This tutorial covers a portrait enhancing project in detail. A simple Hue/Saturation adjustment layer allows for the correction of blotchy red skin without the need for cloning or healing. A skin texture smoothing technique is also examined in step-by-step detail. Basic sharpening techniques are covered to finish it all off.

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Most digital cameras tend to enphasize red skin tones as a result of infrared sensitivity of the CCD or CMOS chip. Most often, even custom camera profiles fail to fully compensate for this in skin tones. Unfortunate blemishes, veins and skin pores are rendered redder than normal. Skin texture in highly detailed digital portraits can get overly harsh once appropriate sharpening is applied for final output. Learn how to correct for these effects using:

• CMY "numbers" in RGB files
• Hue/Saturation "range" sliders
• Layer Blending options - Lighten & Darken
• Median/Gaussian Blur layers
• Masks in Layer Sets
• Unsharp Mask "Luminosity" layer

This is an intermediate level tutorial – the 30 page PDF steps through the construction of this image but a basic understanding of layers and layer masks is helpful. The sample file for the tutorial is available as a separate download through a link in the PDF - you will need Aladdin's "Stuffit Expander" to decompress the sample files!

2.3 meg PDF - Download from Here

Special Downloading Note: You must click this link to get to the "Download" page. This page gives you the link to download the file – you can bookmark the page to return to it later but it is best to click the download link and download the file right away. If you want to bookmark this download page, right-click in the frame to open the page in a new window, then "bookmark" this page. There are instructions on the download page for saving the PDF to your hard drive and a link for Windows users to get "Stuffit Expander" to decompress sample files.

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