How to remove redness on cheeks

[barbee]

I am new to the site, not sure if this is the place to post this, plz let me know if I'm wrong or right, ok?
I have a photo of my son and he has a skin problem on his cheeks,,,every pic it shows up very red, can or will anyone tell me how to remove it using Adobephoto 7.0, I can move around adobe pretty good now but do need some guidance.
Thanks for any help
Barbee

[TommyO]

Hello Barbee and welcome to RetouchPro !

First, you may want to clarify which program you have. It sounds like it may be Elements; I don't think there is a "Adobephoto". That will help others give more exact instructions. Also, if you wish to, attach a thumbnail using the "manage attachments" button. If you don't want to post the entire image, just a small area of it helps us determine the underlying color issue.

There are several ways to remove redness. Here are a couple of things you could try.

1. Add an adjustment layer for Hue or Saturation. You could then reduce the amount of red, or try adding it's opposite, cyan. Usually that layer comes with a mask; if not add one. You should be able to paint over the areas not needing that adjustment with a soft, low opacity black brush.
   
2. Often times a quick fix it to add an adjustment layer using a photo filter. You can find the one that reduces the red, then adjust its strength/opacity to get the tonality correct. Again, paint away other areas using a mask like above.

There are many other techniques as well. But try these and then get back to us.

[barbee]

Hello again, I am just now figuring out how to move around the site, but finally attached a small file. Sorry about the description of software, it is Adobe photoshop 7.0, also have Adobe Elements 2.0, but like the 7.0.
As you can see the redness is unforgivng, and he hates to have his pic taken for that reason, so if I can figure out how to remove, maybe he would be more willing.
Thank you, Barbee

[TommyO]

I'm back again.
After looking at the color values, these areas actually differ because they lack green and blue. Their red values are close to those of other skin areas. So, the goal would be to add green and blue in very low amounts.

One way to do this is fairly easy. Use a Channel Mixer layer, then invert the mask to make it all black, then paint back with white on the mask where needed.

Here are the values I ended up with.
Red Channel: leave alone;
Green Channel: Red:0, Green:100%, Blue:+12%;
Blue Channel: Red:0, Green:-7%, Blue: 101%.

Again, this was real quick and certainly could be refined. I then inverted the mask (ctrl-I) and used a soft low opacity (10%) white brush and just blended the effect in.
Here is the result. I don't think a man would want a perfect face, just tone down the redness. Hope this is helpful.

[ktg222]

barbee,

This looks like a bit of rosacea to me. Katrin Eismann has a real neat fix for this in her Restoration & Retouching Vol. 3 book. P. 346. I tried it on your image and it cleaned it up very well.

k

[barbee]

Thanks so much Tommy, I will certainly try your instructions...may take me awhile, then will post my corrected one. This is a wonderful site, so glad I found it.
Thanks, Barbee

[barbee]

Hello K
I do have the second edition of Katrin Eismann but I don't think that is one you are talking about. Anyway you could post the instruction, (maybe too much) I would understand, have thought about buying that volume. She is very good with the instruction. Anyway maybe you could post your ending results that you did. Yes it is rosacea, he has med's for it...
thanks barbee

[TommyO]

Oh, and I forgot to mention... if you are going to adjust multiple images, you can save your channel mixer settings as a preset (in the same dialog box). This will make it much easier to pull up on other images, then just slightly tweak the settings. (You can do this with most any adjustment layer.) Other images should vary by similar amounts, the actual values needing changing only slightly due to varying lighting conditions and camera white balance.

While recording an action may be more than you want to tackle, you can always rename one image (with adjustments) to something like "redness removal.psd". This saves it so you can recall it later. You can then open that file along with a new image, then select multiple adjustment layers, drag and drop them into a new image that requires them. Then all you have to do is tweak values and adjust masks.

[chillin]

- I made a selection using color range to create a mask.
- I used the mask in a curve layer with values:
input: RGB:133 R:189 G:122 B:113
output: RGB:135 R:197 G:142 B:118
- I applied HSL layer to a curve layer w/values
H:0, S:-7, L:0,
- Some stubborn spots, I healed w/DB

[hawkeye60]

My try, copied and pasted the green layer and set to luminosity. Created a new layer and painted over the red areas, then added a curves layer.

[Daviskw]

One more way...lol

I just used a hue/saturation adjustment layer.

Butch

[albatrosss]

Just sampled other skin color and painted over red areas.

[mistermonday]

Barbee, a targeted Hue Sat adj layer is one of the quickest ways to fix the problem. Here are some steps you can follow.
- Add a Hue Saturation Adjustment Layer
- Select the Red channel from the pull down menu
- Look at the rainbow like bars near the lower part of the window. Drag the two triangles together so that they are touching. See the 1st screen shot I attached below.
- Drag the Saturation slider all the way to the left. Nothing will happen.
- Now select the eyedropper with the + sign. Move the eyedropper over the red in the cheeks and touch a red area. You should see it turn gray. See the 2nd screenshot I have attached below.
- Keep touching areas until you have selected all of the redness. Dont worry if the lips or other areas are affected.
- Now bring your saturation slider back toward the center. Move the Hue over to the right a few points toward yellow. Play with the Sat and Lightness sliders to fine tune.
- Finally selct a brush with color black and paint over the areas that you did not want affected like the lips. You should be painting on the mask and therefore masking off the areas that you did not want affected by the Hue Sat shift.
Regards, Murray

[barbee]

Hello Murray
Thank you so much, those instruction were just wonderful, think I did good; attached a file for you to view. I feel my highlights are off and maybe his tones seem to have maybe a greenish tint or too white, what do you think
Once again thank you and everone for helping me. I have learned so much already in just a few days. Sure I have more to learn. I keep a folder so I can refer back to the instruction.
Thank you very much, let me know what you think.
I came back at 8:00pm and posted the full version of the photo, it is attached. I think now I have too much red, maybe not, anyway tell me what you think ok. Or if anyone else wants to give an opinion that would be great.
Barbee

[mistermonday]

Hi Barbie, you are heading in the right direction. If you zoom in on the 2nd image you will notice red patches. You may need to narrow your selection or the values to which you moved the slider. The image below shows the red which is in a very tight range. You need to do 3 more things to make the image look great after the color correction.
- remove the red eye
- whiten the teeth a little. The warm color temp of the lighting makes them look more yellow than they are.
- Raise the brightness a little.

The 3rd picture looks good but a bit too saturated. I would lower it a little.
Regards, Murray

[luis_relampago]

Using the hue and saturation adjustment layer choose the red channel and grab the first color picker(left) and point it to the red part of the face you are trying to fix, then choose the last color picker(right) and choose the color you wish to match it with. After that adjust your hue bar to get it to the color you think it looks similar and after that paint over the mask on the part of the image that is affected.
Here is a sample.

[tom60634]

I primarily used camera raw in particular the clarity,vibrance, saturation and HSL controls.

Photoshop was used to perform blends and sharpening actions.