Dashun Wills (Before and After)
At the insistence of a fashion designer doing an upcoming fashion show, I was hired to photograph the models during a rehearsal, unbeknownst to them, they were not "ready for their closeups." Needless to say, none of the models at that time were "model ready."
The technique(s) I used come from a book called Skin by Lee Varis and many layers are used to achieve this.
First the photograph is photographed in "beauty lighting" to wash out as much blemishing as possible. I had the model stand in front of a softbox and to reduce the effect of backlight I placed two diffused umbrellas, one on either side of the camera for fill light. What this will do is give the model a "washed out" appearance. Then through Photoshop CS3, I color correct the photo bringing back the original color and enrichment of tones.
Next layer is a removal of all blemishes, pimples and other skin imperfections
Next layer is a surface blur with a low radius and high threshold. Once that is done, a mask is placed on that layer and then inverted, at that point the masked is brushed through to bring out "flawless" skin (be sure not to do lips eyes, nostrils) only skin (even arms and legs).
Next layer is a sort of paint smoothing layer take care of dark circles under the eyes as well as crows feet. Using the eyedropper selecting a color close around the area you are correcting then with a soft brush and a flow of 1 fill in those areas.
Next layer is a burning and doding layer to enhance angles of jawline and nose by way of shadows
Next layer adds texture back to the skin using Noise, Gaussian Blur and then Embossing.
Finally reducing the Surface Blur layer to the point natural skin comes through, however, keeping the now "perfect" skin. It may seem like a lot, but once you get the hang of it, this photo took approximately 35 - 40 minutes.
Comments and faves
LightNMild (54 months ago | reply)
Nice work and thanks for sharing how you did the skin retouch!! Skin retouch can be a bit tricky at times. You've done very well here. :o)
dallasjlogan (54 months ago | reply)
Thanx a lot Light... One thing about fair skinned models is this: they can't hide behind melanin... One of the reasons I posted this pic is because JUST before he came to the session, he got into a fight (hence the scars on his face). So it was almost like cleaning up and retouching his face like I would a girls face to get it to this point.
guybamboe added this photo to his favorites. (48 months ago)
guybamboe (48 months ago | reply)
Thanks for sharing...very interesting. I learnt today !
yellowmountain88 added this photo to their favorites. (47 months ago)
Miss. Jelotastic (45 months ago | reply)
Thank you loads for sharing.
Perfect retouch. You've made the skin way better.
Good job.
darksideti, apeeling studios, zakinoor, and PS [ www.PSIMDOPE.com ] added this photo to their favorites.
Heather Stokes Photography (29 months ago | reply)
Dallas, you are a GOD. No further comment. =)
Heather Stokes Photography and ChercheurNDC added this photo to their favorites.