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Tips for Retouching Skin in Photoshop That You Need to Know

16 Feb

The post Tips for Retouching Skin in Photoshop That You Need to Know appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by John McIntire.

tips-for-retouching-skin-in-photoshop

When it comes to retouching skin in Photoshop, there are a lot of tools and techniques available to you. Some of these are fairly easy and self-explanatory, like the Healing Brush. Others, like frequency separation, are complicated multi-step processes. They involve such obscure features of Photoshop that you would never be able to figure it out on your own. Many of the skin retouching techniques are useful and work well when used together with one another.

This article will provide you a set of tips to get the most out of some of the most common and most useful (read: my opinion) of these techniques. It assumes you have a basic understanding of how to use them. If you don’t, there are a myriad of good quality tutorials available.

Tips for retouching skin in Photoshop.

Tutorials

Here’s a short list of tutorials for all of the techniques listed in this article:

  • Healing Brush
  • Patch Tool
  • Clone Stamp
  • Frequency Separation
  • Dodging and Burning

Healing Brush

The Healing Brush is probably going to be the first thing you reach for when you are retouching skin in Photoshop. It’s a somewhat intuitive tool, that doesn’t take that long to figure out and it is very effective at what it does.

To get the very best results from using the healing brush:

1. Work on a new layer

When working with the healing brush, be sure to work on a new blank layer. That way, you can be sure that you are not altering your original image. This also allows you to make changes later.

To do this, press the New Layer button on the Layers palette or press Ctrl+Shift+n (Cmd+Shift+n Mac). With the new layer set up, be sure that the drop-down box for the Healing Brush labeled “sample” is set to Current and Below.

Using the healing brush for retouching skin in Photoshop.

Working on a blank layer will ensure you can undo any changes you make should you decide to later.

2. Use as small of a brush as possible

You can quickly change your brush size with the bracket keys ( { and } ). Try to keep the brush just big enough to cover only the blemish that you are trying to remove.

Image: For the best results, use a brush size that is just bigger than the blemish you are trying to...

For the best results, use a brush size that is just bigger than the blemish you are trying to remove. This ensures that you don’t make too many alterations to the natural pattern of the skin.

3. Sample often

Don’t make a sample selection just once – do it often. Do it between every blemish if you can. This may seem like a lot of effort, but with practice, it’s really not. Your images will be better for it too.

4. Zoom in

To make sure that you are only trying to heal blemishes, and not the area of skin around them, zoom in as far as you need to.

I understand some photographer’s reticence to zoom in to 400% to 500% for the sake of retouching, but doing so will make sure that you only affect the areas of your subject’s skin that need it.

This tip (and the next one) doesn’t just apply to the Healing Brush. Do this with every skin retouching technique listed here.

Image: Zooming in allows you to be more precise with your adjustments and leads to more natural-look...

Zooming in allows you to be more precise with your adjustments and leads to more natural-looking results.

5. Zoom back out

When you are very zoomed in on your subject, you can get lost in all of the details that you can now see. Make it a point to zoom back out frequently so you can make sure that the changes you are making are actually affecting what you can see on the image at 100%. This can save you hours.

6. Don’t paint

Instead of painting with the Healing Brush, just press once (or click with a mouse) over the blemish you are trying to remove. This will limit the alterations to the surrounding skin.

Using the healing brush for skin retouching in Photoshop.

Painting with the healing brush leads to weird artifacts. To avoid these, simply click on the blemish you want to remove and nothing more.

Patch tool

The patch tool is a powerful utility that allows you to select an area that you want to retouch with a lasso and then drag that over to a sample area that you want to use to fill that first area in. It’s fairly easy to use, but it can be tricky at first.

1. Work on a new layer

You can use a copy of your background layer.

If you’ve already created and worked on a few layers at this stage, you can press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E (Cmd+Alt+Shift+E – Mac) to create a new layer with all of those adjustments merged into it.

This will allow you to reduce the opacity of what you’ve done with the patch tool in case you go too far. It will also make it easy to delete the layer and start from scratch if need be.

Image: The patch tool can’t be used with an empty layer. Instead, duplicate your background la...

The patch tool can’t be used with an empty layer. Instead, duplicate your background layer and work on the copy. If you’re later on in your workflow, press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+e (Cmd+Alt+Shift+e) to stamp all existing layers into a new one above the rest.

2. Avoid the content-aware fill

In terms of skin, the Content-Aware Patch Tool never seems to perform very well.  Instead, leave the mode set to normal and use the Patch Tool that way. For things like backgrounds, by all means, use content-aware; just avoid it for skin retouching.

Image: Content-aware fill, as it works with the Patch Tool, is great for many things, but skin is no...

Content-aware fill, as it works with the Patch Tool, is great for many things, but skin is not one of them. Although this was sampled from a very similar part of his face, content-aware has made a mess of it.

3. Patch small areas

It’s tempting to just select a large area of skin and try to work that way. However, this will only serve to create a bunch of artifacts on your subject’s skin. Keeping your selections small allows you more control over the end result and will result in fewer problems down the line. 

4. Use similar tonal areas

When possible, use a sample area that’s similar in tone to your selection area. This will reduce the chances of creating problematic artifacts and blur.

Using the patch tool for skin retouching in Photoshop.

Here, you can see the various areas of similar tonality circled in red. When using the Patch Tool, try to sample from similar areas of tonality.

5. Reduce opacity

Once you’ve done the work that you want to with the patch tool, feel free to reduce the opacity of the layer that you are working on. This can help to hide a heavy handed approach and help to give more natural looking results. This tip applies to pretty much every other skin retouching technique as well.

Clone stamp

When you are retouching skin in Photoshop, the clone stamp tool will probably be one of your least used tools. It’s tricky to use and it’s often easier and faster to get similar results with other techniques. The one notable exception is when you are using frequency separation (covered below).

1. Use a soft brush

This may be a preference, but the Clone Stamp is a heavy-handed tool that makes drastic changes with a single click. By using a soft-edged brush, you will reduce the impact of the area of skin around the blemish you are removing.

To get to your brush menu, just right-click.

Image: This may be preference, but for the most part, you will want to use the softest brush possibl...

This may be preference, but for the most part, you will want to use the softest brush possible when using the Clone Stamp. The Clone Stamp is a very aggressive tool that can affect skin patterns in an undesirable way if used without care.

2. Do not paint

As with the Healing Brush, do your best not to paint an area of skin with the Clone Stamp. Try to keep the affected area limited to an individual blemish, pore or other marks.

Using the clone stamp for retouching skin in Photoshop.

Even though the sampled area was identical in tone, you can see the results of painting with the clone stamp tool in one large stroke.

3. Use sparingly

Again this may be personal preference talking, but try to resort to the Clone Stamp when it’s the only tool left for the job, at least in terms of skin retouching. The problems this tool can create with odd aberrations in skin texture patterns are hardly worth the risk.

Frequency Separation

Frequency Separation is one of those techniques that appears as overcomplicated sorcery at first glance. Once you’ve learned the fundamentals of the technique and how to set it up, it’s actually quite easy. It’s also a very powerful technique that can transform your skin retouching workflow. It is; however, very easy to go overboard with this technique and a heavy hand will result in less than ideal results. Once you’ve got the implementation and the basics of frequency separation down, there are a few tips to help you get the best results.

1. Gaussian Blur settings

When setting up your frequency separation layers, keep the Gaussian Blur settings to the lowest possible number while it is still obscuring all of the detail in your subject’s skin.

“4” is a good number to start with, but it might vary depending on the resolution you’re working with and how much of the frame your subject’s face fills.

Image: When setting up your Low-Frequency layer, use just enough blur to remove all of the skin text...

When setting up your Low-Frequency layer, use just enough blur to remove all of the skin texture in that layer. Here, Gaussian Blur was set to 2.

2. Blur

When applying Gaussian Blur to your Low-Frequency layer, keep the amount of blur to either equal or less than the amount that you used when setting up the layer in the first place.

3. Blur – Tones

Only blur areas of skin that are a similar tone. Blurring midtones and highlights (or shadows and midtones, or any other combination) can result in muddied tones that often don’t look good. Keep your selections to areas of similar tonality to avoid these muddied tones.

Using frequency separation for skin retouching in Photoshop.

When applying blur to sections of your Low-Frequency layer, try to make your selections in areas of similar tones. This will still help to smooth the tonal transitions without muddying them.

4. Zoom in

Ensure that you are zooming in to at least 100% on your images to watch for any hard edges that may appear while applying blur.

This can happen as you get close to hard edges within your frames, such as lips and eyes. If they do start appearing, you can reduce the amount of blur you are using, or you can make a new selection farther away from the areas causing you trouble.

5. Clone Stamp

For the High-Frequency layer, you just need to be careful with how you use the Clone Stamp. As above, the Clone Stamp is best used on very small areas with a single click. Sample often and don’t paint with it and you should be fine.

Dodging and Burning

Probably the most powerful and versatile of the techniques listed in this article, Dodging and Burning might as well be considered an essential tool for anyone that expects to be doing a lot of skin retouching. There are a lot of ways to do dodging and burning, but for the sake of these tips, I am going to refer to the method that involves using a 50% gray layer set to Overlay that you then paint on with the brush tool with white to lighten the tones and with black to darken them.

1. Keep the brush flow at 1%

Like all skin retouching techniques, subtlety is the key, and with the brushes flow at 1%, you can slowly build up any alterations that you are making.

Dodging and burning for skin retouching in Photoshop.

When dodging and burning on a grey layer, set the flow of your brush to 1%. This will allow you to build strokes slowly for more natural results.

Using dodging and burning for skin retouching in Photoshop

Circled at the top: The flow for the brush was set to 10%. Circled at the bottom: The flow here was 1% You can see the drastic difference just 9% makes on the flow settings.

2. Try to avoid broad strokes

Instead of trying to alter large aspects of your image at one time (for example, lightening an entire forehead in one go), zoom in on the area you want to work on and work on areas of a similar tone. By working with smaller areas, you will get more natural results.

3. Use multiple layers

If you are using broad strokes and working on finer detail with dodging and burning in the same image, do both of these on separate layers. Dedicate one to each layer.

With the large brush strokes, you will likely be more concentrated on overall contrast. You will often want to use a Gaussian blur on your brush strokes to even them out too.

This is not the case with fine detail where your brushstrokes should only deal with tiny, precise areas.

Using dodging and burning for skin retouching in Photoshop

For very fine control over your image, use a different layer for dodging and burning all of the sections of your image. This will allow you to alter, or get rid of any changes you might change your mind about later on without undoing all of your work elsewhere.

4. Use a small brush

Skin has a lot of fine detail in which the light in your scene passes over and creates contrast. It’s this contrast on the skin that creates the appearance of blemishes in your photos.

Because these blemishes are often small, you want to try and use a brush that is at least as small as the area you are working to lighten and darken with dodging and burning. This will ensure that you are lowering the contrast – therefore lowering the visibility of the blemishes – rather than adding it where you don’t want to.

5. Use Ctrl+z (Cmd+z) often

When you’re using a technique like dodging and burning for retouching skin in Photoshop, you are using a lot of little adjustments, maybe even thousands of them, to build up to a  finished result. You will get some of these wrong. Don’t be afraid to undo anything you’ve done if it isn’t right.

6. Reduce the Layer Opacity

Once you’ve done any adjustments that you are going to make with dodging and burning, try reducing the opacity of the layer(s) to see if you can get a better result with less of an effect.

With a time-consuming technique like this, it is easy to get lost in it and go overboard. Sometimes reducing the effect at the end is just what is needed for a more natural result.

Using dodging and burning for skin retouching in Photoshop

When you’re finished with your dodging and burning, you can always turn the opacity of the layer down to see if you might have gone too far. It’s a good idea to always at least look, even if you don’t decide to lower the opacity in the end.

7. Zoom way in

Unless your image will never be printed and only viewed in a small resolution, zoom as far into your images as you dare while retouching skin in Photoshop (this applies to all of the techniques here) to achieve the absolute best results.

Sometimes, you will find that you need to be zoomed in at 300-500% to see all of the detail that you need to work with. Sure, working this way takes a lot longer and is intimidating to think about, but putting that amount of effort in will help you to achieve better results.

The end

There are, of course, many other techniques available for retouching skin in Photoshop, but these are the ones that I use the most often.

If you’re new to these techniques, you now (hopefully) have a few tips to help you figure out how to make the very most out of them.

Of course, with techniques like these, there are always more ways to do things. If you have any tips of your own on retouching skin in Photoshop, please feel free to share them below.

The post Tips for Retouching Skin in Photoshop That You Need to Know appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by John McIntire.


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Easy Skin Smoothing Using the High-Pass Filter in Photoshop

13 Dec

The post Easy Skin Smoothing Using the High-Pass Filter in Photoshop appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Adam Welch.

Easy-Skin-Smoothing-in-Photoshop

When you think about it, shooting portraits can be extremely tricky. Not because of concerns over lighting or wardrobe or hair or even makeup…although…sheesh. One of the largest issues that portrait photographers can face is how much (or how little) to retouch the, well, let’s call them the “imperfections” of their subject’s skin. The amount of skin smoothing and retouching can vary from subtle smoothing of skin to extreme masking of each and every blemish we all possess to one extent or another.

Easy Skin Smoothing Using the High-Pass Filter in Photoshop

Fortunately for us, there is an easy way to take full control of how much skin smoothing we apply (and where) when we bring our portrait images into Photoshop. No really, this is incredibly simple and relies on just a few basic features of Photoshop that won’t give your photos that gaudy, “in your face” sort of skin smoothing.

Let me show you.

The power of the High-Pass Filter

The engine which will drive our skin smoothing effect is an old stand-by tool found in Photoshop called the “high-pass filter”.

If you’re familiar with processing your images in Photoshop, you’ve likely heard about how powerful the high-pass filter can be for sharpening your photos. There’s a great article here at Digital Photography School which talks about how to use high-pass for easy, effective sharpening.

Image: Sharpening with the high-pass filter

Sharpening with the high-pass filter

However, in our case, we’re going to use the high-pass filter to essentially work in the opposite way of sharpening, which is to “soften” or smooth the skin of our subject. Moreover, we will use the high-pass filter to accomplish this task easily and with a realistic outcome. Meaning, it won’t make your subject appear to be made from wax – unless you want them to for some reason.

At any rate, here’s how to apply easy skin smoothing in Photoshop using the high-pass filter.

Duplicate the layer

This is the image we will use to demonstrate our skin smoothing technique with the high-pass filter. Incidentally, it’s a portrait of my father.

Easy-Skin-Smoothing-Using-the-High-Pass-Filter-in-Photoshop

I wanted to preserve the character of his visage while granting a small amount of skin smoothing to areas of his face.

After you bring your photo into Photoshop, the first thing we will do is duplicate that layer. The easiest way to duplicate the layer is to click on it and use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+J on Windows or Cmd+J for Mac. I’ve renamed the copy just to keep track.

Easy-Skin-Smoothing-Using-the-High-Pass-Filter-in-Photoshop

Add the High-Pass Filter

Next, we’ll add the high-pass filter to our newly duplicated layer.

Find the high-pass filter located under the ‘Filter’ tab. Select ‘Other’ and then ‘high-pass’.

Easy-Skin-Smoothing-Using-the-High-Pass-Filter-in-Photoshop

It’s here where we must set the radius for the high-pass filter, but don’t get nervous. Generally speaking, the higher the number for the radius, the more intense the smoothing effect will be.

Increase the value until you begin seeing more and more of your image coming through from behind the gray mask of the high-pass.

It’s difficult to give specific numbers here, but a radius of 100 and above is a good starting point.

Easy Skin Smoothing Using the High-Pass Filter in Photoshop

Click ‘OK’

Change the Blend Mode

You might be thinking “ewwwwww”.

Easy-Skin-Smoothing-Using-the-High-Pass-Filter-in-Photoshop

You would be correct to recoil, but don’t worry, it’s all about to get better with the next step.

Make sure the newly-filtered layer is selected and then change the blend mode to ‘Overlay.’ You can also experiment with other blend modes (Softlight also works well).

Easy-Skin-Smoothing-Using-the-High-Pass-Filter-in-Photoshop

Notice how the photo now appears to be massively sharpened? This is due to the high radius we set for the high-pass filter which we will need for the next phase of the process.

Invert your adjustments

The skin-smoothing magic happens here.

We must invert the adjustments of our high-pass layer. We can easily use the invert layer keyboard shortcut Ctrl+I for Windows or Cmd+I for Mac. Alternatively, select the ‘Image’ tab, then ‘Adjustments’ and finally ‘Invert’.

Easy Skin Smoothing Using the High-Pass Filter in Photoshop

After the high-pass layer is inverted we can instantly see the effects of the skin smoothing.

Easy Skin Smoothing Using the High-Pass Filter in Photoshop

This global smoothing effect grants the photo a glowy “pictorialist” feel which might actually work for some photos.

Of course, we’re not finished yet. Now we can freely adjust the opacity of this layer until you have the desired amount of overall smoothing.

Easy Skin Smoothing Using the High-Pass Filter in Photoshop

Add a Mask for complete control

You might be happy with the results of the smoothing as-is, which is fine. However, I highly recommend tailoring your skin smoothing effect using a layer mask to achieve the best, most professional-looking outcome.

Adding a layer mask will allow you to add or remove the skin smoothing from the image selectively. Believe me, even if you’re a first time user of Photoshop, working with simple layer masks such as these is incredibly easy. I’m going to approach this next step as if you’ve never used a layer mask before in your life.

First, with the high-pass layer selected, click on the layer mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel.

Easy Skin Smoothing Using the High-Pass Filter in Photoshop

This will add a mask to the layer.

Depending on your settings, this mask will manifest as either a white or black square. From here, we’ll select our paintbrush from the toolbar…

Easy Skin Smoothing Using the High-Pass Filter in Photoshop

…and make sure that our brush is set to the opposite color of whatever our mask might be.

So if our mask is black, make sure the brush is set with white over black or vice versa. This will make the brush remove the skin smoothing effect wherever we paint.

To add the smoothing effect back in, simply switch the brush color to the same color as the mask by clicking the swatch at the bottom of the tool panel.

And here we have our finished portrait.

Easy-Skin-Smoothing-Using-the-High-Pass-Filter-in-Photoshop

Details are preserved, and yet, we’ve managed to dial back the clock slightly and even-out some effects of aging, all while keeping the overall impact of the photo intact.

Painting the skin-smoothing effect in or out truly is that easy. Also, remember you can adjust the flow rate and opacity of your paintbrush as you work.

Make it an Action…

I’m all about saving work, saving time, and saving mouse clicks. Turning your skin smoothing effects into a Photoshop action is not only a great way to save time, but you can also save multiple variations of skin-smoothing effects. Then make them available with just a single click (maybe two).

By creating an action for your skin smoothing, you can easily access different variations. You can have one with lots of opacity, another with very subtle opacity, and multiple blend modes, all without having to go through each individual step every time you want to produce the skin-smoothing effect.

So when you’ve practiced the steps a few times, it’s a good idea to record them as an action for future use.

Here’s a quick walk-through of creating the action for the skin-smoothing effect we used here.

Click on the actions icon to open your Actions Panel if it’s not already visible.

Easy Skin Smoothing Using the High-Pass Filter in Photoshop

Click on the New Action icon (next to the folder icon) and then name your new action. I’ve gone with the highly creative title “Skin Smoothing 1.” When your ready, click ‘Record.’

Easy Skin Smoothing Using the High-Pass Filter in Photoshop

Photoshop will now record each step you make in creating the skin smoothing effect, including layer opacity and the layer mask.

Once you’ve finished, click the Stop icon to halt the recording. And, viola, your new action is now nested in the Photoshop Actions panel for quick selection later.

Easy-Skin-Smoothing-Using-the-High-Pass-Filter-in-Photoshop

I like to keep my Actions panel in “Button Mode” for easier viewing

IMPORTANT NOTE: It’s important that you stop your action recording prior to painting onto your adjustment mask. For more in-depth information on creating Photoshop actions check out this article by Melinda Smith.

Wrapping up

Just as with any sort of digital post-processing, the amount of skin smoothing (and how you go about it) varies tremendously from photographer to photographer and from subject to subject.

Some prefer the visceral realism of seeing every pore and line in the skin, and some like to see porcelain-smooth skin with no signs of aging or blemishes – to each their own.

This is why using the high-pass filter method for skin smoothing is so wonderful. It allows us to tailor our skin-smoothing effect not only to fit the expectations of the client but also to our own style of portraiture.

I hope you enjoyed this quick and easy guide to easy skin smoothing in Photoshop using the high-pass filter. There are many other methods for smoothing and retouching portraits, and we’d love to hear your favorite technique. Let us know in the comments below!

The post Easy Skin Smoothing Using the High-Pass Filter in Photoshop appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Adam Welch.


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Skylum teases Luminar 4 AI Skin Enhancer and Portrait Enhancer filters

18 Sep

Skyulm software continues to tease new features of its Luminar 4 software that is scheduled to be released this fall. Like the AI Sky Replacement and AI Structure filters we have already heard of, AI Skin Enhancer and Portrait Enhancer make use of machine learning to automate tasks like selections, masks and layers stacking, reducing the time it takes to get your retouching projects completed.

Modifications can also be synced across a series of photos and the technology is capable of adapting to each individual frame and make the right adjustments in order to maintain a coherent style across all images.

Skin Enhancer uses AI technology to automatically detect faces and skin in a photo. Photographers can then easily remove skin imperfections and smooth the skin. At the same time, textured detail, such as hair or skin pores are preserved to maintain a natural look.

Portrait Enhancer offers a collection of tools to modify your subjects’ faces in order to enhance or highlight certain features:

  • Face-aware Lighting adjusts the lighting for the face only, emulating a flash or reflector that is aimed at the face
  • Eye Improvement sharpens and whitens the eyes
  • Dark Circle Removal does what it says on the tin and removes dark circles or shadows below the eye.
  • Red Eye corrects the red issue effect that is caused by flash use
  • Face Contouring can make a face appear slimmer
  • Eye Enlargement gently increases the size of your subject’s eyes
  • Eyebrows thickens and darkens eyebrows
  • Lips and Teeth Enhancement enhances color of the lips and can whiten teeth

Most tools are controlled by simple sliders and built-in presets can make the process even faster.

Luminar 4 will run as a standalone application or a plugin for Adobe applications like Photoshop, Lightroom Classic and Photoshop Elements, or Apple software like Photos for macOS and Aperture.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Alien Skin Software is changing its name to Exposure Software

31 Aug

Plug-in and stand-alone imaging application manufacturer Alien Skin Software has announces it’s changing its name to Exposure Software. The company, which started life in 1993 and is well known for its Eye Candy and Exposure Photoshop plug-ins, will switch its name to align itself more closely with its flagship Exposure X package. It says that with the release of Exposure X5 the transition will be complete.

Writing on the company blog CEO Finley Lee says the Exposure X5 plug-in ‘will be a big stride forward in creativity and efficiency.’ The new company name expresses our complete focus on serving creative photographers.’ The current version of the plug-in is Exposure X4.5, which retails from $ 119. For more information see the Exposure Software website.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Alien Skin Software changes its name to Exposure Software

30 Aug

Plug-in and stand-alone imaging application manufacturer Alien Skin Software has announces it’s changing its name to Exposure Software. The company, which started life in 1993 and is well known for its Eye Candy and Exposure Photoshop plug-ins, will switch its name to align itself more closely with its flagship Exposure X package. It says that with the release of Exposure X5 the transition will be complete.

Writing on the company blog CEO Finley Lee says the Exposure X5 plug-in ‘will be a big stride forward in creativity and efficiency.’ The new company name expresses our complete focus on serving creative photographers.’ The current version of the plug-in is Exposure X4.5, which retails from $ 119. For more information see the Exposure Software website.

CEO’s blog post

I’m pleased to announce that we are changing our company name to Exposure Software! We made Exposure in 2006 to help photographers develop beautiful images. Our upcoming release of Exposure X5 will be a big stride forward in creativity and efficiency. The new company name expresses our complete focus on serving creative photographers.

You’ll see some changes immediately. Our website has a new logo and url – https://exposure.software. We’ll be updating our social media channels with our new name over the next few weeks. When Exposure X5 is released this fall, the transition will be complete.

One thing that won’t change is our commitment to amazing service. We’ll continue to offer the best customer support in the software industry, and to deliver tools that are fun, reliable, and inspire creativity!

I’d like to offer a special thanks to everyone who has used our products over the years. We couldn’t have done it without you, and we hope to keep serving you for many years to come.

Finley Lee

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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The Easiest Way to Achieve Rich Skin Tones in Photoshop!

10 Aug

The post The Easiest Way to Achieve Rich Skin Tones in Photoshop! appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

In this video by PiXimperfect, you’ll learn the easiest way to achieve rich and beautiful skin tones in Photoshop.

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In this tutorial, advanced Photoshop masking tools are used to target only the skin tones in the image. After selecting the skin tones, adjustment layers are used to add color to it.

The easiest way to achieve rich skin tones in Photoshop:

  1. Open your image in Photoshop.
  2. To begin your selection of the skin, go to Menu->Select->Color Range.
  3. To select the skin correctly, be sure to select “Sample Colors” (not “Skin Tones” because this feature doesn’t capture the skin tones with accuracy).
  4. Firstly, decrease the Fuzziness value to around 15, and then select the first Eyedropper tool. Using the eyedropper tool, click on one part of the skin in your image. To see what your selection is, ensure that you mark Selection in the Color Range window.
  5. Now select the second Eyedropper with the + symbol to extend the selection of the skin range. To do this, click and drag your Eyedropper tool across all skin tones until you have selected them all. Make sure no area is left out.
  6. You don’t want to keep the selection harsh, so go to the Fuzziness Slider and change it to around 55, and then click OK.
  7. Now that you have a selection of your skin tones, or colors similar to your skin tones, click on the Adjustment Layer icon in the Layers Palette. Choose “Solid Color.” This opens up the color palette window. In the RGB section, put in the following numbers – R: 255, G: 46, B: 1, and click OK.
  8. Change the Blend Mode in your Layers Palette from “Normal” to “Linear Light.” Rather than lower the Layer opacity, you are going to lower the “Fill” to around 5-10%.
  9. Take a look at your image and see if any areas have turned out too harsh with the blend. If so, choose your mask, then select the Paintbrush tool and paint those areas (with your brush color set to White) to soften the transition. You can decrease your brush flow if you want to.

That’s it!

Do you have any other tips you’d like to share with us? Do so in the comments section!

You may also find the following helpful:

Basic Skin Smoothing in Photoshop

Understanding Masking in Photoshop

How to Blend in Adjustments Using Layer Masking in Photoshop

How to Use the Clone Stamp Tool in Photoshop to Make Clear Skin

How to Correct Skin Blemishes Using the Patch Tool in Photoshop

How to Replace Colors in Your Images Using Photoshop

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The post The Easiest Way to Achieve Rich Skin Tones in Photoshop! appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.


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Lightroom Texture Slider vs. Skin Smoothing

09 Jul

The post Lightroom Texture Slider vs. Skin Smoothing appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

One of Adobe’s recent feature updates to Lightroom has profound implications for photographers who retouch their portraits. While in-depth alterations are best handled in an app like Photoshop or Affinity Photo, Lightroom’s brush tool has been a good choice for basic retouching for many years. Users can dial in specific settings to help skin appear softer and smoother, or select a preset defined by Adobe. However, these retouches have typically employed the Clarity slider, which is great for a lot of situations but not exactly ideal for portraits. Thankfully, the new Lightroom Texture Slider option aims to solve this and a whole lot more.

Lightroom Texture Slider vs. Skin Smoothing - 1

Before I get too deep into the Texture option, it’s important to know that it’s not just for tweaking headshots. It is specifically designed to either increase or decrease the detail on textured surfaces. These can be cloth, rocks, plants, skin, or anything that has a non-uniform appearance.

If you want to smooth the texture to make a surface appear more glassy, slide the Texture option to the left. By contrast, if you want to enhance the look of any textured object, just slide the tool to the right.

Texture vs. Clarity vs. Sharpening

Texture is fundamentally different from other tools such as Clarity or Sharpening, each of which has long been a staple in many portrait photographers’ workflows. Clarity works by increasing or decreasing contrast specifically along edges, or areas of already-high contrast. It primarily affects mid-tones and not the lightest and darkest portions of an image. Sharpening makes the edges of objects and surfaces much more vivid. It has some additional parameters like Radius and Amount that can be fine-tuned to get you just the right balance.

Lightroom Texture Slider vs. Skin Smoothing - 2

Each of these tools has a specific purpose, and they can be used alone or together to create specific results. If you usually do basic portrait retouching by using the Brush tool and selecting the Soften Skin option, you may have noticed that it’s merely a combination of Clarity and Sharpness. Texture, on the other hand, is specifically designed by Adobe to alter the appearance of textured surfaces.

If you have traditionally done some basic retouching using Clarity and Sharpening, you might be surprised at how effective the Texture option is.

The Soften Skin brush preset in Lightroom is just a combination of -100 Clarity and +25 Sharpening.

Retouching with Texture

While you can apply texture globally by using the option in the Basic panel of Lightroom’s Develop module, portrait photographers will appreciate that it can be applied selectively using the Brush tool. Select the Brush option and then look for the Texture slider, which is right above Clarity, Dehaze, and Saturation. You can also configure parameters like Size, Feather, Flow, and Auto Mask though I would recommend leaving the latter turned off if you are editing portraits.

Click on your photograph and brush in the Texture adjustment the same you would with any other adjustment. Be careful to stay in the facial region and not brush into hair, clothing, or other parts of the image. You certainly can apply the texture brush to other elements of your picture later on, but to start with stay focused on the face.

Lightroom Texture Slider vs. Skin Smoothing - 3

Original image with no brush adjustments applied.

As you brush in the Texture adjustment, you will see rough areas of the skin become smooth. I recommend starting with a value between -25 and -50. This retains most of the original look of the portrait while smoothing things out just a bit.

If you have never worked with the Adjustment Brush tool, you might take a minute and look over these five tips that could speed things up or make your work a lot more efficient.

Lightroom Texture Slider vs. Skin Smoothing - 4

Texture -50 adjustment brush applied to the cheeks, chin, and nose.

The resulting portrait has a smoother, softer appearance where the Texture adjustment was applied. Details such as pores and wrinkles remain, and color gradients and shifting tones are also preserved.

This is much different than the results typically produced by using the Skin Smoothing option, which employs a mix of negative Clarity and positive Sharpening.

Lightroom Texture Slider vs. Skin Smoothing - 5

Image with Soften Skin adjustment applied to the same areas.

This third image looks as though petroleum jelly has been smeared over the camera lens. The woman’s cheeks are missing the subtle color variations from the original image. While the skin is certainly smoother, it also looks more artificial.

To show how these images look in direct relation to one another, here is a graphic that shows all three versions for three seconds at a time. First is the original, then the Texture adjustment, then the original again, and finally the Soften Skin adjustment.

Lightroom Texture Slider vs. Skin Smoothing

You can create your own Adjustment Brush preset if you don’t want to rely on the Soften Skin preset. But if you have traditionally used the Clarity option, you may find it pleasantly surprising how vastly improved your results are by using Texture instead.

Comparison two

For another comparison, here are three more images to help you see the difference between Texture and other methods of softening skin.

Lightroom Texture Slider vs. Skin Smoothing - 6

The original image with no skin softening adjustments applied.

Applying a Texture -50 Adjustment leaves the pores, stubble, and small wrinkles intact but smooths them out just a bit. It’s a subtle change that doesn’t alter the original too much or make the face appear artificially smooth.

Lightroom Texture Slider vs. Skin Smoothing - 7

Texture -50 applied to the cheeks, chin, nose, and forehead.

A custom skin smoothing adjustment of Clarity -75 and Sharpness +15 makes the young man’s forehead and cheeks appear fake and plastic. It’s not a great look for a portrait.

Lightroom Texture Slider vs. Skin Smoothing - 8

Clarity -75 and Sharpness +15 applied to the same areas.

Looking at the three images sequentially shows the effect in a more pronounced fashion. The Texture adjustment gives a much more natural result while the final image seems over-processed and fake.

Lightroom Texture Slider vs. Skin Smoothing - 9

Conclusion

There’s a lot more you can do with the Lightroom Texture slider, and it’s useful for a wide variety of images aside from portraits. Some photographers like to reduce texture in the face and increase texture on hair and clothing for a punchier look.

My recommendation is to open up some of your images, especially portraits or headshots, and try it out for yourself. You might be surprised at how well it works.

Have you used the Lightroom Texture slider? What are your thoughts? Please share your thoughts (and images) with us in the comments section.

 

Lightroom Texture Slider vs Skin Smoothing

The post Lightroom Texture Slider vs. Skin Smoothing appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.


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Alien Skin Exposure X4 software review

24 Jun

Alien Skin Exposure X4
$ 119 | alienskin.com/exposure

A screenshot of Exposure X4.

When I reviewed Alien Skin Exposure X3, I noted several features that make it unique among other photo editing and organizing applications, such as its extensive library of professional presets, a quad-layout interface option for reviewing multiple similar shots at once, and a novel way of storing nondestructive edits on disk.

The changes in this release address some prior rough edges, add features and refine the experience of processing your photos

Although the new Exposure X4 version 4.5 feels more evolutionary than its version number would suggest, that’s not a criticism. The changes in this release address some prior rough edges, add features that are now expected for this class of software, and in general refine the experience of processing your photos without feeling like the software is getting in the way.

Performance and Fixes

In Exposure X3, I was surprised by laggy performance when editing photos, specifically working with the Raw files from my FujiFilm X-T1 and its 16.3MP X-Trans sensor. Using the brush to paint adjustments was like watching a movie with dialogue out of sync: I’d paint an area, wait for the software to apply the effect, paint another area, wait, and so on. The problem wasn’t as pronounced with Canon or Nikon Raw files, though it did show up to a lesser degree on large Sony Raw files.

The improvement between that experience and Exposure X4 is noticeable: the lag is gone

The improvement between that experience and Exposure X4 is noticeable, even with larger Raw files from today’s cameras, including the 26MP FujiFilm X-T3. I’m using the same computer (a 2016 MacBook Pro with 16GB of RAM and the Radeon Pro 460 graphics processor with 4GB memory), and, happily, the lag is gone.

There’s still a pause when opening Raw files or switching zoom levels, as Exposure X4 loads the image data, but even that seems improved with this version. I see the once-ubiquitous “Rendering” badge less often now.

The Shadows control, which was oddly heavy-handed in the previous release, now behaves as you would expect, manipulating just the tones in shadow areas instead of lightening or darkening the entire image.

Unedited (aside from simple Black & White conversation) version at left; shadows adjustment at right.

New Organizing Features

When importing photos from a memory card or camera, Exposure X4 now includes image thumbnails so you can choose which photos to copy – a seemingly essential feature that was missing in previous versions. That fills out the Copy Photos from Card dialog, which also allows you to select multiple cards or directories at the same time, make backups to a separate location during import, and assign metadata to the images.

Preview and select which photos to import.

The new Smart Collections feature displays photos based on criteria you set, such as revealing all photos captured with a 50mm lens rated three stars or higher. As you add photos to your library that match those specifications, they’re automatically added to the smart collection.

The feature does have one limitation I’d like to see fixed. When defining capture time as a criterion, you can enter only specific dates. So, for example, you can define a smart collection that shows all flagged photos captured between May 1 and May 31, but you cannot specify a less-specific range such as “the last 30 days” or “one year ago today.”

The only flaw in smart collections is that date ranges must be defined as specific dates, not general ranges such as “the previous month.”

Exposure X4 populates its library by reading folders on disk, as opposed to some applications that move images to a central library, which means it’s always on the lookout for file changes. (Lightroom, by contrast, requires any file management be done within the app, or else it loses track of where photos are stored.) Exposure X4 is quick about updating folders when new images are added to them.

Exposure X4 populates its library by reading folders on disk, as opposed to some applications that move images to a central library

That’s the basis for a new Monitor feature for tethering purposes. Although Exposure X4 doesn’t include a direct camera tethering option, if you have software running that can shuttle image files directly from the camera to a folder on disk, the response is fast enough that photos appear in the library almost instantly. When you instruct the application to monitor a folder, it adds the ability to assign metadata and rename files as they’re ingested.

Monitoring a folder lets you assign metadata and rename files as they arrive via a tethered connection.

I also discovered, by accident, that Exposure X4 does a good job of keeping edits and metadata together with original files if the images are moved on disk. To recap the program’s method of handling this information: edits and metadata are stored in special sidecar files, nested in folders in the same directory as the photos. When I moved some images to a different folder in the Finder on my Mac, Exposure X4 automatically moved the associated sidecar files to the new location.

New Editing Features

The editing improvements bring Exposure X4 in line with modern photo editors. You can apply color lookup tables (LUTs) to affect how colors are translated and to apply distinct looks. The advantage of a LUT, compared to a preset, is that LUTs don’t affect any other editing controls; once a LUT is applied, you can then build adjustments on top. The application includes nearly a dozen sample LUTs, with the ability to import more.

Get different looks by applying LUTs.

Exposure X4’s Overlays panel now includes light effects to superimpose colors, simulated light leaks, sun rays, and others. Now some of those effects can be freely moved, scaled, and rotated. With controls for zoom, opacity, and blend mode, you can make an effect as dramatic or as subtle as you wish.

This is a before/after view of applying an editable light effect.

There’s also a Transform panel that includes controls for stretching, scaling, and rotating the image.

If you still have years of Adobe muscle memory, you’ll quickly realize that Exposure X4 doesn’t share any keyboard shortcuts: pressing G reduces highlights by –5 instead of switching to the Grid view, for example. But now you can remap every shortcut in the preferences if you want to, or just see which keys perform which actions.

The editing improvements bring Exposure X4 in line with modern photo editor

Speaking of Adobe, Alien Skin added a Lightroom migration tool to Exposure X4, but be aware that Lightroom’s adjustments don’t carry over as editable settings. Instead, there’s an option to save edited photos as new files, which you can use as reference if you need to re-edit the original in Exposure. Still, metadata, color labels, and ratings all transfer. That’s not an ideal situation, but one can safely assume that the bulk of your editing going forward will be on new images, not ones in the library.

Odds and Ends

Review similar shots in quad-layout mode.

Some of my favorite features aren’t new, such as the ability for collaborators to edit the same image by storing it (and its associated sidecar file) on a shared local volume or cloud drive, as long as only one person is editing at a time to prevent conflicts. Also helpful are export presets for generating photos formatted for social networks; Exposure X4 now also includes print presets.

One item on my feature wishlist remains unchanged: Raw+JPEG pairs are still treated as separate images. I’ve softened my stance on this over time, as there are situations when you may specifically want a JPEG adjusted in-camera (such as shooting in a black and white simulation) while keeping the original Raw file. However, I’d still like to see options for handling Raw+JPEG pairs get a bit smarter, such as having an option to import only raw files, or to view them as a single shot with the ability to choose which version you wish to edit.

You can remap every shortcut in the preferences if you still have years of Adobe muscle memory

I also ran into a weird problem that ate up several hours of diagnosis. Sometimes, the Folders panel—and therefore, my library—would not appear when I launched Exposure X4. It turns out to be part of a feature, but one which looks like a bug. When the application is opened as a plug-in from within another program, such as Lightroom Classic, the Folders panel and the Crop tool are disabled, because the expectation is that you’re only editing. Opening Exposure from a third-party launch utility, in my case LaunchBar, makes the application think it’s being opened as a plug-in. This situation isn’t triggered when opening Exposure X4 using the macOS Spotlight shortcut (Command-space).

Conclusion

Exposure X4 is a solid update that shores up some areas that needed attention and builds on a photo editor that already stands apart in interesting ways. And most important, Alien Skin improved the performance in areas that make a difference.

Exposure X4 is available as a single purchase, not a subscription

I can’t wrap up this review without noting that Exposure X4 is available as a single purchase, not a subscription, which I think is still a motivating factor among many photographers. It costs $ 119 for Exposure X4 itself, or is available as a bundle for $ 149 that includes a couple of other Alien Skin utilities. Upgrade pricing for earlier versions of Exposure is also available, and you can try the software for free during a 30-day trial. It runs on Mac OS X Yosemite or newer and Windows 7 64-bit or newer.

What we like:

  • Improved performance, specifically with Raw files
  • Review photo thumbnails during import from memory cards
  • Import from multiple cards simultaneously
  • Improved shadow and highlight recovery
  • Smart collections
  • Monitored folders improve tethering options
  • LUT support

What we don’t:

  • Raw+JPEG pairs still treated as separate images
  • App confusion when opening it from a launcher utility

Who’s it for:

Photographers who want sophisticated editing and organization without a subscription or a central-library structure.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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How to Create and Use a Light Skin Smoothing Action in Photoshop

18 May

The post How to Create and Use a Light Skin Smoothing Action in Photoshop appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jackie Lamas.

When you photograph portraits, you’ll spend time editing the photos so your clients look their very best. A lot of that time is often spent smoothing out the skin. But while some smoothing is okay, doing it too much can change the look of the person.

Here’s how to create a simple and easy Photoshop action that will have you smoothing out skin faster without over-retouching it.

Before and after using this light skin smoothing action.

What is a Photoshop Action?

A Photoshop action is where you record various steps in an editing process and save them so you can then reapply those steps simply by ‘playing’ the action.

In this case, the action will have three steps. When you press ‘Play’ it will apply those three steps quickly and automatically so you can get to the fun part – the retouching.

Create the action

Step 1: Open a photo (any photo will do) so you can create the action.

Step 2: Make sure the Actions panel is open. If it isn’t, go to the Window menu and make sure Actions is selected. If you can’t find the Actions panel on your workspace, deselect and re-select it in the menu.

Step 3: Create an Action Set, which will create a master folder for your action to live in and help you organize your actions. (You can skip this step if you already have one.) Click on the three lines in the Actions panel and select New Set. You can also create it by clicking the folder icon at the bottom of the Actions panel. You can give it any name you like. (In this example I named it “My actions”.)

Step 4: Now it’s time to record the action. Select New Action from the Actions panel menu, or click the New icon at the bottom. Choose a name for your action, select the set you want it stored in, and click Record.

Note: Once you hit record, everything you do in Photoshop will be recorded – including the things you did accidentally. Fortunately, you can click the Record and Stop buttons at any time while you’re recording the steps.

Step 5: Once you start recording your action, duplicate your layer in the layers panel or by hitting CMD/CTRL+J.

Step 6: From the Photoshop menu select Filters ->Blur -> Gaussian Blur and choose a value between 10 and 25 pixels. (Don’t worry. Your photo won’t stay blurry.)

Step 7: Create a mask layer, then hold down the Alt/Option key and click on the mask. This will add a black mask on your blur, and your photo will be back to normal. We’ll be using this mask to add the smoothing rather than erase the blur, which is a lot more work.

Step 8: Select the Brush tool (or press B on the keyboard), and choose an opacity between 10% and 20%. Make sure your foreground color is set to white so you can paint back the smoothing.

Step 9: Hit Stop to stop recording.

Your action is now ready to use.

To test your action, open a new photo and hit Play in the Actions panel.

You’ll see the actions you recorded re-applied to the new photo.

How to use your action

Open a photo with the skin you want to smooth out. It’s best if you retouch any imperfections or blemishes beforehand. This action simply smoothes out the skin lightly to make it look natural and clean.

Hit Play on your action, choose a brush size that’s best for your photo and start painting in the smoothing in small strokes. Make sure you paint in the mask layer or you’ll be painting white onto the skin.

You should see the difference after a few strokes. You can also change the opacity if you need more or less smoothing.

Tips

If you accidentally record extra steps, simply stop the recording and then delete the steps that aren’t part of the action.

You can also delete the action and start over. So don’t worry if you don’t get each step right the first time.

In conclusion

Retouching skin can often take time away from photographing clients. But by using actions, you can streamline your editing by automating steps you use regularly.

This action also helps you retouch photos lightly and more naturally.

Let us know if you find it helpful.

The post How to Create and Use a Light Skin Smoothing Action in Photoshop appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jackie Lamas.


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Review: Alien Skin Exposure X4 Software

24 Feb

The post Review: Alien Skin Exposure X4 Software appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Peter West Carey.

Alien Skin Exposure X4 is a photo editor providing direct competition to Adobe Lightroom, but with a few extra tricks up its sleeve. While it is a cataloging software, it doesn’t require a catalog like Lightroom. There is no importing to be done. It has a host of features and over 500 presets to help get you started with edits.

Who is it for?

Exposure X4 is aimed at a wide variety of users. From novices just getting started who want a little help via presets, to advanced photographers possibly tired of the subscription model Adobe keeps pushing for its programs.

As a professional myself, I don’t find any show-stopping limits within the program as I’ve seen from Lightroom competitors in the past. You’ll notice the word “robust” used a number of times in this article and I don’t use it without warrant. It’s a very serious competitor to Lightroom.

Highlighted Features

No catalog

At its core, Exposure X4 is built to edit photos quickly, dynamically and then to help you get the finished product out to the world, be it in print or online. Exposure X4 uses non-destructive edits, much like Lightroom, and does this without a catalog. Instead, Exposure X4 drops another folder inside of any folder you are editing as in the screenshot below.

Some may like this system because without a catalog there is no catalog to corrupt. While not a widespread problem in Lightroom, it can happen if you don’t close the program properly or if your computer crashes. Uniquely, it also allows for a limited amount of shared editing.

As the program only looks to individual edit information files (those ending in .exposurex4 in the screenshot above), it is conceivable to run the program on two computers sharing the same files, such as with a Network Attached Storage or other file sharing services (Dropbox, iCloud, OneDrive, etc…). There’s also no need to pack up or export a catalog before moving files as the folder with edits will travel with the master folder.

File copy from cards

Instead of importing files, Exposure X4 uses a simple copy and bookmark feature to handle raw images.

The copy feature lets you copy from a card, or from a hard drive or network resource if you want to move files. This is a separate process than simply bookmarking an existing folder to bring its contents into Exposure X4.

The copy feature is pretty robust, with the ability to change file names, make backup copies, add metadata, including keywords and copyright. It can also apply presets (from the over 500 included or ones you create yourself).

The file naming convention is also robust with all kinds of variables you would expect. Below is an example of all the date related options you have.

As a long time Lightroom user, I was happy with the selections included.

Bookmarks instead of Imports

Lightroom requires you to run an import function to bring any images you want to edit into its catalog. Exposure X4 accomplishes this, in my opinion, in a more elegant way.

Simply click the plus sign on the Folders pane and select which folder you want including in the program.

The program also has the ability to monitor folders, so when new images show up (if you are importing with another program, for instance, or shooting tethered) the program will automatically bring those images in.

Layers

For those familiar with Photoshop, the Layers technique of editing will see standard practice. Using features like Brushes (for masks) and gradients will create a new layer for each desired effect.

In this case, I added some clarity to the mountains and a slight gradient. The array of presets is decent and you can modify any mask/edit to your liking.

Each layer can be turned on or off, which is very helpful when you want to see what effect each has without having to step back through the History.

Lastly, as you would expect, layers can be copied, named and deleted.

All the other edits

Exposure X4 has a vast array of editing options as you can see from this collapsed panel below.

While featuring every single item is beyond the scope of this review, I will mention the IR (infrared) and Focus.

For instance, take this shot of photographers in front of Cho Oyu, the 6th highest mountain in the world, shot from the Nepal side.

With a quick swipe of the adjustment brush on a new layer mask then a few slider moves as such:

Bingo! We have selective focus.

 

Further editing needs to be done, but this is a nice start to helping the photographers stand out.

Presets galore

If you love presets, you’re going to love what Exposure X4 packs into its programming. Here’s a quick screenshot of the categories:

If you want to see what is behind each of those headings, take a look at their website.

One downside I can see is there aren’t many third parties making presets for this program, at least not that I was able to find.

However, you are able to create your own with no limits.

Lightroom Migration Tool

Now the crux of it!

When you install Exposure X4 on a computer with Lightroom, it will add a Migration Tool as an add-on within Lightroom.

So what does it do?

It’s fairly basic and, for the most part, tells Exposure X4 where to find all your files from the Lightroom catalog as well as bring over keywords and collections.

Does it work?

Yes and no. You need to know what to expect.

First off, it’s not going to bring over the entire history for a photo with all your edits just as they are in Lightroom.

You have two options: 1) Simply point Exposure X4 to the RAW file and then start from scratch or 2) Export each file that you have edited as either a JPG, TIFF or PSD file.

The second option works well when I had it create new PSD files. Keywords, star ratings, color coding, and all the metadata came right along into Exposure X4. The one annoying thing is it renames each file and appends it with “_migrated.psd”. This can easily be cleaned up with Exposure X4’s renaming feature.

Here’s an example of a small catalog brought into Exposure X4.

More info on the tool can be found on their site.

Show me more

There really is way too much to talk about in this one post. Luckily they have a great Features page that lists the plethora of features you may be looking for.

What Could Use Work

I found a few issues with the program while testing it. I left out the items I would describe as “That’s not the same as Lightroom!” where I blurted out that phrase because it’s not exactly the same.

No preview on import

I admit that import is the wrong name for it. Mentioned above, I’m talking about the “Copy From Card” feature to move items from a card to a local hard drive and also include them in Exposure X4.

When running this feature, there’s no ability to preview the images. This also means there is no ability to choose individual images when copying from a card.

Hopefully, this will be addressed in a future version. But I can see why they left it this way; because Exposure X4 is supposed to look at all images in a folder. If you don’t want to see them, they shouldn’t be there! It does cut down on the need to synchronize things as Lightroom can.

Not all profiles are present

The camera profile for my drone, a Mavic 2 Pro, was not included. At least that’s what I thought.

While it did have the profile for the Mavic Pro, it was not automatically recognized and applied in the Lens Correction pane. This may be a temporary thing, but the Mavic 2 Pro has been out since last summer.

Two finger rotation

This will seems like a little thing, but it really annoyed me. Rotating images is accomplished by holding down Command/Ctrl and the left and right arrow keys. Using the arrow keys make sense, because they point the way of rotation, but I want it quick and easy, not with the added Command key.

I know, it’s a little thing.

Lack of Add-Ons and Plug-Ins

Because it is not Adobe, Alien Skins doesn’t have a huge pile of developers pumping out plug-ins and add-ons for Exposure X4. It tries to make up for this fact by offering a robust program from the start, but I use the Lightroom tethering abilities often and not having that feature in Exposure X4 is hampering.

Conclusion

Alien Skin Exposure X4 can do almost all of what Lightroom can do. It’s worthy competition that deserves a close look if you are getting fed up with Lightroom and Adobe’s current path.

It offers a number of creative features you won’t find in Lightroom, like the adding sun streaks or other lighting effects to your photos.

It’s a fun and different approach than Lightroom. It can export to Photoshop and has a decent migration tool if you are already using Lightroom.

It’s not compatible with Lightroom, though. Using both programs on the same images will not work, so you need to choose one or the other. In my mind, it’s worth giving it a try and really diving into the keyboard shortcuts (“-” is used to reject a photo and “+” is used to flag it, while either shortcut can be used to toggle off the flag. No more trying to find “U” (to unmark!) to see if it is the right program for you.

Have you used this software? What are your thoughts?

The post Review: Alien Skin Exposure X4 Software appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Peter West Carey.


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