For a quick smoothing of skin. Dust and scratches?

[Johann29]

quick as in like 10 mins. of retouching. would you choose dust and scratches or degrunge /inverted high pass method?


any other fast method w/o the use of plugins?

[Boneappetit]

For a quick smoothing, I prefer the use skin smooth plug-in, results are way better...

[Johann29]

i see. which plug ins do you suggest?

[Boneappetit]

Hi Johann: I just wrote the name... "skin smooth" you can get it here: and it is free.... http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/pho...in-smooth.html

follow the instructions on the same page for proper installation and use...

[kav]

This may be me, but I think images look better with less retouching than they do after anything involving surface blur and stuff like that. Assuming a decent starting image I could do quite a lot to tidy it up within 10-15 minutes. This isn't by any means saying I'd complete a beauty retouch in that time but I'd place my 10 minute results up against anything using skin smoothing plugins. If you really need to lighten up massive eye bags or clean up anything huge, a plugin won't do that entirely anyway (correct me if I'm wrong here) so you'd need other stuff for the heavy lifting regardless.

[Boneappetit]

That's right kav. I was just answering your question on "quick solution" not a perfect one. IMO, skin smooth is "the best plug-in" for a quick result in retouching... As any other plug-in or program it takes some time to learn how to use it well... You can also use it combined with some dodge and burn etc, in order to get better results. So far, there's nothing in Pro Retouch that beats Dodge and Burn technique, along with Spatial Frequency Separation <--
skin smooth plug-in uses this last technique. Surface blur or any other blur or plug-in, will never give you the results of D&B and SFS techniques...

[kav]

Originally Posted by Boneappetit

That's right kav. I was just answering your question on "quick solution" not a perfect one. plug-in, will never give you the results of D&B and SFS techniques...

I didn't mean to come off as abrasive or anything. If that plugin is a bit more gentle than some of the others it might be a great option for quick jobs. I just try to urge against blurry skin as opposed to slightly rough skin. The split frequency thing might hasten healing or cloning work. It seems to if you're going quickly as it's less likely to change the density of an area if your sampling choice isn't ideal or you're a little heavy handed. That might make it ideal for a rapid pace.

[julianmarsalis]

If your looking for quick fast way degrunge and or Inverted high pass both are decent not great just mask the skin and lower the opacity. If you want high end results tho expect to work for them for they are not something done very quickly at all.

[Boneappetit]

Originally Posted by kav

I didn't mean to come off as abrasive or anything. If that plugin is a bit more gentle than some of the others it might be a great option for quick jobs. I just try to urge against blurry skin as opposed to slightly rough skin. The split frequency thing might hasten healing or cloning work. It seems to if you're going quickly as it's less likely to change the density of an area if your sampling choice isn't ideal or you're a little heavy handed. That might make it ideal for a rapid pace.

LOL, no no kav, maybe i was the one who sounded harsh, sorry... I agree with you... 100%


My 2nd choice on quick smooth skin is the degrunge technique, here is a tutorial: (scroll page down for quick method) http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=213