D&B skin improvement -> light dots

[Ich.Mario]

hi there,

i've got some trouble with the d&b technique. i have no trouble with lighten the dark spots on the skin but when i want to darken the light pixels, they get an ugly gray color. what technique do you use to avoid this trouble? do you ignore the color problem during this process and improve the color after d&b? or do you d&b with color (not black and white) to get color into the light pixels? or what else?

thank you,
mario

[leuallen]

I cover some of this in my move on using a Configurator panel for retouching (CS4 only). You don't need the panel to use the techniques. If you have CS4 and want the panel you can get it also though I don't know if it is working on other peoples systems, no feedback yet.

The movie download:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/4ynnnhjnw2z/Configurator in CS4 for Retouching.mov

The panel download:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/2didndmgggm/Retouch.zip
See instructions in my following post.

Basically for light areas darkened there is a lack of saturation. To add sat to these areas, create a blank layer and set its mode to Saturation. Use a soft, 50% opacity, low flow -2% or so - brush set to Saturation with an intense color. For the brush color (does not matter as long as not black or white), I use a bright green of about 80% saturation. You can read the saturation in the color picker. Works good with Wacom and pen, mouse probably has difficulties.

Larry

[William Wilson]

Excellent solution to the grey problem, I have only begun serious d&b and wondered how to correct this issue.

[chillin]

Originally Posted by leuallen

...If you have CS4 and want the panel you can get it also though I don't know if it is working on other peoples systems, no feedback yet...

Larry

The "Build Layers" button doesn't work. The panel looks nice.
Probably needs an action called "Dodge & Burn by Curves"

[leuallen]

For some reasons the actions and presets were not included in the .mxp file. I have that fixed and have replaced the bad file with a new one that contains the actions and presets. I have corrected the link above to point to the new file and here it is again.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/2didndmgggm/Retouch.zip

File is now zip and contains installation PDF. LL 09-01-25



Larry

[chillin]

I get after lighten layer warning"
The object "action" "Add sat" of set "WOW Retouch shortcuts" is not currently available.
Continue stop

...also the color fix & the command select is missing.

[Ich.Mario]

maybe this problem/solution/helpful file by leuallen should get an own post.

isn't there any other technique? automatic-saturation-increasement when darkining white pixels?

[di_dia]

Hi Larry,
Very powerful panel !!!
I already installed but not work because I don't have the Retouch Action file.
Can u send me the action or can u help me to create?

Thanks

[leuallen]

The actions and presets are installed in the default Photoshop folders. You have to manually load them into Photoshop from there. See the instructions in the included PDF.

Larry

[skauskas]

Originally Posted by Ich.Mario

maybe this problem/solution/helpful file by leuallen should get an own post.

isn't there any other technique? automatic-saturation-increasement when darkining white pixels?

you can try to do it not with black color but match the skin (with color picker) next to the spot and paint with "skin" color. This is for D&B with 50%grey layer

[di_dia]

Thanks a lot Larry... love your panel

[punkjumper]

I was able to download the movie but the action says invalid file. looks like a great panel, I can't wait to try it out.

[jvr]

I get "file doesn't exist" when I try to download both files.
Could someone repost?

[punkjumper]

just tried again on a different computer and it worked fine

[cricket1961]

Mario

There really shouldn't be any grey happening or any need to add in color to fix. Well, except if you have a pure white and there is nothing to bump up from.

If you are using the 50% grey layer technique, sampling the dark skin tone will be a good start. Once you have picked the color that is right, a good thing to do is to open the color picker and drop the saturation down to about 20% or so. That way you are darkening the area evenly and avoiding a possible rise in saturation with the brush strokes.

Chris

[jvr]

Tried with a different computer and always get the "file doesn't exist".

[Markzebra]

The best method for getting tone back into blown areas if you need to do this, is a curve with a dropped white point on the green and blue channels, balanced with a small amount of cyan (red channel), Another method, you can use Selective Color and put some tone Y,M and some C into "whites" these need to be painted in, as adjustments obviously. This is one area where the Curves method (using as many as you need) honestly beats the overlay or soft light methods.

Its much better to be using properly exposed source material. Its not so easy if highlights on skin are so sharp that they are blowing out completely

[cricket1961]

Originally Posted by Markzebra

Its much better to be using properly exposed source material. Its not so easy if highlights on skin are so sharp that they are blowing out completely

That is so true. I always do my own conversions using the Photographers jpg as a general guide. That way I can always have the raw if needed for hilites and shadows.

Chris

[Markzebra]

Yes always get the RAW of you can- sometimes they do all kinds of weird stuff in Capture One Pro, some of which has to be "undone" - which is a nightmare if all you've got is the processed file.