Muscle & Skin Retouch

[Sohaib]

Hi people around here,
I'm a photoshoper like all of you, trying to learn like most of you, and i'm in a case where i should ask for help,
http://img15.hostingpics.net/pics/893655bg353.jpg
In This picture, you see that skin textures are harder (those things are invisible in real life) and there's a lot of shadow too


My Question Is : how to arrive to this result from a simple bodybuilder image

[Wolfman]

Lighting is key when shooting body builders to bring out what you see in your sample and then building more contrast in post if needed.

[Siciliana]

Play with High Pass filter.

[Sohaib]

okay, thanks guys, i tryed & worked my ass of and got this result (not exactly what i want)

http://img4.hostingpics.net/pics/397091bg353.jpg

[Siciliana]

I don't do this kind of retouch, so I can't really speak from experience, but to get more of the result of the first image you posted, try to place this new version you came up with over the original and reduce opacity and/or use blend modes. Use masks and knock it back off the face. The key to work that looks good is subtlety. What you have done is too extreme for my tastes, but that is just my opinion. It might be what you like.

When I mentioned high pass, I was thinking you could use a higher radius on reduced opacity in order to heighten contrast and muscle definition. Mask that in as needed. You can use a small radius to heighten skin texture and brush that in the right areas using a mask. You don't want to use too much of either, and do not use much on the face except for to make the skin texture of the beard area a bit more pronounced. Personally, I am not crazy about effects where it looks as if one simply ran a filter over the whole image.

[Redraw]

I not sure if you still need help.
But what I did was to make two copies of the original and Desaturated both of them.
The second or top layer I added the Emboss effect and then set that layer to Soft Light 100%.
Then erased the areas I didn't like the effect on. Using a mask would probably been the better way to go. But anyway hope you like.

[skoobey]

Shoot with harsh lighting and you'll be golden.

[0lBaldy]

Just playing around with Luminosity Masks and some color trying to match your sample...

Tony Kuyper has a great explanation and tutorial on the use of Luminosity Masks (HERE) and Amica has provided an action (HERE) that puts all 12 Luminosity Masks (The 4 lights, 4 Darks, and 4 Midtones) into the Channels folder for your selection and use...

Then play with the colors etc

[kav]

Originally Posted by Siciliana

Play with High Pass filter.

I've responded to you before. I thought you'd be past that kind of silly bad looking technique by now .

Originally Posted by skoobey

Shoot with harsh lighting and you'll be golden.

Nooooo...... bad idea. You have to consider that you still want nice gradation to the shape in most areas. The original link is obviously toned down in saturation, but you have to learn to emphasize shadows via painting. There are a few ways to do it. They're all pretty simple in theory. You just need to be able to shade via adjustment layers, soflight mode, overlay, or whatever. I choose what to use by testing it on the image and seeing how the image data reacts, then proceeding if I like what it adds on that particular image. For me it's usually an adjustment layer with whatever blending mode gives me the right falloff in tones. Beyond that it's just drawing. Make sure it's controllable. If I'm afraid to even place the a brush stroke because it becomes instantly overdone, I tone down the settings used.

The best thing people can do when it comes to retouching, is ensure that they feel comfortable drawing in photoshop. That's all it is really. I'm sure there are other ways to accomplish it, but approaching it as I mentioned is controllable, which is what counts. I can adjust things easily if it's going too dark or too blown out in a given area, and it's easy to do so. I'd take control over cheesy filters and stuff any day.

[skoobey]

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6047/6...23d84cb9_b.jpg

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6105/6...f9b980ab_b.jpg

This is how I do it, note that this isn't a uber-muscular model, but having the shadows strongly defined by using a strong directional lighting to begin with will show off more muscle than really diffuse lighting. Also, use images that are rich in contrast, or low key images, as the washed-out look will never give good definition.

One of the methods is to use the group containing contrast and hue/saturation adjustment layer(toggling the group on and of and while working, keeping the saturation in the hue/adjustment to -100) on top of the d&b adjustments in order to more clearly see the darker areas and start painting over them, gradually changing the size of the brush, always working WITH THE REALLY LOW OPACITY (my standards are 3%, 5% and 10% for opacity and 5% and 10% for flow turning the dynamic brushes-off).

+With monochromatic images, you can always play with the contrast adjustments itself to enhance the muscle tone without it looking as artificial as it might if the image were in full color.

[Redraw]

Originally Posted by kav

I'd take control over cheesy filters and stuff any day.

I don't doubt that your method is better.
But if a method does work, be it a "cheesy filter" or another way. Don't knock it if it gets the job done.
Not to mention that skill levels are not all the same for all people and a filter may be easier to work with.