Getting rid of blotchy skin

[CarlRetoucher]

HI,

Could someone give me some suggestions on how I might be able to get rid of the blotchy skin on the attached image? I'm struggling to get an even skin tone.

Thanks

Carl

[Der_W]

A couple of simple steps can get you in the ballpark :-).

First, create a gray layer in "Luminosity" mode. On top of that place a Hue/Saturation adj. layer with saturation set to +100.
Now use "Select"-"Color Range" to select the red spots.
Get rid of the Hue/Sat layer and the gray layer and create a new curves adj. layer with your selection active and lighten the midtones just a little bit. Now add a little feather to the mask (2px for the size of the attached image).
Next place a Selective Color adj. layer on top of the curves.
Go to the Reds and enter -45% cyan, -40% magenta, +20% yellow, go to the Yellows and enter -10% cyan, +60% magenta, +60% yellow. Since the colors look awful but the luminosity is better, change the mode of the layer to "Luminosity".
As a last step put both of these layers into a group and attach a mask to it.

I recorded an action for you to automate the steps: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7124285/Fore...Retouching.atn (if the link doesn't work: right click, "Download as")

[KTG]

Jonas,

I just get data when I click on your link for the action.

k

[CarlRetoucher]

Thanks so much Der_W, its worked perfectly.

Carl.

[Der_W]

k,

Originally Posted by Der_W

(if the link doesn't work: right click, "Download as")

;-).
That should work.

Carl, I'm glad it worked for you :-)

[mistermonday]

Another solution is which is very fast and effective is:

Open the image in Adobe Camera RAW and click on the HSL Panel. Click on the Hue tab (default) and move the Red slider to +50. Then click the Luminance tab and move the Red slider to +60. If you find that other areas (in this case her dress) is affected by the HSL changes, hold the shift key down and open as a Smart Object. Then do a Copy Layer as New Smart Object and add a layer mask and the quick select tool will select select the skin in 5 secs.
This technique is very efficient if you do not have a lot of areas of the image that are adversely affected by the HSL adjustments. You are basically shifting Magenta in the skin toward red/orange so if there are not many magenta areas to fix its pretty quick.
Regards, Murray

[chillin]

...or the a little longer way using D&B.