you can over expose a bit when taking, and you can clone/heal in photoshop. do you have a photo you're working on, or just wanting to know in general? working with skin is kind of my thing at the moment :)
Using soft lighting (diffusers, box lights) will soften and sometimes hide blemishes and imperfections. Direct, harsh light will usually amplify them. For example, when you see portraits of athletes with very chiseled features and muscles, they are typically using direct lighting to accentuate the highs and create deep shadows in the lows.
@bethanyjay Don't get me wrong, I think overprocessing is an art unto itself. I'm just suggesting that overdoing a portrait makes it less of a portrait and more of an art project. And I looked at your project and you've got some really nice pictures there.
I personally love the skin softening tool in lightroom-i am SO sad my trial is about to expire! But in PSE, there is a brush tool, I just play around with that, set the opacity really high (low?) I forget lol
I really like Portraiture (plugin) by Imagenomic. Also, Totally Rad Actions' "Pro Retouch" is great if you don't want to buy a plugin just for skin, because it comes with a whole lot of other sweet actions.
A simple, not-too-bad way of going, is to add a duplicate layer, apply a gaussian blur (around 25 pixels is a good starting point) and, using a layer mask, gently brush it in where you need to smooth the skin. You can then drop the layer opacity back when you're done in order to make it look natural.
@bobtimmons Oh I know you weren't trying to offend anyone. I was just joking. Haha!! ;) And, thanks for looking at my stuff! I have a LOT to learn but it is hearing things like that which keeps me hooked on this project!! =)
HIGH KEY!!!!! lol.. no bluring needed... kidding.. a surface blur then masking it... and healing some and ermmmm i do something to retain the texture of the skin and i dont like to hide all the flaws u know.. =) i always leave the pores as it is.. =) it makes them human.. ^__^
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I personally love the skin softening tool in lightroom-i am SO sad my trial is about to expire! But in PSE, there is a brush tool, I just play around with that, set the opacity really high (low?) I forget lol
A simple, not-too-bad way of going, is to add a duplicate layer, apply a gaussian blur (around 25 pixels is a good starting point) and, using a layer mask, gently brush it in where you need to smooth the skin. You can then drop the layer opacity back when you're done in order to make it look natural.