Touch Ups

Hello once again,

Last week I said this week was going to be about using Photoshop to touch up blemishes or any other undesirable marks on the skin (or really anything else).

So here we are.

I’m starting this week with a very old photo I took of a friend of mine.

My original edit wasn’t very good because I was still learning how to use Photoshop so now seems like the perfect time to fix it.

Now, she doesn’t have bad skin, but due to some bad editing choices I made, her freckles makes her skin look flawed.
To fix this we’ll be using the Patch Tool (it’s hidden under the Spot Healing Brush Tool in the Photoshop toolbar).

This is one of the simplest and most helpful tools I’ve found in Photoshop.

All you have to do is click and hold down to draw a circle around the area you want to fix.

Now you should have that area selected.

Next click in that area and hold; then drag it onto a spot of skin that is clear.

And when you let go, give Photoshop a minute to do it’s thing, and the area you originally selected should be clear.

Now simply repeat this process to all areas you would like to fix.

When you’re done it might look something like this, but the extent to which you do this is all up to you.

Now I’m going to play with the colors.

First I’m going to use Hue/Saturation option in the Adjustments tools to turn down the saturation on the bright reds in the picture.

Then I’m going to add a curve like last time.

This one is also by Julia Trotti, but this one is called “Ghosts in Your Head”.

She says it works best in flash-lit photos, but I like it on sun-lit photos as well since it softens them up a bit.

Here it also makes her eyes pop again.

And since her skin got a little bleached out, I’m also going to layer on another curve called “Wild at Heart”. Once again, instructions on how to install curves is on the page.

It gives it a slightly yellow-ish, vintage feel.

And then I added a vignette for more of a focus on her face.

And there, not so bad anymore.

Taken from a very harsh, overly saturated wreck to a soft, almost vintage portrait.

If there’s anything you would like for me to talk about next week, let me know.

Until then I’ll leave you with this awesome song.