Video Editing in Photoshop!
This Video Was Made Entirely In Photoshop!
They are really starting to push Photoshop to become a video editing software. They are also pushing more 3D tools in Photoshop too. I guess it’s no longer “photo” shop anymore. It’s everything shop. I wish they were just independent programs. I just want to retouch pictures and leave the video editing to another program!
Get a glimpse of what the Photoshop team has been working on, when it comes to video and Photoshop. You won’t believe what you can do when you unite the power of Photoshop with easy and approachable video editing tools!
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How to Process Black and White Images for Detail
I was asked to make a tutorial on how to process black and white images for detail.
Before we go forward, be sure to click on the image above to look at the before and after in a higher detail.
Purpose: The photographer, Terence Bordon, came to me and asked if there’s a way to bring out freckles and skin detail. The purpose and use of this technique is primarily for processing your black and white files if you want to elaborate and accentuate files with rich detail. Surely, it’s not how you would process every black and white image and it differs based on what your intention is.
I usually process black and white images in various methods just based on the intention of use.
Here is the original image
1) The first thing I did right away was duplicate the image and desaturated it(Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation) and brought the saturation slider down so it’s desaturated.
Now you should have two layers, your original and the desaturated copy on top.
2) Next, you want to bring up your Channels palette (Windows>Channels) and click on each of the channels just to see how they look. You want to pick the one that showcases the most detail. In our case it’s the Blue channel.
So how do you use this channel? With your blue channel still selected (by making sure you are clicking on the blue channel), hit Select All (Select>All) and then Copy (Edit>Copy). Now, you want to go to your layers and hit New Layer. Then, create a new layer in your layers palette. Here, you will hit Paste (Edit>Paste).
Now you should have a visual copy of the Blue channel on top of your layers. You should have three layers now.
3) The next step is going to the adjustment layer panel and selecting Selective Color.
There are three settings you need to change under your Black, White, and Neutral sections:
Click on the image to enlarge
4) I would start by putting this adjustment layer in a folder, along with every other adjustment going forward. You can name the folder Black and White Conversion.
5) The next Adjustment layer we’re going to make is a Curves adjustment layer with these settings:
6) With the Curves and Selective Color adjustment layers in your folder, we’re going to do some minor tweaking.
Go ahead and add a mask to the folder. Yes, you can add a mask to a folder (I know a lot of people are surprised that they didn’t know this based on some of my seminars I teach and the reactions I get).
The reason why we added a white mask to the folder is so that we are now going to paint with black on the mask in areas that are either too overexposed or too dark. Essentially, you’re balancing the file.
Here’s a visual of my actual mask. Click on it to see it in detail.
You can take it as far as you want to go to open up the image.
Here’s a visual of where you should be right now:
You can delete the desaturated copy on the second layer, it’s not needed anymore.
7) Next, what you do from here is up to you – it’s the standard retouching you do to your images.
You can see my before and after from this point here:
Click on the image
The retouching was very light as you can see. Here’s a higher resolution version of the final:
http://www.tumblr.com/photo/1280/14333785008/1/tumblr_lwbrsz7LWy1qknfz7
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and it has helped explain everything on how I got to this result!
If you have any questions, post in the comment section or contact me via my website at www.solsticetouch.com
A special thanks to Terence Bordon for allowing us to make this tutorial.
Solstice - Creative Entertainment: The Anatomy of Clean Retouching
I was recently approached and asked to do an analysis and breakdown of this before/after by photographer, Hennadiy Kvasov.
IInstead of going step by step about the video in particular (as I can’t speak on behalf of Hennadiy’s way of what he did), I want to elaborate on the anatomy of a clean retouch so it allows you to take away something that can be usable in your own workflow. It will allow you to get to where he ended up at as well. Remember, there are no shortcuts to beautiful results. Don’t be lazy!
There are many ways to get to the same point as Photoshop presents many tools to do the same thing, so here is one way. This was also the workflow I used to use before I found a better and faster method that I teach in myclasses.
Also, keep in mind that this is not a “how to retouch” but a mere demonstration of a workflow to attain the results needed. This will require you to have some base knowledge. Remember, google is your friend!
The time-lapse video at the bottom with my demonstration should aid you in visually showing you most of the steps shown here.
A few things this workflow will help you achieve:
- Keeping skin quality in tact
- Keeping a very light PSD file (size wise)
- Beautiful and natural transitions without blurring
- Bringing out the best clarity and contrast of the image
- Results similar to the before/after
The Breakdown
Follow this image as I elaborate below
1. Healing and Cloning (Blue Folder)
One of the first things we do in this folder is all your healing and cloning work. Essentially any flaw you want to remove, must be done here. I suggest you set a blank layer set to “current and below” or “all layers” and start your process. Remember to keep your brush as small as possible and continue to re-sample very often. I do it for each stroke. The reason is that skin has a distinct pattern that changes in every area of the skin. It’s like a thumbprint!
If you do not sample often, it will be very obvious. Again, keep your brush small and only the size of the blemish you need to remove. Keep your heal, clone, and brush size keyboard shortcuts memorized here, you will be using them often. Or if you use a pen tablet, make use of the buttons so you can customize them. It will speed up the process. Clean healing and cloning sets up for how clean your overall retouch will look. You can’t have a solid house with a plastic base! Cement only, please.
2. Dodge and Burn (Green Folder)
In this folder you will see essentially 5 layers. Your dodge and burn (first 2 layers) should be curve adjustment layers that are masked in black. Disregard the color correction layer for now.
The next two above that is a hue/saturation adjustment layer and another curve adjustment layer titled ‘contrast mask’.
After you set your first two (dodge and burn) adjustment layers, you want to add a hue/saturation adjustment layer, desaturate your image and leave it visible.
The next thing you want to do is add the ‘contrast mask’ curve layer and do an ‘S-curve’ with it so you see a high contrast range. Or instead, you can also add a brightness/contrast curve adjustment layer too if you prefer.
The reason why we add these two adjustment layers is so it brings out all the flaws that you will be dodging and burning.
Now the image should look like a high contrast and black and white version of your own image. With everything visible, start dodging and burning.
The overall key to dodging and burning is when you start painting white on your black masks, you want to ensure you are not too zoomed in to start. If you look at the big picture, you get an idea of what you need to even out, it will become apparent to you. Any interrupted transitions where there are blotchy areas need to be fixed. Essentially you want to get as close as possible to it being a perfect gradient from dark to light areas. You want to be sure your brush settings are very gentle so each stroke doesn’t dodge or burn too much at once.
Remember, be gentle, start wide and go in closer later. If you start too close, you are going to be overwhelemed and everything will look like it needs to be fixed! Start at approximately web view size (30%) and try dodging and burning there, then 50% and so on.
Once you’re done, de-activate your contrast and desaturation masks on top of the dodge and burn layers. You will notice things look much better and there is now some discoloration. Here is where the ‘color correction’ blank layer comes into play. Set that to the ‘color’ blend mode and you will begin painting over every discolored spot by selecting a good sample color next to it. This should start taking care of any discoloration issues in general. Again, remember to select a good skin tone color next to the discolored area, then start painting over it. Because it is set to color, it will blend in with the surroundings. Be sure your brush has a low opacity to it so it comes in slowly.
3. Carve and Contour (Yellow Folder)
The first blank layer in this set, you want to keep it set to soft light or overlay.
Now with white and black, start painting on areas you want to really pop. White will brighten and black will darken in soft light. If you put it to overlay, it will do the same as soft light but also add a bit of saturation and contrast (from visually looking at it).
I usually have two blank layers, one for the eyes and makeup set to overlay, and one for the skin set to soft light. It makes eyes pop and black eyeliner stand out more but that is personal choice.
The end goal is to big strokes in the direction of light and shadow to bring out the natural contrast of the image. It’s like a manual contrast effect if you want to call it that.
Next, above that we have a levels adjustment layer. Once you open your levels adjustment layer, depending on the image, you want to bring in the end points closer together if most of the data starts a little inside. This is very useful for images with very little contrast. You can then either set it to luminosity or leave it as is. You also have the option of masking our certain areas that may have gotten clipped in the process.
Do not abuse levels, it’s really easy to get carried away with it.
4. Color Correction (Orange Folder)
I found a way to color correct using the gradient map. You can follow those directions here:
http://www.modelmayhem.com/po.php?thread_id=519134&page=1#post11346441
I have a more advanced version I go over in my classes but this will suffice and should really only be needed for minor transitional corrections needed.
5. Liquify and Sharpen (Red Folder)
The first layer in this set is representative of a merge visible placed on top of all your work so far.
To do that, it is Ctrl-Alt-Shift-E (PC) or Command-Option-Shift-E (Mac).
What this will do is create a stamp of what you’re looking at, merge it into one layer, and place it on top of your layer stack while leaving everything else unflattened.
With this, you want to liquify whatever you want here. I do this at the end because my clients may not like the liquify work or may want to go in another direction. If I had done it in the beginning, it would be near impossible to undo everything. This keeps it non-destructive for me.
Finally, I do another merge visible stamp for the next two layers and apply a high pass to them, set to soft light. The settings vary based on how far you want to take it. As long as there is no color showing through in the high pass preview, you are good to go. The second high pass is in case you want to add any additional clarity to certain areas for emphasis (eyes, lips, makeup, etc).
Conclusion
I have an old video of my workflow in action. It’s similar to what is described above except for a few steps that are different and/or not included. Feel free to watch it if it helps any.
You can also go here to see the full resolution of the file and details:
http://solsticeretouch.tumblr.com/post/6260479528/the-art-of-retouching
If you have any questions, feel free to post in the comment section below.
I hope this gave an overview about what really goes into retouching in general. Hopefully you were able to take something away from this!
Post Production: Hazy Black & Whites
Photographer, Robert McCadden, goes over how to do the hazy black and white effect you see these days with a few quick steps in Photoshop.
http://www.modelmayhem.com/education/photography/1767-how-to-create-that-hazy-look
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