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Even Skin Tone: Hue

Lesson 27 from: Color Techniques For Retouching

Lisa Carney

Even Skin Tone: Hue

Lesson 27 from: Color Techniques For Retouching

Lisa Carney

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Lesson Info

27. Even Skin Tone: Hue

Lesson Info

Even Skin Tone: Hue

So, we're gonna do a little tricky-trick here and it's about evening out skin tone. Again, I've used a non-retouched image and I'm gonna tell you guys something that I tend to do. It's a kind of a production thing. I will often do my color before I do my retouching. I will often do my color before I do my retouching because sometimes the contrast and the color that you do will either increase the level of retouching you need to do or decrease the level of retouching you need to do depending on contrast or value. So I will often do the color on top, take a look at what I have. I do not clone with colors on, so that the colors are picked up in the cloning tool, or the heal tool. I make sure everything's on top but it's just a it's just a little thing I do. Alright, so let's go over this little thing I do here. This is a way, a way of correcting skin and there's multiple ways of doing it. I'm gonna double-click and go to the code here. So sometimes, in fact, let's just start from scratch,...

that might be easier. As always, I've said a hundred times today if I've said it once, make a little square when you're doing a correction. And I'm gonna go to hue saturation and I probably should have held down the option key. Hold the option key. It's a good habit, by the way to have your hands start doing that. Just hold the option key when you pick your adjustment layer and that will let you name it. I didn't hold the option key, I held the command key 'cause I suck. It'll let you name it and I'm on a personal mission to have everyone label every layer in Photoshop. It's my mission. So, and what I'm gonna do is I'm actually gonna go ahead and use that colorize function and I'm gonna pick, I'm zooming up here. I'm gonna pick whatever color I think I want for skin. This is, we're not gonna handle the freckles, this is just generic skin color here. But I think it's a handy trick to do. You can change the saturation out and the amount of reds. And generally this technique is called evening skin, evening out, not changing skin. And so what generally people use this in my field for is they pick a color that's already existing, already existing. So right here on the cheek, I'm kinda getting close to that red that she's got on the side of the cheek. And I'm gonna make this kind of all similar to that. It's called evening out. So once I get that and I like it then I'm gonna go back to the original mask. I'm gonna fill it with black, command delete and I probably still have that selection active. There we go. So now I have a black mask and now I'm gonna paint it in. I'm gonna start, you know it, for this demo I just want you to be able see it, I'm gonna paint it in hard. You want it to be a little subtle. And then I'm gonna have to make another change. Again, this is about evening out skin, not changing skin. So do you guys ever have those files where that tanning makeup, you know, or that glittery makeup and the skin goes from yellow to red? So what I often do, and this again is about kind of like color correcting and stacking. I will even it out and get it all a flavor, or a color and then I will push it globally, differently, okay? So here I'm just painting this in but I'm gonna tell you something. There's something about that colorize that on normal mode can be a little harsh so I'm gonna just for giggles for a second for this demo for you can see it I'm gonna turn that mask off and I will say when I even out or when folks even out with hue saturation on colorize often normal isn't gonna cut it and you want a maybe consider changing the hue. Do you see I've just changed it to hue? Please know I don't care about her lips. I don't care about her eyelashes, her hair. This is just for her skin and for her skin and for her skin that's just a much better solve, I think. And then I'll paint it back in with the mask. And it's just for evening out the color. You can change the intensity too. I'm gonna admit on screen, this is a bit of a subtle change. On print, on my God, this makes such a difference because we will literally have clients who will tell us to make a change, and it's a two-point color change. It's barely register because on a print you'll actually see this. So put this in your bag of tricks, this notion about evening about skin color. Consider doing the color first in normal. It's easier to see when you're in normal, okay? So when you first do it, it's easier to see where you're gonna get hung up on this particular technique on evening out the skin using the hue saturation is that it generally looks great in midtones to highlights and where you start getting in trouble is the saturation on three-quarter tone and shadows. It gets too saturated and it looks funny on normal mode. But if you go to hue then it'll look more normal. Do you see that? Okay, so let's review. Hue saturation on colorize and then you're matching a skin color so you have to have something to choose, some kind of color tone. This is really great for sunburn color, also on skin. And definitely makeup, when that uneven makeup kind of thing, not good for freckles, alright? And then I create the color on normal mode, create the color on normal mode and then I shift it to hue when I'm painting it in. I find when I'm creating the color on hue, it's a little harder to see.

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Ratings and Reviews

user-6180b9
 

Another awesome course by Lisa Carney, packed full of information This course is really a comprehensive look at colors ... I learned so much, and even stuff I thought I knew pretty well, I found some pretty eye opening new information. I find Lisa Carney to be a wonderful teacher. When she has an important point to make she'll say her point, pause and then repeat what she just said, just to lock it into your memory. Fantastic. Side note: I signed up for the CreativeLive creative pass as soon as I realized how great all of Lisa Carney's classes are. I'd started to buy them one by one and quickly realized they are all wonderful. You can watch this class from beginning to end and get great information ... but to get the most bang for the buck you'll want to pause, hit rewind, get a cup of coffee, open Photoshop and try out her tips while you watch. There are sections I rewound and watched about 5 times, to be sure I understood all the subtle points. Lisa Carney is pretty amazing - she works really hard to thoroughly explain the process she uses to solve problems, and she never glosses over anything important. To cover a particular point, she'll start with a finished file with all the layers - and instead of simply explaining each layer like a mortal would do, she'll literally delete all the adjustment layers and start from scratch to show the process. This is incredibly empowering since it gives you an understanding of just how easy the process can be once you get the hang of it

a Creativelive Student
 

This course has an abundance of useful information along with professional tips based on actual field experience. This course is definitely one I will come back to from time to time to reiterate the information. For this reason the way it is organised is perfect to find information about a specific technique or adjustment layer. It is well composed with some humour and advanced information. Loved it and highly recommend it for people who want to deal with the little details and get things exactly the way they want. Not suitable for lazy or sloppy people who just want to get the job good enough for sharing but don't care about getting it perfect for print.

Maggie Lobl
 

I am really enjoying this class! Lisa makes complicated concepts easy to understand. She presents various ways of doing things so that you have options and can use the method that best works for your own situation. She moves quickly through the material, which I appreciate, and I since I own the class I know I can go back and review material when I need to. I love her style and approach to teaching, as well as her real world anecdotes and the way she shares her experience, both good and bad examples from her career. I'm so glad I purchased this class!

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