Professional processing of a portrait in Photoshop. Lesson on effective processing of a portrait in Photoshop. Group of layers with additional retouching

Final result:

Step 1
Open the girl photo in Photoshop. Double click on the background layer to unlock it. Name it “woman”. Create a new layer (Create New Layer) under the layer of the photo and fill it with black using the tool Fill (Paint Bucket Tool).

Step 2
This step is very important, we will be creating shadows for the girl. This will help create the focal point and define the illuminated area. Add a Layer Mask to the girl's layer, select the Brush Tool with soft edges and 50% opacity. Paint the edges of the canvas on the mask with black as shown below. The mask will hide the pixels of the girl's layer and reveal the bottom black layer.

Reduce the Opacity of the brush to 20-25% and paint over the left side of the face, arms and shoulder. Don't worry if you overdraw the layer mask too much, we'll fix that later.

Set the fill color to white and lower the brush's opacity to 10%. Draw on the mask areas of the canvas that were painted too much earlier. If you want to create a smoother transition from shadows to highlights, apply a Gaussian Blur Filter to the mask.
It took me 30 minutes to achieve the desired result, although it is not a very difficult process.

Step 3
Since we have not reduced the size of the photo, all the imperfections on the face are noticeable. Now we are going to do a little touch-up. Select the Spot Healing Brush Tool, create a new layer (Create New Layer) and in the tool settings set the value to Sample from all layers (Sample All Layers). In the screenshot below, I marked the areas that need to be processed.

Step 4
Now we will work on enhancing the shadows and highlights of the girl. Create a new layer (Create New Layer) and fill it with 50% gray (Shift + F5). Set the Blending Mode - Overlap (Blending Mode - Overlay). Use the Dodge Tool and Burn Tool to paint over the layer as shown below.

Result before and after changing the blend mode:

Step 5
Now let's move on to color correction. Create an adjustment layer Selective color correction (Layer - Selective Color). Adjust the Neutrals and Black tones.

Step 6
For more impact, you can create a glow on the colors of the girl's rim. Create three new layers with Blending Mode - Color Dodge. Use a dark brush to paint the marked areas in the screenshot below. On the “Lights 3 Color Dodge” layer, I used a large soft brush and a green brush on the eyes.

Step 7
General lighting can be adjusted with the Lighting Effects Filter. First you need to merge all layers into one (Ctrl + Alt + Shift + E) and then apply the filter.

Step 8
Now let's create the light rays. Use the Polygonal Lasso Tool to create triangular shapes on a new layer. Then apply the Motion Blur Filter several times. The Distance depends on the size of the photo, I used 999 pixels. After that apply the Gaussian Blur Filter to make the light rays softer. Lower the Opacity of the layer to 20-25%.

Step 9
Now let's start creating particles. Select the Brush Tool and go to the brushes palette (F5) and set it like this:

Shape Dynamics: Size Jitter - 90:
Scattering: Scatter - 1000%, Count - 1
Dual Brush: Select Spatter 14 as the second brush, you can experiment with other settings.

Professional photo retouching in Photoshop

1. Open the source file. In this case, we will retouch the photo I took in the Beauty style. 2.First, let's define all the "jambs" that we need to fix:

1 - circles under the eyes 2 - asymmetry of the eyes and face in general 3 - chubby cheeks (although here it tastes and color, I personally love "cheeky" ones) 4 - wide chin 5 - wide nose (also IMHO) 6 - hair on the forehead 7 - dust on the matrix 8 - nasolabial folds 9 - acne, blackheads, and various skin irregularities 3. Make a copy of our background. Let's call it "face". Take the Patch Tool and start to "remove" the shoals on the skin (circles under the eyes, pimples, wrinkles, mustache, etc.) For those who do not know how to use - take the tool and select the area that we need to fix, then drag the selection to a clean area of \u200b\u200bthe skin, thereby replacing the bad with the good. With the same tool, you can get rid of dirt in the background

6. We get:

6. The patch that we used is a very rough tool, and after itself it leaves the so-called "scars", from which we also need to get rid of, we will return to this, but for now we "change" the shape of the face, add a thinner look to it, and try to achieve symmetry. Go to Filter - Liquify. We need to make the left eye a little larger, so we take the Bloat Tool, the brush parameters (on the right): Brush Size - 736 Brush Density - 66 Brush Rate - 18 Move the brush over the pupil - and click 2 times. Our eye is aligned with the second. With the same brush parameters, but with the help of the Pucker Tool, we will reduce the nose, including the bridge of the nose, make sure that the diameter of your brush does not affect the eyes and lips. Press no more than three times. 6. Move on to the cheeks. To make the cheeks smaller and extend the chin, we need to use the Forward Warp Tool (Topmost on the left in the toolbar). But in order not to grab hands and hair, we cover them with a mask. Take the Freeze Mask Tool. By changing its diameter, paint over the area of \u200b\u200bthe hands and hair near the cheeks. If you accidentally climbed the mask on your face, then it can be erased with an eraser, which is located below the brush of the mask itself:

Now take the Freeze Mask Tool and "pull down" the cheeks. It's the same with the chin. The brush settings should remain the same, only the diameter will change (Brush Size). Here, how convenient it is, I like working with a large diameter.: We get:

7. Now we will "smooth" the skin. We will do this completely primitively, since there are a bunch of methods on the forum, but my difference is. That we first "kill" the texture of the skin completely, and then we will "restore" someone else's. This can be done with blur or well-known portraiture. Make a copy of the Face layer and call it "blur". Go to Filter - Imagenomic - Portraiture. Find the Pick Mask Color on the face. Click OK. Here we have such a "blurry" person:

8. But we don't want to leave her like that? Take the eraser Opacity 100% (hardness - 0%) And "erase" the hair, necklace, eyes, lips, eyebrows, nails, edges of the nose, fingers and edges of the whole body. Then change the Opacity to 30% and "reveal the skin texture" a little, erase a little on the cheeks, neckline, shoulder and forehead. After these actions press "Alt + Ctrl + Shift + E" (merge all layers), we get:

9. The resulting layer is called "color correction". Go to Image - Adjustments - Selective Color and set the following values:

Click "Ok", Go to Image - Adjustments - Color Balance

11. Now we will add contrast and volume to the image using an inverted layer mask as well as burn and dodge. Create a copy of the color correction layer. Click on the Add layer mask button located at the bottom of the Layers tab:

Go to Image - Adjustments - Invert. Select the "Brush Tool" (brush), it should be white, with soft edges, you will adjust the diameter yourself "along the way", as well as Opacity, but approximately my transparency is always at the level of 10-15. Set the layer blending mode to Screen. Now we are going to "lighten" different areas of the skin. To begin with, let's go over the entire face and body with a brush with a large diameter, in order to set the "tone". Make sure that the layer mask is always active, and not the layer itself, otherwise you will not succeed. I selected the areas of the skin that we need to go over with a white brush, make them lighter (forehead, nose, hair, collarbone, etc.):

Do not be afraid to run the brush over the same place several times, but also be careful not to overdo it. We get:

12. Now we will "darken" some areas of the skin:

Press "Alt + Ctrl + Shift + E" (merge all layers), and again create an inverted layer mask as in the previous action, only set the blending mode instead of Screen to Multiply. The brush options are the same and it is also white. If you accidentally hit the background or unwanted skin with a brush, you can always use an eraser. As a result, we get:

13. But the Mask does not always save. There are also tools such as the Dodge Tool and Burn Tool. With their help, I "paint" small details, the so-called "highlights" on the skin, which adds "glossiness" to my pictures. Press "Alt + Ctrl + Shift + E" (merge all layers) and select the Dodge Tool (Parameters: Range - Midtones, Exposure - 10, diameter is always different). First, let's draw "beautiful eyes" for them (I have selected the area that I have already dodged).

In this tutorial we will look at several techniques for creating a dramatic portrait in adobe program Photoshop. The tool will be actively used here Mixer Brush (Mixing brush) as well as retouching technique Dodge and Burn (Dodge and Burn) to bring out the main details and get a dramatic effect.

To complete this tutorial, you need version Adobe Photoshop CC, since it was in it that significant updates took place. We will use an adjustment layer Color Lookup (Search for color), retouch the model's skin, and also try out a new filter Camera Raw, which has become available since version CC... But one way or another, if you have a different version of the program installed, you will get a similar result.

The translation is based on the lesson posted on the YouTube video portal, so we will do everything to make it clear and easy for you to follow.

Step 1

First, you need to separate the model from the background. For this, the author used the tool Pen (Pen) (P), for more precise selection. After the model is completely selected, press the right mouse button and select Make Selection (Form selection). Radius (Feather)put shading - 1 px... Then apply a layer mask to the selected model. If there are still some errors, you can remove them with a black brush on the layer mask.

To make the edges of the model look more accurate, you can use the function Refine Edge (Refine Edge) with settings as in the screenshot.

Also, the author advises to pay attention to the remaining outline around the model. It can be darkened with Layer Style(Layer style) Inner Shadow (Inner Shadow) with the settings shown in the screenshot.

Name the model layer « Model».

Step 2

Now let's open the background image (Ctrl + O) , or just transfer the picture to the program. Blur the background with a filter Gaussian Blur (Gaussian blur). Blur the background in such a way that no details are visible. The author used a filter with a radius 106 .

Step 3

Let's start removing defects on the face. Create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + N). Name it fix. Let's apply it as Clipping Mask (Clipping Mask)to the model layer « Model» ... Also, you must check the box next to Sample all Layers (Sample from all layers).

Now, with the tool Healing Brush Tool (Spot Healing Brush), remove some blemishes on the face.

Next, let's create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + N) and let's call it soft... Apply it as a Clipping Mask to the layer. fix... With a tool Mixer Brush (Mixing Brush) with the settings shown in the screenshot, smooth out the model's skin. Also, don't forget to check the box next to Sample all Layers (Sample from all layers).

The result you should get:

Step 4

Create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + N). Let's call it R... Let's use the tool again Pen (Feather) (P). In the settings, on the options panel at the top, instead of Path, put Shape. In this way, new circuit will automatically fill with fill. Create an outline around the right (away from us) lens on the glasses. For ease of selection, it is recommended to slightly reduce Fill (Fill), of this layer, up to 64% .

Now let's start selecting the second lens. Create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + N) and call it L. Also select the contour of the lens and slightly reduce Opacity(Opacity) of this layer, up to 64% . (Translator's note) For a closer acquaintance with the instrument Pen (Pen) (P) you can study this article https: //site/articles/tools_a/kak-rabotat-s-perom.html

Once everything is ready, go to the layer R and apply for it Layer Style (Layer style) Gradient Overlay (Gradient overlay) (or by double-clicking on the layer with the left mouse button) with the settings as in the screenshot.

Use a gradient from #2 f2368 to # ffffff. The result that should be:

Now let's just transfer Layer Style (Layer Style) (while holding down Alt) from layer R per layer L.

This is how the model's glasses should turn out:

Create a group and move both layers there. Name the group « Glasses».

Now let's create an adjustment layer Hue / Saturation (Hue / Saturation) and apply it as Clipping Mask (Clipping Mask) to the lens group.

Move the slider Hue (Hue) to value -37 .

Step 5

Now we need to create a small shadow from the glasses. To do this, create a new layer under the group. « Glasses» ... Name it « Glass Shadow» .

Next, with the key held down Ctrl, click on layer L... This will create a circular selection around the lens. Go to Select (Selection) - Modify(Modification) - Expand(Expand). Set the expansion radius 5 px... The selection will become wider. Next, go Select (Selection) - Inverse (Invert) (or right click on the selection and Select Inverse) (Alt + Ctrl + I). Now, with the tool Brush (Brush) (B) from Feather (Opacity) and Flow(Push) by 50% and low stiffness , leave a small shadow around the frame, leaving a shadow behind the glasses.

Then, do the same for the right frame.

If you have any extra shadow marks, just remove them using the tool Eraser (Eraser) (E).

If the shadow seems unrealistic to you, i.e. too dark, you can apply the filter Gaussian Blur (Gaussian blur).

Translator's note:to select the shadow, you can use any selection tool. The author used Rectangular Marquee Tool (rectangular selection) (M)).

Leave the blur radius in the area 3 px... Drag the final variation to the group « Glasses» .

So, the result of the actions performed:

Step 6

Gradient Fill (Gradient fill) on top of all layers. Make the gradient from white to transparent.

Note. author: The pink light hitting the model on the left is shown so it can be seen better. Also, for this layer the blending mode was used.Soft Light (Soft light). LowerOpacity (Opacity) this layer until you are satisfied with the result.

Subtract Opacity (Opacity) of this layer to 30% and change the blending mode to Soft Light (Soft light).

Step 7

Create a new adjustment layer Color Lookup (Search for color). In subsection 3D Lut File select Edgy Amber 3 DL. Reduce Opacity (Opacity) of this layer up to 15%.

Step 8

Create a new adjustment layer Curves (Curves). Go to the blue channel in this layer and tighten the bottom point to tint the image in shadows and highlights, thereby adding a split toning effect, as in the screenshot.

And the top point.

The result you should get

Step 9

Create an adjustment layer again Gradient Fill (Gradient fill) with color from f6dfb2 to transparent with the settings as in the screenshot.

Now move the gradient to the upper left corner like in the screenshot:

Also, there is another alternative way.

Portrait is probably one of the most popular genres in photography. Everyone who starts to get involved in photography takes portraits.
But with the processing of these portraits it turns out worse. The percentage of well-processed portraits is very small, which cannot but be frustrating given the number of photographers per capita in modern Russia.
In this post, I'll show you how to process portrait photography in Photoshop. More precisely, I will tell you my way of processing.

Where to begin

The first thing to start with processing is the analysis of the photo and the development of a work plan. As a rule, when opening an image, the processor immediately looks at the face, eyes, skin imperfections and thus pays little attention to the overall picture.
Start your analysis by looking at photography as a whole. To accustom yourself to this - reduce the photo with a zoom so that the details are not readable and do not distract you.
What you need to pay attention to when studying the photo (the order does not matter):

• Is the image balanced in tonality and colors?
• How do the contours of the figure and clothing look?
• Are the proportions of the body preserved and is there deformation?
• Are the lighting and exposure correct?
• Is the image in focus correctly?
• Are there any defects in the background?

After that, you can conduct a detailed examination of the photo and identify the following questions for yourself:

• Do I need to remove dust from the photo?
• What skin and body defects need to be removed?
• Do I need makeup treatment?
• Do I need to adjust the shape of the body.
• Do I need to correct lips and other facial features?

In principle, everyone should develop their own algorithm of work, I am currently adhering to the above.
Advice: Flip through magazines, study classics, and not only photos, but in general fine Arts... This will contribute to your overall development as a photographer and retoucher.

Treatment

We opened the photo after converting from RAW.

It remains to process the eyes. To do this, take a Clone Stamp with an opaque brush, increase the image to 300% and carefully remove the wreaths. The eyes remain a little dark, but we'll fix that in the next steps.

Next, I want to fix the hair, reshape and remove the strand that stands out. This is best done with the Liquify tool, it's in the Filter for me. In order not to load the entire photo into Liquify, we need to select the area that we need to process.

Leather processing.

Now we are ready to make the model's skin look more glamorous and even. To do this, you need to do the following:
Nraitsa .. But you can make it even more interesting. For example, add volume using Photoshop. As you can imagine, volume is just a light-shadow. To give the photo additional volume, you can create a new layer and work on it with the Dodge and Burn tools, we wrote about them in the article Effective photo processing in Photoshop. Now I will tell you about one more method.

We draw volume and work with light and shadow.

Working with Dodge and Burn is not convenient because you paint both highlights and shadows on the same layer. To separate the light and shadow into layers, do the following.
Duplicate the main layer two times. Assign a black mask to each layer. One layer with a Multiply blending mode, the second with a Screen blending mode.
Without going into details, Multiply darkens the entire image, while Screen lightens. By painting with a semi-transparent brush on the Screen layer, we lighten the necessary areas, and darken with Multiply. This can be done not only to create volume, but also for any correction of highlights and shadows.
To increase the volume, we will lighten the highlights and darken the dark. In our case, we will lighten the prominent areas of the face - the forehead and cheekbones, and darken the lips and cheeks. I painted a little more through the hair to lighten the roots and darken the highlights.

It is difficult to notice changes in such a photo, but believe me, they are also very significant.

It remains only to add sharpness and contrast. There are a lot of ways, in this case I use the High Pass filter
And the final touch is to duplicate the layer, blend mode Overlay, black mask and paint with a brush through the hair to give it a little gold.
Let's see what happened in the layers.
Side-by-side comparison, you can click for a higher resolution.

The article describes the entire way of processing a photo, including image analysis, working with Liquify, using layers, Dodge & Burn, color correction, and final sharpening.

The material is designed for users who are familiar with Photoshop, namely: know how to change the blending modes of layers; remember where the standard program filters are located and how these filters work approximately; guess where to find and how to apply adjustment layers. If possible, the Russified names of some instruments and blending modes will be duplicated in English.

The article describes the process of retouching using tools and methods that seem convenient and optimal to me at the moment, but this, of course, does not mean that the described method is the most correct one. And one more addition: this is more the logic of the process than a description of the exact values \u200b\u200bof the brush and the parameters of the tools, since it is difficult to use specific settings in the work: it is more important to simply understand what needs to be done in each individual case and at each stage of work. Let's take this portrait of a girl for example.

Principles of portrait retouching

It is advisable to try to take into the work frames that were initially successful in their performance (composition, light, etc.). If you are a beginner photographer and still do not know how to photograph at the level required for high-quality retouching, or a beginner retoucher who does not have access to high-quality materials, be sure to look for suitable sources for training on the Internet and fill your hand and eye on good works.

The main principle of processing, which should be guided by: retouching is needed in order to make a good shot more expressive, and not in order to redraw and redo an image from scratch, which initially is useless. The second follows from the first principle: do not overdo it. If we have already chosen a high-quality frame for work, then it cannot be altered indefinitely. Sometimes it’s better to do a little overwork than completely change the picture.

A few words about conversion.

Before opening an image in Photoshop, it is often necessary to pre-process the raw file in one of the converters. The default is Adobe Camera Raw (abbreviated ACR). There we can immediately correct the exposure, white balance, image contrast and other indicators. This is how my settings looked in ACR.

The peculiarities of preparing an image for processing in Photoshop is a separate topic for conversation, so I will only note that my main goal when converting a photo was to reveal as much detail on the skin as possible by moving the exposure and highlights sliders to the left, and the shadows to the right to reduce the overall contrast photos. In addition, in the same place, in Adobe Camera Raw, I took the white balance to a less yellow color, and using the curves tab I added a reddish tint to the shadows. The last manipulations are completely optional at the beginning of work, since some people prefer to do color correction after technical retouching, but it is more convenient for me to work with an image when the main color scheme has already been determined.

Red channel curve settings in ACR:

Now let's pay attention to the line at the bottom of the Adobe Camera Raw dialog box with image options:

Converting photos in Adobe RGB, 8-bit color space. For high-quality retouching, it is usually advised to convert an image with 16 bit, but 8 bit is usually enough for me to work. Keep in mind that despite the fact that we have now selected the Adobe RGB option, after processing for use on the Internet, the photo must always be translated into the sRGB color space.

At the end of working with the converter, press the "Open Image" button in the lower right corner of the dialog box, and the photo will open in Photoshop.

Photo analysis

In working with this photograph, we will set ourselves the goal of "combing" the picture and making it more expressive, while leaving the image as natural as possible.
As usual, we start any work with image analysis. For training, you can create a separate "photo analysis" layer (it does not matter, an empty layer or a copy of the background), on which we will literally mark everything that we want to fix with a brush.

In our example, these are ordinary skin imperfections, uneven transitions of light and shadow on the forehead and chin of the model, blood vessels on the whites of the eyes. I also want to smooth out the hairs that are knocked out of the hairstyle. Let's slightly correct the shape of the hairstyle, slightly open the eyelid of the left eye, lower the left shoulder, which is too raised. Additionally, we will clean the background from the dark spot in the corner on the right. When we have decided on the main tasks, the "photo analysis" layer can be turned off and returned to it in the process of work to see if we have missed something.

Photo analysis layer:

Filter "Plastic" (Liquify)

Create a copy of our original image and use the "plastic" filter to correct the shape of the hairstyle, lower the left shoulder and slightly adjust the shape of the left eye.

You can read more about the Liquify filter in the article "Using the Liquify filter in Photoshop".

Auxiliary layers

At the beginning of the work, create a group of auxiliary layers:
1) The first adjustment layer of curves: bend the line down until there are enough contrasting details in the lightest significant areas of the image (in our case, this is the skin on the forehead and on the nose). Let's name it "Blackout". For now, turn off (!) The visibility of this layer.

Curves darkening layer and its effect on the photo:

2) Second adjustment layer of curves. Let's call it "Dodge": bend the line upward until details are visible in the darkest significant areas (shadows in the hair). We also make this layer invisible.

Lightening curves layer and its effect on the photo:

3) Another "Black and White" auxiliary adjustment layer. We also disable it after creation.

We put these three layers in a separate folder and place it above all other layers:

We will use auxiliary layers in the process of processing in order to better see the flaws, additional details, as well as transitions of light and shadow. Try turning them on and off alternately now to understand how they change the image, and what details appear when using each of them.

Working with a healing brush.

Let's go directly to retouching.

Create three layers for retouching and merge them into the "Healing Brush, Skin" group:

1) New clean layer with normal blending mode to remove visible minor skin imperfections.

2) A new layer with the "darken" blending mode - In order to clean the skin from spots that are lighter than the general surrounding background.

3) A new layer with the "lighten" blending mode - To remove spots from the image that are darker than the general surrounding background.

Using the same principle, create a group "Healing Brush, Hair" from three layers.
This is how our adjustment layers look at this stage of work:

Select the bottom-most transparent layer “Normal” in the “Healig Brush, Skin” folder and grab the Spot Healig Brush Tool. The hardness of the brush is minimal (during the work, the hardness, as well as other parameters of the brush, can and should be changed).

Select the image scale large enough (up to 100-200%) to see all the nuances on the skin. The main rule is that the brush size is slightly larger than the spot that we remove. The size of the brush is constantly changed using square brackets on the keyboard, unsuccessful actions can be canceled with the key combinations Ctrl + Z or Ctrl + Alt + Z.

During retouching, it is very useful to turn on and off auxiliary layers, which we have in a separate folder above all other layers. The most important thing in such retouching is just to get your hand and eyes on the spot hits of the brush for imperfections, since working inaccurately can only aggravate the situation.

When finished on the first layer, go to the next "Light Swap" to remove small dark spots on the surface of the skin. After it seems to us that everything is ready here, go to the "Blackout" layer and darken all the small light spots that we see. As a result, each separate layer with retouch will look something like this:

We work with the “Healing Brush, Hair” layer group in the same sequence as with the previous layers, only here there is one caveat - it is more convenient to work with hair on an enlarged fragment of the image with a very small “stamp” tool (optimally, a little thicker than a hair trying to delete). We remove loose and too contrasting hairs. It is also useful to practice here and use all the features of our helper layers. After retouching, our image looks neater than before:

Further, if we notice any details that require mandatory adjustment, create a group “Additional retouching”, where we add as many new layers as necessary. For example, with the Clone Stamp Tool (select the parameter “sample layer” with the value “active and below”, English “Sample” - “Current & Below”) I removed dark spot in the lower left corner of the photo and with the same stamp on a new layer, I cleaned the whites of the eyes from red vessels (we do this very carefully, with a brush transparency of about 20-40%).

Additionally, on a separate layer with a brush with a minimum diameter and a suitable color, I painted several new hairs on the eyebrows and along the contour of the hairstyle, so that everything looked more natural (although hair treatment, again, is a separate topic, which we will not go into now).

Group of layers with additional retouch:

The additional changes to the scale of the entire image may look very minor, but it's important for us to remember that it is the little things that give our work the finished look.

Dodge & Burn method

The Dodge & Burn retouching method is widely used in various variations, and now we will also be no exception. Create two Curves Adjustment Layers. We do this in the same way as we created the auxiliary layers before:

- let's name the first one "Dodge", bend the curve upwards to make the picture lighter, invert the layer mask.

- for the second layer “Burn” we lower the curve so that the image becomes darker. Also add a black mask.

I do not have specific parameters according to which any curves should be bent. We do everything by eye, so that both during darkening and during lighting, details remain in the photo. This is how all the layer groups we have at the moment look like:

Now we begin a long and rather monotonous work to smooth out various spots on the skin. Take the Brush Tool.

Set the value of the parameters "Opacity" / Opacity to about 6-10% and "Press" / Flow about 20%. During retouching, we constantly change the value of these parameters and the image scale. It will be equally bad if, instead of smoothing out the spots, you spawn more of them, or if you perfectly smooth the skin surface, leaving a flat pancake in place of the face.

Hence the conclusion that in addition to mastering Photoshop tools, it is good to have at least a superficial understanding of the anatomy of the face and the human figure in general. We begin to carefully paint according to the masks of the created layers where, respectively, we want to lighten or darken areas of the image.

Once again I remind you that here again our auxiliary layers will help us a lot and, of course, some practice is needed in such a difficult task as Dodge & Burn. This stage can take a very long time (from half an hour to a couple of days), so perseverance, attentiveness and, which is very desirable, a graphics tablet will be required.

At the end of your work, when you decide that everything has been done neatly enough, try lowering the overall opacity of the Dodge & Burn layer group to about 80%. Perhaps this will make your photo look more natural and slightly hide the flaws that you may have made during the hard work of lightening / darkening. At least, this technique often helps me.

As a result, the masks of our adjustment layers might look something like this:

Let's compare our penultimate version of the image after additional retouching and the version after Dodge & burn.

Color spots. Decrease saturation or layer in color mode. Working with masks.

We are done with the main retouch. Let's pay attention to the color. After intensive actions to smooth out the skin, the photo could appear too saturated in color or, conversely, discolored spots. Here you can advise this way out:

1) To desaturate the overly saturated spots, create a black and white adjustment layer with a black mask and a white brush with low opacity settings, very carefully paint on the mask over the areas that we don't like.

2) In order to give the desired color to discolored areas or places that have significantly changed the shade during our retouching, create a new transparent layer, change its blending mode to "Color" / Color. Then select the brush tool with a low opacity (10-15%). Now, when we, armed with a brush, hold down the alt key, our brush turns into an eyedropper, and we can take a sample of the desired color in order to gradually paint over spots that differ in color.

Again, caveats: firstly, it is better to take a color sample near the place where you are going to work, and secondly, you do not need to cover large areas on the skin with one color, as it looks very unnatural. It is better to call the eyedropper more often and take new shades again next to the area where you are working.

In our photo, there were no obvious color distortions, and I limited myself to light correction with a layer in the "Color" blending mode.

A separate lesson dedicated to the Dodge / Burn technique "Retouching a female portrait - working with shadows and highlights."

Refinement of the portrait on additional separate layers.

To smooth out the structure of the skin on the neck, create a new empty layer and use a stamp with a transparency of about 10% several times over the desired areas. Repeated movement in the same place blur the texture of the cloned area, and we get a soft effect, but we have the opportunity to preserve the naturalness of the image, since we act on a separate layer (if necessary, the transparency of the layer is reduced).

On a new layer, use the stamp to work on the eyes again. Additionally, add an adjustment curve to this layer to subtly lighten the eye area.

Color correction

Next, two adjustment layers were created: black and white with 10% transparency to slightly reduce the overall saturation of the image, and a curves layer, where I slightly increased the contrast of the image and slightly changed the tone of the image, arbitrarily moving the points on the curves in different channels. As a result, the transparency of the curves layer was lowered to 40%, as the adjustments seemed unnecessary.

Color layer group:

Adding volume.

After all the above steps, I had a desire to slightly emphasize the volume of the image, especially to increase the depth of the model's eyes. To do this, create the already familiar lightening curve, curved up, add a black mask and use rough strokes of a white brush with an opacity of 10-15% over the eyes, lips and highlights on the hair.

Let's apply another way to make the facial features more expressive. Select our topmost layer and merge all layers into one new one using the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl + Alt + Shift + E. Convert it to black and white using the Ctrl + Shift + U keys and go to the menu “Filter” - “Others” - “Color contrast” (Filtr-Other-High Pass). Choose a radius so that the volumes of the black and white image are visible, agree with the filter value and set this layer to the Soft Light blending mode. Draw the eyes, hair and lips on a black layer mask.

Applying the "Color Contrast" / High Pass filter to obtain local volume:

Sharpening

After technical retouching, when the main imperfections in the photo are removed, it is possible to add sharpness using the "Color Contrast" filter (English High Pass).

We repeat the same actions that were listed in the previous step when adding a local volume: merge everything into a new layer from above, translate the image into black and white, go to the High pass filter, only now we take a small radius so that only the contours of the image remain.

Select the blending mode "soft light" and see how the sharpness increases. You can keep the entire image sharp, but I painted the eyes and lips separately on the mask to keep the skin softer.

As a result, we can compare the image that we got with the one that was originally:

Also, for clarity, let's consider an enlarged section of the photo to make sure that the skin structure was preserved during processing without adding additional textures and noise:

General characteristics of the described processing method

Let's summarize our work:

1) The described method is far from the fastest, but very accurate and allows you to achieve natural processing.

2) With this method of retouching, it is possible to make corrections at almost any stage of processing, since only adjustment and transparent layers are used. The exception is the "Plastic" layer, so you should think about when it is more appropriate for you to do it: at the beginning of work or at the end.

List of all layers used in the retouching process:

3) The Dodge & Burn technique requires some work experience. It is advisable to work with a graphics tablet.

4) As in any other processing method, the main thing is not to overdo it, so as not to change the geometry of the face and body, adjusting the cut-off contour.

 

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