Suntan in Photoshop

on Friday 28 June 2013
Some times a photo taken appears dull and unattractive. The white balance in the camera may not have been correctly set. Whatever the reason, the complexion looks colorless. But it is possible to change the photo to a tanned look in Photoshop.
Step 1 : Take for example this image. It is of an attractive lady, but utterly dull looking.
Step 2 : I have used the Zoom tool to zoom in on one of the eyes. The Zoom Toom is shown above. She has blue eyes, but they don't appear so.
Step 3 : Use either the Magnetic Lasso Tool or the Pen Tool to make a selection around the eye.I will use the Pen Tool because it is very precise.
Step 4 : Use either of the two tools to make the selection. I have shown the Magnetic Lasso on top and the Pen Tool below. With the Magnetic Lasso, should you click a point wrongly, just hit delete and carry on.
Step 5 : The selection is complete.
Step 6 : After the selection is complete go to the Layers/Channels/Paths pallete and click on Paths. Click the Layer thumbnail and from the pop up box click Make Selection. Clicking the Make Selection will bring up the Make Selection dialogue box. In the Make Selection dialogue box set the Feather at 1 pixel and make sure that New Selection is selected. Clicking ok will form a selection around the eye.
Step 7 : Similarly select the other eye. But when the Make Selection dialogue box opens click Add to Selection. Give a Feather radius of 1 pixel and click ok. The other eye wil then be selected.
Step 8 : Press CTRL+J on the keyboard and the selection of the eyes will be copied and pasted onto another layer i.e. Layer 1. Double click where shown to rename the layer 'Eyes'.

Step 9 : CTR:+CLICK the layer thumbnail of the Eyes Layer and the 'Eyes' will be reselected.

Step 10 : Click the Foreground color, which is by default black. This will bring up the Color Picker. Choose a light blue from the Spectrum by clicking on it. Then select the shade from the box at the left. Click ok in the Color Picker.
Step 11 : Go to Edit>Fill.
Step 12 : The Fill dialogue box opens. Make sure that Use is set to Foreground.
Step 13 : The eyes have been filled with the light blue color. Press CTRL+D to deselect.
Step 14 : In the Layers/Channels/Paths pallette lower the Opacity of the eyes Layer as shown. The eyes now look bluish.
Step 15 : Now I have selected the lips in the just the same process that I did the eyes. After selecting, press CTRL+J on the keyboad to copy and paste the selection to a new layer. Rename it Lips.
Step 16 : Now fill the selection of the lips with red. Deselect. Then reduce the opacity. And, the lips look more natural and fuller.
This what the photo now looks like with the eyes and lips retouched.
Step 17 : Now I have zoomed in on the image and painstakingly selected all the portion of skin. This will take time. Note that while making selections sometimes you will have 'Substract From Selection' and sometimes 'Add to Selection '. (See Step 7). But it has to be done if you want perfection. Then click back on Layer 0 or Background which contains the entire image. See above. Press Ctrl+J and the copy will be copied and pasted to another layer. Rename this Skin.
Step 18 : The new layer has been renamed Skin. Now CTRL+Click the layer thumbnail to reselect.
Step 19 : The skin has been reselected.
Step 20 : Go to Image>Adjustments>Variations.
Step 21 : In the variations look at the top first -- You will see 'Original' and 'Current Pick'. On the right you will find 'Lighter', 'Current Pick' and 'Darker'. At the left you will find 'More Green', 'More Yellow', 'More Cyan', 'Current Pick', 'More Red', 'More Blue' and 'More Magenta'. If you click one on say 'More Red' the red will increase. If you click it twice it will increase more. It will be similar in the case of 'More Blue, 'More Cyan' etc etc. From the right after clicking the color you can make it lighter or darker. I am clicking on 'Darker' from the right and then clicking ok.
Step 22 : Now in the Layers/Channels/Paths pallette reduce the opacity till the tone blends seamlessly.
Step 23 : This is how the image looks now.
Step 24 : Go to Layer>Flatten Image.
Step 25 : Go to Image>Adjustment>Levels
Step 26 : The Levels dialogue box opens. Drag the black slider at left towards the right and the Grey slider in the middle slightly towards the left. Click ok.
Step 27 : Press CRL+ALT+N to make a new layer. The new layer has been formed.
Step 28 : Change the opacity of the layer to 50 % and the blend mode to Color.
Step 29 : Change the Foreground color to white. Click on the small bent arrow to switch between the Foreground and Background colors.

Step 30 : Click on the Brush Tool and lower the Hardness and Master diameter. You can also increase or decrease the brush tip with the bracket [ ] keys.
Step 31 : I have added the highlights with the brush tool.


Step 32 : Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur.


Step 33 : The Gaussian Blur dialogue box opens. Drag the radius to the right till the harshnes of the highlights disappear and the skin appears smooth. Click ok.

Here is the finished photo.

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