Dodge and Burn as a quick and easy solution to make your subject pop