Photoshop Tutorial: How to Retouch Skin Flawlessly with Frequency Separation

ASR: en

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hi this is Marty from Blue Lightning TV

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I'm going to show you an effective

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technique for retouching skin that

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retains the skin's texture while it

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removes skin blotches and imperfections

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this technique is called frequency

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separation before we begin if you enjoy

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my tutorials show your support by

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becoming a patron to Blue Lightning TV

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go to patreon.com/scishow

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thanks open a photo of a face that you'd

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like to retouch I downloaded this one

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from Shutterstock the first step is to

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make two copies of the photo by pressing

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ctrl or command J twice

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name the top layer high-frequency

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texture

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and the middle layer low-frequency blur

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click off the eyeball icon next to the

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top layer to temporarily hide it and go

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to filter blur and Gaussian blur drag

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the slider until it blurs the skin just

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enough to hide most of the pores and

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blotchiness then click OK

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make the top layer visible and active

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go to image and apply image

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for the source layer click low-frequency

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blur and for the target blending mode

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click

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subtract

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the scale is 2 and offset is 128 then

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click OK

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change the blend mode to linear light

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at this point your photo will look

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exactly the same make the middle layer

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active

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zoom into areas of the face by pressing

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Z to open your zoom tool and drag it

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over the forum

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open your lasso tool

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Andrew

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over the inside of the forum will

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feather it so its edges will be soft for

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me the best way to preview the amount of

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feathering is to click the refine edge

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button or go to select and refine edge

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drag the feather slider to the right

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until the inside of the selection is

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blurred approximately this much the

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actual pixel amount on yours may be very

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different than mine depending on your

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photo size and resolution

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remember your pixel amount and click

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cancel

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at the top

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feather field type in that amount

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deselect it by pressing ctrl or command

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D to apply the feathering draw another

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selection inside the forage

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and go to filter blur and Gaussian blur

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slide the blur radius to an a map that

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makes the blotchiness disappear the

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texture remains because it's on a

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different layer click OK and deselect it

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if you see some imperfections in the

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texture we'll take care of them in a few

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minutes right now we're just concerned

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with removing the blotchiness and

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overall inconsistencies to reposition

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the face on your canvas press and hold

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the space bar as you drag the image

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draw another selection around the cheek

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and make sure you don't get too close to

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the eyes hair lips and neck press ctrl

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or command F to repeat the last filter

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you used which was Gaussian blur then

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delete the selection draw another

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selection around the other cheek repeat

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the filter and deselect it I'll repeat

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these steps for the chin

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next let's retouch the nose

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since the nose has more problems with

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texture than with blotchiness where we

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touch its texture to do this make the

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high-frequency texture layer active and

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this time we'll use the clone stamp tool

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make sure the mode is normal

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the flow is a hundred percent and the

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current layer is showing make its

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opacity approximately 35 to 40 percent

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to make your stamp tool bigger or

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smaller press the right or left bracket

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key on your keyboard will copy the

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texture of a smooth area of the skin and

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clone it onto the nose to do this

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alt-click or option-click on a smooth

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area of the skin to copy its texture and

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brush over a small area of the nose to

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clone the texture onto it go back to the

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same smooth area or click or option

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click on it and brush over another small

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area of the nose continue this until the

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entire nose is smooth remember we're not

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cloning color nor brightness and

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contrast or only cloning texture

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let's retouch the neck of your subject

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drag the neck into view

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since the neck has problems mostly with

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skin blotchiness I'll make the

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low-frequency blur layer active

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and open my lasso tool again I'll draw

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inside the neck and shoulder blades

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avoiding getting too close to her

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clothing chin and hair I'll repeat my

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last filter which was Gaussian blur and

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I'll deselect it to fit your image back

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onto your canvas press ctrl or command 0

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to see the before and after alt-click or

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option-click on the eyeball icon next to

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the bottom layer to hide all the other

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layers

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to make all the other layers visible

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again alt-click or option-click on the

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eyeball icon again

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if you want to finesse it more by

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removing tiny spots of texture

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imperfections zoom into the area you

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want to finesse by pressing ctrl or

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command + the plus key on your keyboard

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and drag your subject to the area you

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want to finesse make your high-frequency

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texture layer active again this time

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we'll open the Spot Healing Brush

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brush a bit larger than the spot you

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want to remove and simply click or brush

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over the spot continue to click or brush

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over other tiny texture imperfections

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until the entire face is flawless this

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is Marty from Blue Lightning TV

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thanks for watching