I attempted this photo yesterday by doing a few basic techniques. I am just wondering whether people think I got the skin tone right, as you can see its got a red tinge to it in the before photo. By the way, is Hue/Saturation the best way to tackle skin tones or do you use different options for different situations?

Also, whats the best method for removing the bumps in forehead etc - as you can see there is one above the left eye that stands out. Do I use the clone tool or is there a better option.

Cheers,

Andrew.

I think you have done well on the color. It looks natural.

I wouldn't use the clone tool. It is a difficult tool to master and if used incorrectly can look really bad. You would be better off using the Healing Brush as it is going to blend it in for you. Alternatively you could use the marquee tool to copy good skin from an adjacent area onto a new layer, move it over the area you want to fix, lower the opacity of the layer, if necessary, until it looks realistic and blend in the edges with the Healing Brush.

However, this problem is the perfect candidate for the dodge and burn method. Open a new layer and set it to Soft Light. Press d to set your fore and background colours to black and white, take out a soft brush, set your opacity to 1% and paint black on the highlights and white on the shadows. Initially don't zoom in too close...keep the image at 100% zoom or even 50%. Do the large areas first. Don't worry if some areas are getting darker or lighter than they should. Later you can zoom in closer and with a smaller brush dodge or burn as the case may be. At first it may seem like you are doing nothing but, if in doubt, turn the Soft Light layer on and off and 'voila' you will see a difference. This photo is really simple to fix with this method and should take all of 3 minutes once you get the knack of it.

Sincerely Syd

Sorry guys but I'm not sure I like either. Retouching men's skin, especially in informal shots, should always be a lot more subtle. It would be different this were a modeling job or more stylized presentation but I don't think you need to do much here.

I did a quick color correction to pull out the red cast (and granted it might be a little too cool now) but I think the only thing really needed was to reduce the dark circles under the eyes. Add a new layer, use the Healing Brush with "Sample All Layers" checked, pull from the cheek area to overlay on the dark circles and the reduce the opacity to blend. Easy peasy.

I did some other touch ups - eased the faint wrinkles on the forhead, got rid of the blemish on the chin, and pulled the color down on the lips. But that's it.

If you do want to keep it more perfected, I would at least reduce the opacity some on your correction layers and make sure the edges are well blended. This will keep it more realistic.

Thankyou for the replies! Both of you have been a great help.

I will definitly be using the painting technique you mentioned Syd!

Cheers!

for a newbie, i think you did a great job. cant ask for more that that from a rookie.

=o)