Retouching: Reducing / removing acne and rosacea from face in Photoshop (removing blo

[MonkeyCrumbs]

Hi there I am new to posting to this forum, but I've been reading it for quite some time. I'm very much a novice in Photoshop and I've been experimenting with removing acne in Photoshop. With very minor cases I've been able to successfully remove the acne in a realistic way (not too soft, all the tiny imperfections still exist) by using a Hue/Saturation layer mask on the reds and using the Spot Healing Brush.

However, on REALLY severe cases of acne I can't figure out a way to get rid of some of the blotchiness in the skin. I want a consistent even tone throughout the face and on the particular set below I haven't been able to achieve it:



In the "After" image you'll notice acne is mostly eliminated, but the spot healing brush I used produced the inconsistent tone you'll notice mainly above the "After" text. The skin has a noticeable dark patch that extends from the edge of the neck up the right side of the person's face.

Any tips on how I can fix the dark patches on the skin?

Thank you!

Also, I'm experimenting and trying to improve my work by accepting $5 gigs on Fiverr so if you can check that out I'd appreciate it

https://www.fiverr.com/kungpaokitties/photoshop-acne-out-of-your-face-in-a-realistic-way

 

[MrToM]

re: Retouching: Reducing / removing acne and rosacea from face in Photoshop (removing blotchiness)

Try a technique called 'Frequency Separation'.

Phlearn does a good tutorial on this...

Regards.
MrToM.

 

[Tom Mann]

re: Retouching: Reducing / removing acne and rosacea from face in Photoshop (removing blotchiness)

That's exactly what I would recommend, as well. The only thing I would add to MrToM's suggestion is that (a) you should use this technique only after you have done the major cleanup work (that you so nicely did), and (b) work only on the low spatial frequency layer to smooth away the artifacts that remain after you initial treatment.

I would also add that the problem here is not just acne, but a combination of acne and rosacea. I have written up a demo of a completely different approach for the initial work on the image that produces fewer artifacts. I'll try to find it and get back to you.

Great job thusfar!

Tom M

 

[Tom Mann]

re: Retouching: Reducing / removing acne and rosacea from face in Photoshop (removing blotchiness)

Unfortunately, I couldn't find my old tutorial on retouching pix of people suffering from acne and rosacea, so I put a new one together based on your image.

1. I started with this image.



2. My first step was to reduce the overwhelming red cast by using the "Selective Color" adjustment layer, setting the tab to "red", and moving the cyan slider to the right.



3. The next step tamed both the acne and the rosacea. Although it can be done with Photoshop native tools, I greatly prefer and strongly recommend a plugin called, "Color Mechanic" ( http://www.dl-c.com/site/products/buy-cm.php ). You simply draw arrows in the user interface to transform one color to another. Here is a detailed and a zoomed-out view of that part of the UI.



Here is the result of using Color Mechanic (with the settings shown above).




4. Next, I used the frequency separation technique, pretty much as described in the article mentioned by MrToM and many others.



5. My final step was to down-rez the image for posting directly in the forum, and applied final sharpening (to just the eyes and lips).




If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Cheers,

Tom M

 

[Tom Mann]

re: Retouching: Reducing / removing acne and rosacea from face in Photoshop (removing blotchiness)

PS - if I was serious about this image and not just using it to illustrate acne removal techniques, I'd do some dodging & burning and warping to add some shadows and give her face a better shape -- the camera was way to close to be flattering.

Also, I would probably add back in a small amount of my second or third image because complete removal of all flaws just isn't realistic & the subject will undoubtedly feel the same way.

 

[Tom Mann]

Re: Retouching: Reducing / removing acne and rosacea from face in Photoshop (removing

Here's some rather heavy handed dodging and burning to correct for a light source to the right and below her eye level, plus an attempt to correct the terribly close camera position by re-shaping:



And in this one, I added back just a few percent of my 3rd previously posted image (ie, partially restore some of the pimples and skin roughness):



Tom M

 

[Rich54]

Re: Retouching: Reducing / removing acne and rosacea from face in Photoshop (removing

Tom, I'm particularly interested in skin color and retouching. I have never used the Selective Color Adjustment, but after reading your post today I got curious and viewed at least a dozen tutorials about it. Then I gave it a try to mimic Step2 of your tutorial above. Frankly, I don't see a significant difference vs. what I would have ordinarily done, which is (1) correcting the color cast of the overall image by setting the black and white points with a curves adjustment on each individual channel, and then (2) focusing on the skin tones alone with another curves adjustment (in this case decreasing the red channel and slightly decreasing the blue channel).

I get it that the Selective Color adjustment can act upon nine different color channels, where Curves only has three (R,G,B). But for skin tones specifically, the red, green and blue channels seem to be the major players, so I'm not sure what Selective Color can do for skin that Curves cannot. Can you please explain the advantages of Selective Color vs. Curves and when you would choose one over the other? Thanks.

 

[Tom Mann]

Re: Retouching: Reducing / removing acne and rosacea from face in Photoshop (removing

Hi Rich - You're correct that in principle, any tool that provides you with the ability to completely transform one set of RGB values to another and cover all possible output values (ie, curves) is capable of doing the same thing as the "Selective Color" adjustment tool, but the difference is that from experience I know that using the "Selective Color" tool, all I have to do is move one slider, and I'm done. It instantly makes a huge improvement in overly red pix, a very common problem. With other tools, you have to be careful that what you are doing doesn't introduce any unwanted side fx. It's mostly a matter of convenience, reliability and one can almost put one's brain on auto-pilot when using this tool for this problem, whereas with a very general & powerful tool like "Curves" you've got to be thinking and going back and forth between several different adjustments.

HTH,

Tom M

 

[hawkeye]

Re: Retouching: Reducing / removing acne and rosacea from face in Photoshop (removing

Good work Tom, but I'm not certain the client would want to take it quite that far as to look totally unnatural. Then again perhaps they would.

Selective color adjustment is one of my favorite tools, yet I seldom see it mentioned.Obviously the screenshot below would require additional work but it was only meant to demonstrate what one simple adjustment layer can do.

 

[Rich54]

Re: Retouching: Reducing / removing acne and rosacea from face in Photoshop (removing

Tom, thanks for the clarification. I'll continue to experiment with Selective Color until I get more comfortable with it. Always good to add more to one's bag of tricks.

 

[ibclare]

Re: Retouching: Reducing / removing acne and rosacea from face in Photoshop (removing

Although I did not read all the DIY posts, my first reaction (other than that strange shadow) was that I appreciated that you didn't try to smooth the skin out entirely. It was a good change from the original and has, as others said, a more natural look.