95
Smooth skin tones

No matter how clear someone’s complexion is, there will always be imperfections, such as wrinkles, spots, scars, blotches or moles. While this is perfectly natural, most subjects like to look their best, which is where Photoshop’s Healing and Cloning tools can come to the rescue. These two tools offer the opportunity not only to remove blemishes, but to take the smoothing of skin to an almost unnatural level. While this can look unrealistic, from a commercial point of view it is appealing and certainly the way things are going with professional portraiture. The Cloning tool has long been the most popular choice for the job, allowing areas of smooth skin to be cloned over the imperfections. However, the development of the Healing tool, which allows the texture to be transposed while retaining the tonal representations, offers a powerful alternative. Both tools are selected from the toolbox and use a target point on the image to ‘clone’ over the imperfection.

ANGEL

The aim of this portrait was to use the unusual crop to force the viewer’s eye to investigate the various focal points of the portrait before settling on the subject’s eye. The necklace, earring and lips each provide natural resting points for the viewer to fall on and, to help the eye’s journey, the skin has been lightened and smoothed to create a clean and perfect texture. The Healing tool was used first of all to keep the tonal characteristics created by the make-up and lighting. Then the Cloning tool, set to an opacity of 25%, was used to smooth the skin even further. While the subject’s complexion was excellent to begin with, these two tools ensured perfect skin tones and texture.

Canon EOS 10D, 28–70mm f/2.8 lens, 1/125 sec at f/16, ISO 100.