This is my first post. I've been reading and learning a great deal about retouching that I have not seen anywhere else. I'm a part time portrait photographer who shoots digital and makes adjustments in Photoshop CS2.

My current problem is "shine". I have not develop a means of retouching the very shiny hotspots that can accidently appear when I'm not paying enough attention to the lighting. I really like the degrunge method of retouching; however, I need to do something about the shine before starting the other retouching. I typically use the patch tool in CS2, but I'm not really satisfied with the results since this method changes how the skin surface looks, e.g., pores, etc.

I have attached (I hope) a sample of what I'm dealing with. Some of the shine can just be cloned out. THe large areas are another matter for me. Any guidance would be most appreciated.

Thanks, Jerry

Jeez man, I think you chose the worst possible skin texture to post. Happy degrunging, dodging and burning, cloning, etc.

What I usually do for shine is use the clone brush set on darken, at about 18-25% opacity. Just build it up with multiple clicks. Looks a lot better than the straight up cloning tool on Normal or the healing brush which sometimes looks kind of obvious.

Hi Jerry-

I see that you have had one response to your question. In addition to using the clone tool you can sample the area near where the light spot is and then just paint over it with the mode set to darken and like cloning use a low opacity. Something else I tried on your picture was the use of the patch tool. Have it set to source. Sometimes when there has been a large white space I have selected Destination and moved an area to the light spot. You can always use the healing brush to add back texture in cloned and painted areas.

dc

Thanks for the fast response. I believe you have hit on the answer for me. It was indeed the most difficult situation I have ever had in trying to maintain some semblance of character, yet remove the really annoying hit spots.

I also found another solution, but all too late. My daughter is in the TV business and told me that all of the on-air people use something called MAC Blot Powder Pressed. She bought some for me to use next time I run into this situation. The power is essential;y translucent and doesn't change skin color. I'll let you know if this really works.

Thanks again for you help. - Jerry