Marina Ulanova – Retouching a portrait. Delightful skin – manipulating shades

  In this collection of lessons, retouching female portraits. They will be interesting and informative for those who are interested in retouching techniques, i.e. – retouchers. But photographers will also be able to learn from them useful tricks, even for fast – streaming retouching. We will pay special attention to working with skin color. Leather provides us with arguably one of the most complex spectrum of colors and shades. In this variety, we can find a wide variety of colors: red, yellow, orange, pink, brown and even black. And how to correctly and naturally add this variety of colors and shades to skin tone, we will learn in these lessons.And in particular, from these lessons you will learn how to use a special brush, which by the way works great both with the mouse and with the pen. And with this very magic brush, we will add the colors and shades we need to the models’ skin. It works equally well in medium tones as well as in highlights and shadows .. The result is a radiant, velvety amazingly beautiful skin.

 

But, we will also not bypass the side and techniques of retouching the skin. For example, in the first lesson, you will learn how to do natural retouching of portraits, which is very popular now …

 

LESSON number 1

” RETURNING PORTRAIT. AMAZING SKIN – MANIPULATING SHADES (1)”

 

in the 1st PART of the lesson:

 

– photo preparation in Cam Raw: lens profile correction, skin tone, white balance …

– plastic model

– technical retouching – subtleties of setting up tools

– basic retouching – natural retouching techniques

– locally add color to the skin areas of the model

– despite the fact that we try to make retouching close to natural, we will still use the Mix-Brush tool – we will smooth out areas with contrasting, eye-catching light / shadow transitions, areas with a rough texture and folds on the skin …

– create an artificial skin texture. Place the new texture on the “blurred” areas of the model’s skin.

– creation of a “Smart object” – how can conversion into smart objects help us in our work?

– an interesting technique for enhancing the volume in highlights – we use only one box. layer “Selective color correction”. Let’s also add contrast and color to the image.

– using the plug-in we will make a delicate, even somewhat fantastic skin tone

 

in the 2nd PART of the lesson:

 

– we use a magic brush. We make the skin rich in shades. We give shine and velvety … Subtleties and secrets of healthy beautiful skin

– we focus the viewer’s attention on the model’s eyes – we make the look more expressive

– experimenting with blending modes, looking for a suitable color for the model’s hair

– fine-tuning the skin tones of the model

– add a subtle color haze-vignette to the image

– using channels, we add clarity and contrast to the details of the image

– final sharpness

 

* There are two parts in the lesson – 40 minutes of training video 
* Level – beginner 
* Processing was done in Adobe Photoshop CC18 (English version), using plug-ins: 
  plug-ins Alien Skin Exposure

 

 

 

LESSON # 2

” RETURNING PORTRAIT. AMAZING SKIN – MANIPULATING SHADES (2)”

 

 

    In this lesson, we will not focus on the retouching itself. And let’s do it in the easiest way using plug-ins Portraiture. We will pay special attention to the techniques of working with leather. And in particular, with the help of a special brush, which, by the way, works great both when working with a mouse and with a pen. And with this very magic brush, we will add the colors and shades we need to the models’ skin. It works equally well in medium tones as well as in highlights and shadows .. The result is a radiant, velvety amazingly beautiful skin. And of course, this lesson will not be limited to techniques only for working with leather. You will also learn:

 

in the 1st PART of the lesson:

 

– primary processing in Cam Raw – we make a pleasant skin color of the model. Make the background more neutral

– we disassemble the photo, taking into account the compositional rules. Improving the composition of the frame. Background retouch

– minor work with the model in the “Plastic” filter

– model cut using the automatic “Cut object” function

– working with the background – changing the color. The subtleties of working with masks

– hair montage – we make our hair more luxuriant. Create the effect of developing hair

– technical and basic retouching of the model

– by applying actions we get rid of overexposures

– the first important technique of adding colors and shades to the skin of models

– add a slight drawing effect to the details

 

 

in the 2nd PART of the lesson:

 

– drawing the volume. The first (fast) is with actions. The second is hand drawing

– we make the effect of “wet eyes”

– hair drawing. Add shine to hair

– use a magic brush for velvety, radiant and beautiful skin

– enhance the texture of the skin

– additional correction techniques – skin and hair color

– adding and revising elements

– use a texture with effects

– add sharpness and color vignette. We select the color of the vignette for your photo

– final correction of the model’s skin tones

– the necessary techniques for correcting skin tones and focusing the viewer’s attention directly on the model

 

* There are two parts in the lesson – 50 minutes of training video 
* Level – initial 
* Processing was done in Adobe Photoshop CC18 (Russian version), using plug-ins: 
   Portraiture (optional)

The material is attached to the lessons  : PSD files of processing, a preset for Cam Raw, a SET of actions, a brush, elements, a texture.