Skin smoothing plugins

R

ritchiec80

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Edit My Images
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Can anyone recommend a plugin for either Lightroom or Photoshop that is good for smooth skin and taking sheen off it etc.... Must work as a plugin rather than a standalone programme.
 
Rather than a plug-in, you might wish to try a negative clarity adjustment as a skin softening/smoothing Adjustment Brush. In Lightroom, in the Adjustment Brush settings in the Develop Mode, set Clarity to -100% and Sharpness to + 25%, all other factors being set to zero. Then just paint over the areas of the face you consider need softening.
 
you can also use ACR and the adjustment brush. then adjust the clarity and brush over the areas required.
failing that most likely nik efex viveza will help to a certain extent.
 
Can I suggest that you learn how to it properly in Photoshop rather than rely on plug-ins?

Here are two retouching tutorials from my course. There are previous lessons that deal with layers, and I always teach my students to edit in a non-destructive way in layers, so some of the previous stuff is missing (I'll assume you know how to use layers). The images are stock, or taken off the net.. which in an educational context, is absolutely fine... however, broadcasting the tutorials on here with copyrighted imagery is a LITTLE naughty, but if I had designed these to be on the net I'd just use my own imagery [edit - actually.. they'd be videos too]. The text in red will mean nothing to you, and is intended for the BA students to complete weekly tasks. You can ignore it. These are also intended to be used in a classroom environment where I am also giving walkthrough demos on screen... so as a stand alone.. some things may require some experimentation and trial and error. You'll also not have access to the source images.

Without a well lit image to work with though... no amount of retouching will be completely successful.

However... plug ins are a blunt tool whereas doing it yourself in PS is a scalpel.


https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/23953768/Week 17 - Believable Retouching.pdf

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/23953768/Week 18 - Frequency Separation Retouching.pdf
 
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I actually do use the plug-in - portrait professional.

I found my own settings by using an image of my sister - it's a face I love and know well - so I add such a light touch to the settings.

Once the plug in has run, I put a texture layer on top of the face to reintroduce skin texture. Lee Varis has an excellent book to explain how to do this.

The images in this thread here used the above process.

Cheers Mandy
 
Pookeyhead said:
Can I suggest that you learn how to it properly in Photoshop rather than rely on plug-ins?

Here are two retouching tutorials from my course. There are previous lessons that deal with layers, and I always teach my students to edit in a non-destructive way in layers, so some of the previous stuff is missing (I'll assume you know how to use layers). The images are stock, or taken off the net.. which in an educational context, is absolutely fine... however, broadcasting the tutorials on here with copyrighted imagery is a LITTLE naughty, but if I had designed these to be on the net I'd just use my own imagery. The text in red will mean nothing to you, and is intended for the BA students to complete weekly tasks. You can ignore it. These are also intended to be used in a classroom environment where I am also giving walkthrough demos on screen... so as a stand alone.. some things may require some experimentation and trial and error. You'll also not have access to the source images.

Without a well lit image to work with though... no amount of retouching will be completely successful.

However... plug ins are a blunt tool whereas doing it yourself in PS is a scalpel.


https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/23953768/Week 17 - Believable Retouching.pdf

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/23953768/Week 18 - Frequency Separation Retouching.pdf
Click to expand...
Love these - thanks
 
You're welcome.
 
Thanks guys. For the record I already know photoshop I was simply looking for a time saving solution. Had a go with the adjustment brush in Lightroom and that seems to be a very fast solution. Thanks for all the advice...
 
Pookeyhead said:
Can I suggest that you learn how to it properly in Photoshop rather than rely on plug-ins?

Here are two retouching tutorials from my course. There are previous lessons that deal with layers, and I always teach my students to edit in a non-destructive way in layers, so some of the previous stuff is missing (I'll assume you know how to use layers). The images are stock, or taken off the net.. which in an educational context, is absolutely fine... however, broadcasting the tutorials on here with copyrighted imagery is a LITTLE naughty, but if I had designed these to be on the net I'd just use my own imagery [edit - actually.. they'd be videos too]. The text in red will mean nothing to you, and is intended for the BA students to complete weekly tasks. You can ignore it. These are also intended to be used in a classroom environment where I am also giving walkthrough demos on screen... so as a stand alone.. some things may require some experimentation and trial and error. You'll also not have access to the source images.

Without a well lit image to work with though... no amount of retouching will be completely successful.

However... plug ins are a blunt tool whereas doing it yourself in PS is a scalpel.


https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/23953768/Week 17 - Believable Retouching.pdf

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/23953768/Week 18 - Frequency Separation Retouching.pdf
Click to expand...

Brilliant David, thanks for this. You don't half get some flack on here but you know your onions :)
 
I've been around a bit... :)
 
David just came across these tutorials of yours they are excellent! Looming forward to following them
Cathy :)
 
@Seajay

I hope you can follow them OK. They weren't written for the net, but instead a classroom environment, so there may be some reading between the lines to be done.

If you get stuck with anything, PM me.
 
Pookeyhead said:
Can I suggest that you learn how to it properly in Photoshop rather than rely on plug-ins?

Here are two retouching tutorials from my course. There are previous lessons that deal with layers, and I always teach my students to edit in a non-destructive way in layers, so some of the previous stuff is missing (I'll assume you know how to use layers). The images are stock, or taken off the net.. which in an educational context, is absolutely fine... however, broadcasting the tutorials on here with copyrighted imagery is a LITTLE naughty, but if I had designed these to be on the net I'd just use my own imagery [edit - actually.. they'd be videos too]. The text in red will mean nothing to you, and is intended for the BA students to complete weekly tasks. You can ignore it. These are also intended to be used in a classroom environment where I am also giving walkthrough demos on screen... so as a stand alone.. some things may require some experimentation and trial and error. You'll also not have access to the source images.

Without a well lit image to work with though... no amount of retouching will be completely successful.

However... plug ins are a blunt tool whereas doing it yourself in PS is a scalpel.


https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/23953768/Week 17 - Believable Retouching.pdf

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/23953768/Week 18 - Frequency Separation Retouching.pdf
Click to expand...

My skin processing has been woefully inconsistent until very recently. I've tried a few tools and wish I'd just spent the time learning to do it in PS in the first place - frequency separation is not that hard, especially if you create an action to create the relevant layers.

The LR skin softening brush is ok for quick edits on full length portraits where the skin isn't the main feature of an image.
Color Efex Pro dynamic skin softener is ok, but make sure you don't remove small details.
Perfect Effects 8 is good for dealing with shine but a bit aggressive at smoothing.
Portrait Professional is difficult to get natural looking results but can be quite useful.
Imagenomics is easily the best for high-end results.
 
juggler said:
My skin processing has been woefully inconsistent until very recently. I've tried a few tools and wish I'd just spent the time learning to do it in PS in the first place - frequency separation is not that hard, especially if you create an action to create the relevant layers.
Click to expand...

:agree:

I haven't a chance to look at David's articles (which I suspect are head & shoulders better than your average youtube video on the same topic) but I've found doing FS and even things like surface blurring manually not only delivers reasonable results fairly quickly, it also gives you a far greater understanding of what you are doing to your image AND WHY. The other thing I would recommend is looking at a couple of videos about makeup... yes, really! Watch how MUAs apply their own versions of dodge & burn to a face and why... it's a very useful foundation (badoom tish!) to what we then build on top digitally.
 
Another one to look at is Perfect Portrait, part of OnOne's suite. I've been using suite 7 for a couple of years (they've just released v9) and been very pleased with it.
 
pjm1 said:
:agree:

I haven't a chance to look at David's articles (which I suspect are head & shoulders better than your average youtube video on the same topic).
Click to expand...

Mine are made to be used alongside a lecture and demsontration, so as a stand alone tutorial, it's probably harder to work with.
 
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