whats with this strange texture eh ?

[Salomon]

Hi,
ive encontered this little problem in one of my retouch... there is some strange "dot" texture of the skin.. i guess i could go on with D&B but ill lose the texure, right ? Ive learnt never to use blur... but i wonder if it could help a little in this case ?

I wonder if its not due to a wrong 16bit>8bit conversion... i remember screwing up with that step a little...

[RokcetScientist]

That's her beard, Salomon. Hair implant/follicles.

[igot2pman]

Could also be old healed acne. It creates pits like that when you pop them too much. D&B could be used to even the skin out and make it less obvious. You will loos the texture if you over do it.

-Keven

[Salomon]

i hesitate whether leave it like this or smooth it out... but without losing texture. the thing is that it is a very delicate shadow.. D&B would accentuate it or lighten it..
I wonder if this is what we call "banding"... ?

This is a 100% crop of the skin.

[Soul_of_Kilik]

It's the healing tool maybe - I've found that overusing or not randomizing the source enough creates some strange anomalies on certain skin textures. I think I saw my grandfathers face one time.

[0lBaldy]

I would leave it and not overwork the photo.. if someone spots it, other than you, then maybe try a fix.. after your eyes rest!

[snook305]

Originally Posted by Soul_of_Kilik

It's the healing tool maybe - I've found that overusing or not randomizing the source enough creates some strange anomalies on certain skin textures. I think I saw my grandfathers face one time.

I agree.. Many times with the healing brush you get funky skin patterns that look computer generated...

I would guess you used the lasso or healing brush tool around there or no?
Snook

[Salomon]

nay.. i see what you mean. but i don't use the healing brush that much... most of the work here is D&B..

[Daviskw]

Try placing your two examples over one another... change the top one to difference.

Stamp a layer showing the merge... then desaturate and increase the contrast with curves.

I believe this will show where you dodged and burned... It seems to me you inadvertently enhanced the spots as you dodged and burned. The stokes you took pass over most of the dots.

Butch

[Salomon]

ill try that. but im pretty sure its not from D&B... maybe it's just from her pretty messed up skin or lighting.. or maybe the 'cheapie' canon 5D ..

[Soul_of_Kilik]

Originally Posted by Salomon

ill try that. but im pretty sure its not from D&B... maybe it's just from her pretty messed up skin or lighting.. or maybe the 'cheapie' canon 5D ..

mmm... it could be compression too. D&B could enhance JPG compression that didn't show in the original - but I'm sure you wouldn't be retouching a JPG now, would you?

[Southbay]

Looks like noise to me. This any better for you? Very light Neat Image.

[Salomon]

soul of kilik, no i dont work on jpeg.. mostly on outrageously heavy 16bits tiff most of the time...

Southbay, the skin looks great like this. ill try that thank you ! it made me think i should have tried more with calculations to smooth the skin a little more maybe.. have you tried noise ninja ?
im a lazy ass and i guess thats what i liked in noise ninja...

[Southbay]

Salomon,

I'm a bit lazy myself, tho I primarily use shortcuts to get things looking good in a short time frame. I scan high volume and do basic exposure and color adjustments – Neat Image is my bread & butter noise and texture reducer.

Noise Ninja is VERY good as well, but I settled on NI after reading reviews such as this:

http://www.michaelalmond.com/Articles/noise.htm

I also admire the work of this photographer who uses it in her workflow.

http://www.dianevarner.com/

As well, Michael Reichman at Luminous Landscape gave it two thumbs up. On this subject, his recommendation was good enough for me.

[Soul_of_Kilik]

Originally Posted by Salomon

soul of kilik, no i dont work on jpeg.. mostly on outrageously heavy 16bits tiff most of the time...

Cool mate. Just filtering through the possibilities.