Different Techniques of Skin Softening
[ratings]
I often get asked on how should I soften up skin tones in my photos? There’s not really one right answer since there are actually plenty of ways of doing this. There are ways of softening up skin tones while your photo is still in RAW format and probably more popular ways are done inside of Photoshop where you have total control. In this tutorial you learn the following:
- Quickly soften up those skin tones in Lightroom and Camera Raw.
- The High Pass Filter Method
- Gaussian Blur Technique
- Photoshop Actions
- Photoshop Plugins
Adobe Lightroom
Adobe Lightroom is “..designed specifically for professional and advanced amateur photographers. It is an efficient, powerful way to import, process, manage, and showcase large volumes of digital photographs. Lightroom enables you to spend less time sorting and organizing images, so you have more time to actually shoot and perfect them.” -Adobe
Softening with the Clarity Level
NOTE: There are a few reasons why you should always take photos in RAW. First most obvious reason is the uncompress format compared to JPG. Second, you can create as many revisions as you want to the photo and revert back to the original anytime you want without having to worry about your undo level. The third main reason is the full control on your White Balance (which we’ll cover in another tutorial).
Start with the Adjustment Brush with the effect Soften Skin selected. The preset drops the clarity level down to -100 and increases the sharpness to +25.
Paint over the skin you want softened and do not paint over the eyes and lips (this will keep them as sharp as possible).
Take the Adjustment Brush again and use a positive (+) level clarity over the eyes and lips. This will make the eyes “pop” even more.
Soften a Batch of Photos
From the Develop tab, find the Clarity bar under the Basic drop-down. Move the slider to the left, which is the negative (-) side.
After you’ve adjusted the clarity level on one photo, duplicate the settings to the rest of the batch.
From the Library Tab, select the first photo with the revised clarity setting and select the other photos you wish to have the same clarity settings.
Right click on the selected items, select Develop Settings – Sync Settings.
In the Sync Settings window, check only the Clarity level and click on Synchronize. The Sync Settings can also be used to synchronize other settings such as White Balance, Exposure, etc.
You may have to just go on each image and use the Adjustment Brush to paint over the eyes and lips with a Positive (+) level clarity.
Adobe Camera Raw and Bridge
If you’re not using Lightroom, you’re probably using Bridge and CS Raw to organize and edit your photos. Camera Raw has the same Clarity slider as in Lightroom. They’re just placed a little different.
Open an image in Camera Raw and on the right side are the Basic sliders (very similar to the ones in Lightroom). Use the same techniques as mentioned for the Lightroom procedure. The Adjustment Brush is located on the top toolbar (shown above).
As mentioned in the Lightroom procedure, use the Adjustment Brush to adjust the clarity level back to original on certain parts of the image such as the eyes and lips.
Syncing Photo Settings
From Adobe Bridge, select the photos you wish to sync. Right click any of the selected photos and choose Open in Camera Raw. Click the revised photo on the left side, then click on Select All, then Synchronize.
8-29-09 Update: I found a great article on how to Get Going with Adobe Bridge CS4 by Kajik. If Bridge CS4 is your main photo management system or thinking about switching to it then this definitely is a very good read.
Adobe Photoshop
Soften Skins Using Filters
There are probably countless forum threads and sites that shows you how to soften skin in Photoshop. I’m just going to list what I think are some of the best and most efficient ways of softening skin in Photoshop.
NOTE: Remember to ALWAYS duplicate your original layer and get in the habit of using the Layer Mask rather than using the Eraser Tool. Lunacore has a great layer mask tutorial that is worth taking a look at.
Using The High-Pass Filter Method
Probably one of the most effective ways of skin softening in Photoshop is the High-Pass Filter Procedure as shown in Photoshop Essentials. Follow the tutorial step-by-step and yields pretty good results.
Shown below is a before-and-after image using the High-Pass Filter method. There are more photos in our Headshot Portfolio that were done with the high-pass filter method.
The Gaussian Blur Method
The Gaussian Blur Method is an oldie but goodie way of softening up skin tones. CreateBlog.com has a great gaussian blur method tutorial on how to accomplish this very easy method.
NOTE: One thing to remember when doing this procedure is to adjust the opacity of the “blurred” layer accordingly. Some photos might require less opacity than others.
Ready, Set, Photoshop Actions!
Why make your life harder when you can fully automate your skin softening techniques. One awesome set of Photoshop actions I recently came across is the Wedding Enhancers Kit. Shown below is a before-and-after using the “Day Dream” preset. More wedding photos can be viewed in our Wedding Portfolio.
Photoshop Plugins
You can also accomplish softer skin tones using Photoshop Plugins such as Color Efex Pro 3.0 from Nik Software.
Image shown below was softened up using the preset “Glamour Glow”. More of this model can be viewed from our Fashion Portfolio.
Conclusion on Skin Softening
As described above, there are many different ways of skin softening and yields very similar results. Do you have any techniques you use that are different from the procedures shown here? If so, please share it with us!
