Bodyshop: The Photoshop Retouching Guide for the Face and Body

Chapter 5. Skin

Improve skin texture and skin tone

Picture analysis

Woman:

1. Remove skin impurities and dimples

2. Smooth away wrinkles

3. Improve make-up

4. Make skin silkier, maintaining skin texture

5. Remove offending little hairs Man:

6. Remove skin impurities

7. Trim large beard stubble

8. Reduce wrinkles slightly

9. Remove hairs from between eyes

10. Remove little blood vessels

The biggest problem in this example is posed by the variety of different skin textures due to the many irregularities, different skin types and different planes of focus. The skin should not become softer, only smoother, we therefore cannot simply work with a Blur. We are going to need to carry out elaborate manual retouching.

Remove skin impurities

First use the Patch tool (

In Picture A, the selection of the nose was dragged onto the man's cheek. The resulting error in the skin texture on the nose is clearly visible in Picture B. In that case, you need to select smaller areas and find a similar skin texture, for example in the area surrounding the nose.

Also remove wrinkles, any hairs that go in the wrong direction, and small hairs on ears and nose. Use smaller selections and gradually work your way towards the desired result.

For removing smaller hairs ...