How to create healthy, lively, crispy looking skin

[victor_ng2]

<p>Hi,<br />I need your advise!<br />When i take pictures, I set everything correctly (lighting, camera settings, techniques, etc) but when the pictures come out, I have to say they are really good, but the skin tone/the lhealthy looking skin, aren't quite there, yet. Would you show me what feature(s) in Photoshop can help fix/polish this problem?<br />Last time, at a friend wedding, the main photographer has the very same eqipments like what I have (everything). We set our cameras at the very same settings. We stood at the very spot. We took the very same picture set under the very same light environment of a restaurant but when his picture comes out, the skin tone looks so fresh, so "pinky" healthy, so lively, so crispy. I know he used Photoshop (you just know when you look at them), I don't know how. Would you show me some tips? Thanks a bunch!<br />My equipments: Canon 5D Mark II, 24-70mm F2.8 & 70-200 F2.8 L lenses, Canon 580EXII flash, Photoshop CS3.</p>

<p>Q<br />ps: of course I asked hime but he never revealed what he did, sadly!</p>

[rnt]

<p>Do you have a link to an example of his work? (I'm resisting the temptation to swerve into cooking advice to address the 'crispy skin' problem)</p>

[mark_t5]

<p>im leaning toward postprocessing. he probably softened the skin to make it look better. but yah, without pictures its hard to tell what he did.</p>

[wentzu_chang]

<p>it should be easier t do if you know photoshop...play with curve, and sharpen tool. You might want to post a link or a a picture that will be easier to know what's going on...</p>

[daverhaas]

<p>Victor -</p>

<p>Depending on which version of Photoshop you have available I'd suggest investing in one of Scott Kelby's Photoshop Books.</p>

<p>Scott is the editor of Photoshop Magazine and is heavily involved in the user community. He cuts through the nonsense and shows you step by step how to get the results you're looking for.</p>

<p>Dave</p>

 

[paul_b.1]

First of all, you have to calibrate your monitor.

[pete_s.]

<p>I have to disagree with Dave - I wouldn't waste my money on any of Scott Kelby's books. At least not if you want to understand what you are doing. Hmm, well maybe I'm wrong. I know a lot of people like them but I sure don't.</p>

[lightsmith1]

<p>Skin tones are the most visible area when white balance is off so that is the first thing to adjust. %d cameras have the worst auto WB of any camera I have used so it is critical to adjust your images as step one. Second is to adjust the levels. I am also assuming that you are shooting RAW and not JPEGs as with the latter the camera is making many different adjustments.<br>

Overall skin tones are excellent with Canon cameras and WB is not a problem with cameras produced after the 5D. Not a big deal to fix in post processing.<br>

As you have maybe now started to realize the camera does not a good photographer make.</p>

[sean_rolsen]

<p>Don't forget about the in-camera settings as well. The "Parameter" or "set" that was set in cam adjusts saturation among other things. But photoshop can adjust vibrancy and can smooth skin. I like to do what I can in-cam. For future shoots, perhaps consider CTO (or a fraction of) gold and silver umbrellas and reflectors, etc. This will add that pop to your skin tones as well. I hope that helps a bit.<br>

Sean</p>

[mark_t5]

<p>i dont think books are that necessary. just use google, you can find pretty much anything about photoshop with it these days. and if you can't find it, there are gazillion of photoshop forums out there that would provide the answers you need.</p>

[tina___cliff_t]

<p>It might make your photos look over done, but I love this guys tutorials. They are super easy to follow, and you can always tweak the options to your own liking.</p>

<p>

- Is a good starter one maybe...but look at all the ones he offers.</p>

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