Make Skin Glow: A Photoshop Tutorial

I Photoshop my pictures. A lot.

The Hus and I both do.

It is rare that I post an un-photoshopped

pic on the internet.

(I mean, the stuff we put on the internet,

is going to be around for like ever...)

So much so, that I swear our kids are going

to grow up and look at our perfect flawless

pictures of ourselves, and think we have aged

horrendously.

Photoshop can seem like a beast to use, and 

super overwhelming at first.

But if you can learn a few simple tricks,

it can make a world of difference in your photos.

With that being said, I dont claim to be

a master, but I am for sure an excellent manipulator.

Here is an example 

Not bad, right? 

But here is the before.

Let me just preface this tutorial, by saying

that I was taking pictures of my babe and

started experimenting with the exposure settings.

Needless to say, he got very weary of my 

500 oooo's, aahh's, look at mama's,

snappings, and overall ridiculousness.

Cant blame him.

 (these are all un photoshopped, btw. look at him, what needs to be touched up,

hes perfect. ok enough motherly gushing.. moving on)

Dont mind the banana stain.
Thats another post for another day.

But I really liked where the experiment was

going, the lighting was great.

So, sans shower, topped with makeup leftover from the 

night before... I became the subject.

I started by sitting in front of a window,

but putting a white board in front of 

me to be used as a reflector.

(cheap trick)

 Using my Canon PowerShot SD630,

(thats code for tiny point and shoot pocket camera)

with exposure set to the highest,

(+2, in my digital menu on the camera)

I started snapping away.

Ok, so the lighting was really bright and

good, so thats a great start for the picture.

But the skin is dull and blotchy, and not 

bright enough, the eyes dont stand out either.

So, how do we fix that?

I use the Spot Healing Brush Tool

For the blotchyness, zits, or freckles.

Spot healing brush icon.

You just select it and click over the image you

want to disappear, (ie zit, dark spot, mole).

Boom. Gone.

(why has this real life version, not been invented yet??)

You can read in depth about that tool, here.

Now I want the skin to look amazing and

flawless. That magazine cover look.

You BLUR your skin.

Novel idea, I know.

Using the blur tool.

Blur tool icon.

You must be aware to not go over anything

that needs definition, like, lines around the

mouth and nose, and eyes.

Nose lines & mouth example.

Also, hairs and teeth, eyelashes,

you get the idea.

I just play around with the settings, on how strong

the effect is, each picture will require a 

different strength. You need to find

the right balance between, fake looking,

and really awesome, "wow, that girl is so lucky", looking.

You want the latter.

Here is a really good, more in depth tutorial for that.

Oh, and you use the blur tool, like you

would the paint brush, or eraser tool.

Just marking the places you want perfect and 

smooth looking. This is also good for shiny spots.

Next we want the eyes to pop.

Start by thinking "Contrast."

The dark spots darker, rims of iris, brights brighter,

colors of the eyes, and whites whiter, the whites of the eyes, obvi.

We achieve this by using the dodge, and burn tools.

Burn: darker 

 Dodge: lighter.

I also use the dodge tool, 

 to brighten up under the eyes

and the burn tool, 

to make eyeliner, eyebrows, and eyelashes,

just a touch darker.

Here is another great tutorial for that.

And another.

Lastly to brighten the whole thing up,

I used the "brightness and contrast"

feature under 

IMAGE >ADJUSTMENTS >BRIGHTNESS/CONTRAST

 

I barely upped the brightness, since it was so bright

already, but upped the contrast until my face was

bright as well.

Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

I think the best advice in this whole tutorial,

is to open exposure to let the light in.

Here are some more pics.

I really, liked the desatured (black & white) look as well.

Found under, 

IMAGE> ADJUSTMENTS> DESATURATE,

and then upping the contrast.

Hope that helped anyone out there has been

wondering about some simple yet powerful

Photoshop tools.

Let me know your thoughts!

Lines Across My Face