Magazine color/skin.

PasteE · #1 03-12-2008, 12:23 PM

Hi,
I am working with photoshop CS3. I was wondering if anybody can offer any advice on how to do images like the afters in the before and afters on this page,
http://www.modelmayhem.com/p.php?thr...=261385&page=3

Sorry I couldn't post the images directly into this topic. They aren't mine and wouldn't feel right posting around images without consent.

I've found a lot of skin tutorials but the retouching on these images is done to the background as well as the model.
If anybody can offer any advice I'd greatly appreciate it.

santajuana · #2 03-12-2008, 04:36 PM

I think that the skin work had been done with Imagenomic Portraiture.

PasteE · #3 03-12-2008, 07:52 PM

That could be true, however, she was discussing using photoshop in a separate thread. She puts them out very fast, maybe takes her 5 minutes. So I'm guessing she's using the same program for both skin and background. I was thinking that possibly it's one technique that is fixing both skin and background at the same time.

schultzy · #4 03-12-2008, 08:37 PM

If you have a model mayhem account why don't you just ask her how she does it? Jeska is a total sweetheart and would probably tell you how she does it, as she is still just learning herself.

To me it looks like she is adjusting the color of the photo first(contrast,sharpening etc...), then creates a duplicate layer. On the copy layer she uses a surface blur to blur out the skin tones. Then she masks the copy layer (hide all) and then paints white into the mask where she wants the blur to go on the skin,

I could discuss in length how to do it, but here is a website that will show you how to do it:
http://tutorialpulse.com/49/superb-s...ush-technique/

I don't care much for this technique, I prefer to have the skin look natural. But it seems to be really popular with all the photographers lately.

Hope this helps you out in some way,
Dan

PasteE · #5 03-12-2008, 08:53 PM

I saw that tutorial today when looking. I figured that only took care of the skin. I don't have an account, yet. I would ask, she seems like a really nice person. But it seems she is looking to take retouching more seriously so I figured, even if I was able to contact her she probably wouldn't share her secret. I'm sure a lot of people are asking her how she does this.

Thank you for the advice.

Kevin Connery · #6 03-14-2008, 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by schultzy

I don't care much for this technique, I prefer to have the skin look natural. But it seems to be really popular with all the photographers lately.

Some. Perhaps even many. Certainly not all.

It's a LOT faster than any technique which cleans up skin and still retains the original texture, or which properly remaps skin texture afterwards. For those in a hurry, and/or without the desire/need to maintain integrity of subject, it's very popular. (I use that for some portraits, for example, as none of my portrait clients seem to care, and it saves a lot of time.)

Can't use it for commercial work, though; it looks altogether too fake.

PasteE · #7 03-14-2008, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin Connery

Some. Perhaps even many. Certainly not all.

It's a LOT faster than any technique which cleans up skin and still retains the original texture, or which properly remaps skin texture afterwards. For those in a hurry, and/or without the desire/need to maintain integrity of subject, it's very popular. (I use that for some portraits, for example, as none of my portrait clients seem to care, and it saves a lot of time.)

It sounds like you could answer my question but for some reason didn't.

Kevin Connery · #8 03-14-2008, 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PasteE

It sounds like you could answer my question but for some reason didn't.

Short Answer:
The improved color and saturation is due to overall color correction.
The "improved" skin is due to blurring the skin.

More details:

In most of the images, she's doing a basic color correction/contrast enhancement, which is probably responsible for the enhanced saturation as well. For some of the images (such as http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/4...51afterqs6.jpg and http://img364.imageshack.us/img364/750/b4tp5.jpg), the skin is clearly blurred and masked back. There are many ways to accomplish that, but one easy and quick one is to use Select>Color Range to select the skintones, Jump that to a new layer, and blur it. A touch of cleanup around the edges, and it's done. (Or save the selection as a mask before blurring, then use the unblurred mask to serve as the starting point for masking.) Fade the opacity of the blurred layer to taste.

Gaussian Blur, Median, or Surface blur will all have very slightly different results, but they're not likely to be major issues.

The classic downside is that the shape of the face [i]is[i] altered, the texture of the skin is lost (or at least altered), and the image texture from the sensor pattern/scan pattern/film grain is altered. Compare the before and after examples of those two images mentioned above, and it's pretty obvious that's what's been done.

I'll also repeat the earlier suggestion: ASK JESKA. She's generally pretty helpful on MM.

PasteE · #9 03-15-2008, 02:10 AM

Thank you so much for your reply it is definitely helpful. Not sure if I'm going to word this reply right, lol. I'm going to try.
The finished image of the first image you posted is actually the one I was most wondering about.
http://img404.imageshack.us/img4....afterqs6.jpg

I'm going to be signing up for MM soon. I will ask her but as nice as she is I'm sure she is being asked a lot. I'm sure she won't give up her secrets, on that site anyway, though she'll probably be nice about it. I'm not wanting to be a retoucher, I just want to learn the technique for myself. Thank you for your suggestions.

schultzy · #10 03-15-2008, 04:47 AM

Ok, so I tried the little trick that Kevin mentioned above. I also added a few extra things here and there and actually came out with a picture I liked. I would post it here but I don't have the permission from the photographer to add it to my portfolio yet.
You can find it in the serious retouch thread at MM:
http://www.modelmayhem.com/p.php?thr...198402&page=30
Look for the post towards the middle or bottom of the thread by Daniel LaHaie, of the girl with the black background.
Worked really well and was fast to do...Who knew???
Thanks Kevin!

Insensitive. · #11 03-16-2008, 09:05 PM

I think her work looks crappy.

CaptainHook · #12 03-17-2008, 01:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Insensitive.

I think her work looks crappy.

Thank you.

PasteE · #13 03-17-2008, 02:53 AM

You have every right to your opinions. I'm not saying all her work is perfect. Some of the images came out great. Please keep in mind that I did not ask for opinions on her work and she is not here to defend it. I'm simply asking for help on how to do images in that similar way.

Schultzy,
I tried the tutorial link you gave me. The skin came out dark gray and you could see where you missed spots on coloring it in. I noticed in the comments a few people had mentioned that. Your image came out great using Kevin's suggestions.

Kevin,
I used some of your suggestions and it definitely helped but not all of the skin was covered. When I hit color range it only covered some of the skin. So it looked uneven. Maybe I did something wrong. I tried it quite a few times.

CaptainHook · #14 03-17-2008, 04:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PasteE

Please keep in mind that I did not ask for opinions on her work and she is not here to defend it. I'm simply asking for help on how to do images in that similar way.

Completely fair enough.
But the most useful help you could get from anyone here, would be to let
you know this is not the kind of work you should be aspiring towards.

If Jeska was here i would say the same thing to her:
Look at someone like Chris Tarantino's Website here.
Study the work. Work towards that.

I say this because i truly care and wish to help others.
Not to be offensive to anyone.

PasteE · #15 03-17-2008, 06:29 AM

I'm not aspiring towards that. It is a step above where I am currently. At least it seems to be. I much rather work up then jump into something I'm not yet ready for. I feel that the type of retouching she is doing is a good step toward getting familiar with particular tools. It's also as schultzy mentioned a rather popular form of retouching.

There are many things I'd love to try I'm just focusing on this form right now.