Retouching is the process of giving the skin in the photo an ideal or almost perfect condition through processing. The article will provide instructions for the two most popular techniques, showing how to even out skin tone in Photoshop CS6. Let's get started.
Frequency Decomposition Method: Photo Preparation
First, you will learn how to even out skin tone in Photoshop using the frequency decomposition method - one of the most common and effective methods. It requires attention, patience and perseverance, but the effort is worth the result:
- Upload a photo to Photoshop, create a copy of the layer.
- At your discretion, get rid of the most noticeable moles, blackheads, wrinkles. The item is optional, but it is easier to eliminate major defects at this stage.
- On the toolbar, find the patch icon with a plus sign or patch. These are the Spot Repair Brush and Patch tools. Without setting high stiffness values, pinpoint through skin defects. If you work with a patch, then circle the problem area and move it to any nearby location with a similar color without defects. It is not necessary to pay attention to every small detail.
It is worth noting that these manipulations can also be considered a kind of method for smoothing the skin of the face.
Frequency division
Go to the next step:
- Create two copies of the photo layer. For convenience, you can combine them into a group. The upper layer will contain information about the details (we will conventionally call it “Details”), the lower layer will contain information about the color (conditionally, “Color”).
- To get started, select the Color layer, click on the Filter tab, go to the Blur section and select Gaussian Blur.
- Adjust the "Radius" slider so that common features are visible on the photo, but fine texture details are lost.
- Click "OK" and go to setting the second layer "Details".
- In the "Image" tab, select "External Channel."
- In the window that opens, find the "Layers" column and select the color layer. The blending mode to be set is “Add”.
- Check the box "Invert" and make sure that the line "Scale" was the number 2.
- Click OK. If you did everything correctly, you should get a picture similar to the one in the screenshot below.
Defect management
We continue to work. As you can see, the color was removed from the layer, only the details remained. The next stage will be quite painstaking. Its essence is to remove all skin irregularities from the layer with details, that is, moles, all kinds of rashes, manifestations of acne, etc. If the defects do not differ well in the photo, add the Curves adjustment layer and adjust it in approximately the same way. as in the screenshot below.
You can remove irregularities using the tools “Spot Repair Brush”, “Repair Brush” or “Stamp”. Brief instructions for working with the last two:
- Set the optimal size.
- Hover over a healthy area of skin, hold Alt.
- Left click. This means that you have taken a sample from a patch of skin.
- In the "Tool Settings" panel at the top, find the column "Sample Cloning Mode" (or simply "Sample") and select "Active Layer". Do not set too high values for "Stiffness". Set the “Shape” and “Angle” parameters according to the situation.
- Now start clicking on the problem areas. Try to do this pointwise, i.e. without large strokes. Paint over all visible defects.
- To see the result of work at this stage, select the blending mode "Linear Light".
How to even out skin tone in Photoshop
After you finish the restoration, create a new clean layer, placing it between the layers with details and color. The face is cleansed, which means that you can begin to even out skin tone in Photoshop:
- Select the "Brush" tool, in its settings find the soft option with minimal rigidity.
- Set small values for "Opacity" and "Press" in the panel at the top as you wish.
- Hold Alt (or select the Eyedropper tool) and take a skin color sample.
- Carefully paint over any unnecessary glare and spots, but be careful about the anatomy of the face - try not to paint over important elements. It is recommended to use a pipette to take a new color strictly next to each problem area in order to maintain naturalness.
On this you can finish the job. Complete the processing with filters and adjustment layers as you like. The result is presented below.
ByRo method
Another way that will tell you how to make skin tone in Photoshop soft and smooth in appearance. It is not as thorough as retouching using frequency separation, so it is not recommended to use it to process photographs of people experiencing major skin problems. Nevertheless, the byRo method is simple - this is its main advantage. Experienced users are advised to combine the methods of frequency decomposition and byRo to achieve an even skin tone in Photoshop.
Preparation
Getting started:
- Upload a photo, create a copy and fix the most noticeable skin defects using the Spot Repair Brush or Patch tool.
- Now create a copy of this layer and invert it ("Image" - "Correction" - "Invert").
- After that, right-click on this layer and select "Convert to Smart Object". This will help correct inaccuracies in the future.
Work with filters
To add the first filter:
- Go to the "Filter" - "Other" - "Color Contrast" section.
- Adjust the “Radius” slider to show a situation similar to that obtained by decomposition in the previous method, that is, only detail without texture should remain.
- Then add the Gaussian Blur filter and set a radius that would be about three times smaller than what you set on the Color Contrast filter.
- Change the blending mode of the layer to Linear Light. If you did everything right, you should see something similar.
- While on the filter layer, click on the "Add layer mask" button, marked with a red rectangle in the screenshot above.
- Select the Fill tool, put a black color on the palette and left-click on the image. The blur effect should disappear.
Now, directly on how to even out skin tone in Photoshop:
- Select a soft brush of white color and begin to carefully paint the problem areas. To prevent the correction from appearing too coarse, adjust the Pressure and Opacity for the brush.
- After alignment, you can modify the photo using the already added filters. Increase or decrease the radius of “Color Contrast” to enhance or weaken the effect of retouching. Also change the radius of the “Gaussian blur” based on the situation. Add other filters or adjustment layers to complete.
Conclusion
We examined the two most beloved ways of many photographers. Which one is more effective? No answer. Each of them has a place in different situations. For example, it would be too energy-consuming to use the frequency separation method in order to correct a slight redness on the face.
How to even out skin tone in Photoshop, if there are no healthy areas on the face? Use frequency separation, since it is unlikely that the byRo method will be effective.
Make changes to the instructions above and don't be afraid to experiment. Good luck