Hi guys, I've been reading here on and off for some time now and finally posting my first help. I'm trying to fix the blotchy skin here on the legs, compared to the stomach, I tried channel mixer, since I did a search about this already.
I also tried cloning and healing, but it's not going to good. Was wondering if anyone could help me out there.
I did some work with the lasso tool and surface blur to smooth things out, but that's about as good as I can get it.
Thanks sooo much...Alessiaxox

I took a try at this. On the picture I did the top portion of the right leg and the small spot in the red circle on the left leg. I mde a selection and then used a surface blur. There may be a better way to do this; however, I am not a professional retoucher.

dc

DCobb, you keep saying you're not a professional. I think you do fine work. I deal with "professionals" everyday. I wish half of them could keep up with you.

Alessia, a major limitation of the channel mixer is that you can't control the effect with blend modes other than using an adjustment layer. I prefer to use Apply Image. Here I've done three channel blends. The first was in LAB, I blended the A channel into the L using Linear Light. The second and third were in RGB, I did a luminosity blend of the Green channel into a duplicate layer using Linear Burn, then a second time using darken.

Notice how much more shape and drama this gives to the skin, and at the same time attention has been moved away from the blotchy areas quite naturally.

Regards,

Michael

This is with a Portraiture filter. Maybe a bit overdone, but you can see that is on the right track.

Cheers

Holy WOW guys...DCobb that is good, I agree with Michael, if you're not a pro, that's pretty amazing for a non-pro. If you don't mind explaining what you mean by taking the top portion of the right leg and the center of the circle, how would you do that, and then select it? I'm still kinda new to PS but with directions i'm pretty darn good. lol :)

Michael, when it gets too complicated and doing various things....i become all blonde-like and Paris Hilton stupid and really, I'm not...lol
How did you do yours? if you dont mine me asking?
I'm trying to help my gf get her picture fixed up, since she really has no clue how to do this.lol

Thommo, where did you get the filter from it does look good too.

Thank you sooo much guys, its given me hope, because i was worried i couldn't do it...i literally spent hours on it and it got me so upset...lol

I used ByRo's technique which can be found here under the tutorials
http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/index.php?m=show&id=213
and then using hue saturation and lightness, adjusted the shade of the legs only (using a mask) to remove some of the red to match better with the stomach area.

Hi Alessia and welcome to the forum!

Well, I can't leave you in "a blond moment", so I'll explain a little more. :D

Channel blending is a very powerful technique. It allows one to adjust pixels using data that's already in the file. Strictly speaking, any time you use a blend mode other than Normal or lower Opacity, you're blending channels.

Having a basic understanding of channel structure is essential to getting the most out of this technique. Take a look at this tutorial (http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=291) for more information about channels.

The Channel Mixer is very useful for basic channel blending, but as I noted it's limited in that it doesn't directly allow the use of blend modes. Another limitation is you can't mix channels across color modes. One thing it does allow, however, is to blend channels at more than 100%, something Apply Image won't do.

Apply Image is my preferred tool for channel blending. If you're new to this command a detailed discussion of it can be found here (http://www.ledet.com/margulis/2006HTM/ACT-Apply_Image_Obsolete.htm). It's one of the most powerful tools in Photoshop and one that few people use to its fullest extent. I'll post a tutorial on some of the ways I use it sometime soon, meanwhile here's the basics.

"Apply Image" works on the channel or mask that's selected at the time you open the dialog box, which is referred to as the "Target". The channel/mask that is being applied to the "Target" is called the "Source".

Here's a little test run to get you started. This example is best done with a normally lit headshot:

Duplicate the background layer.
Set this new layer's blend mode to Luminosity.
Go to Image>Apply Image.
The "Source" will be the image you're working on.
Set "Layer" to Background.
Set "Channel" to Green.
The "Target" is always the working image.
Set "Blending" to "Normal".
Set "Opacity" to 100%.
Click "OK".

You should see the contrast change without affecting the color. This is what I referred to in my last post as a luminosity blend. Most of the time this technique will make a nice improvement to the skin tones.

After reading this post and the links I provided you should have a much better understanding of what I did to your image.

Good luck and have fun,

Michael

The filter is from Imagenomic, it's called "Portraiture". It is not a free filter. Basically it does smoothing and enhancement of skin tones only all in one click. I need it as I am still a beginner. It essentially does in one filter screen what these other guru's do manually. Probably not the best way to learn though as you don't see all of the steps clearly as to what is happening.

This is a little late to be answering your question, but on the top portion of the right leg, I only applied the surface blur to the top portion and leaving the bottom original as a comparison. Same thing with the circle on the left leg. Only surfaced blurred the circle portion leaving the remainder of the leg original. It helps if you can see the effect right next to the original.

The reason I indicate that I am not a professional is that those that are can provide a better workflow--what to do and when in the sequence--and technique as you can see from some of the other posts. Through trial and error I may hit on something that looks acceptable but difficult for another to follow the steps--assuming I can remember them.

dc

Graphics23, thanks for not leaving me in a state of blondeness. lol!
I'm actually somewhat intelligent (I'd like to think so anyways), but people assume the exact opposite. It's quite fun when talking about school, books, philosophy and I'm still kind of young, so it's fun to come across that way. But seriously, thank you so much for the play-by-play of how you did it.

Cassidy thanks for the tutorial link and tips as well. Iwill check it out for sure, looks great.

Thommo, I can't buy a plugin in at the moment, but I'll take a look at it anyways, thanks. :)

DCobb, you sound like me, trial and error without knowing how you got to the final result that you like. How stressing huh? :)

I'm gonna try these out over the weekend guys, can't wait.
So thank you so much again. :)

I used plug in Portraiture, standard settings. I have adjusted only the color range.

Could try a little painting ...
Choose Smudge tool and set in normal mode at about 20 percent. Pick a soft brush and see if a few strokes might help =)

Wow guys, just wow.
It helped so much, but the other probme is it looks odd compared to the skin tone on her upper body. Which is much warmer, orangey looking.
Meaning her arms, chest/torso. I'm not at home now, but when I remember getting home, I'll post it ASAP.
You guys rock. :)