This is the evolution of my previous Photoshop Action for skin retouching. It’s a Photoshop Filter now. Actually, it’s a Filter Forge filter, and you need that app to make it run. It’s being developed as a PS Filter as I write this post, but I couldn’t resist to (more…)

UPDATE:

There’s a photoshop filter to do this in one control panel.

I’ll write about this later. For now, the samples speak for themselves. Below the Action file to download and run.

From first to last, the following samples were made using the action-only to action-plus-manual-retouching.

Later:

Wouldn’t you like to get Photoshop understand orders like “smoot the freckles out, and then re-apply the pores” or “smooth out the dimples but keep the fine wrinkles only” and then getting a Professional Photo Retoucher to guide you through all necessary steps to clean-up  your photo without clicking thousands of times with the stamp tool? – Some wouldn’t, though. I’ve seen tutorials from some photographers showing a cloning-stamp-a-ton video in high speed as an heroic resistance challenge, just to accomplish what you do with this action.

This action, uses a technique similar to the one used by “sharpen mask” filter, to detect detail under a certain ratio, and keeps it in a separate layer, while you smooth out the rest. It’s based in my “perfect skin” action, but adds the needed steps and instructions for you to get it done faster.

Once you finish the automated part, you can go ahead and practice a little with the Dodge and Burn tools, to lighten dark sides and darken light ones of bumps.

Let me know if it doesn’t adhere to your workflow for skin-care and I’ll do my best to help it better.

Click the images to see them in full size. (more…)

What if I told you that this image is the “after” of a skin retouching work? (Let’s leave blemishes for another article)

One of the most difficult effects for amateur retouchers is certainly keeping the pores in dramatic skin retouching works, and the skills on Photoshop needed to figure it out say how pro you are. Well, Today you’ll become a PRO, once you master the process, because I’m bringing you a free tool to do it in seconds, as an Action, ready to download and run.
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Left: Original image enlarged 300% to show pixels.
Right: Compressed image with the lowest quality, enlarged 300% too.

Many of you who use Photoshop may know more or less how JPG works, and some of you might have a deep knowledge about the algorithm that makes our photos look bad or allows them to be quickly loaded in browsers. This post is for those who know bigger is better, but don’t know why an image gets heavier or lighter.
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