The Amazing Power of Frequency Separation Retouching in Photoshop
Why Photography Stack Exchange recommends it
Photography Stack Exchange answerers point people to it when asking how to smooth skin blotches or even out skin tone in post without losing skin texture.
Recommended by 1 people across 1 different months, 2015 to 2020.
What it is
A 14-minute PHLEARN tutorial that teaches frequency separation retouching in Photoshop. It splits a portrait into a blurred tone layer and a high-frequency texture layer, built with Apply Image and recombined with Linear Light, so skin tone and texture can be edited independently.
What people said
Recommends Kai Mattern · 2020-08 · Photography Stack Exchange · on “How can I remove these blotches on the skin?”
Frequency Separation is the technique, you are looking for. With this, you separate the image into 2 layers. One containing more of the color information and one containing more of the texture and details. In very short steps: Duplicate (cmd+J) your Background layer twice. Rename the top layer "high frequency" and the bottom "low frequency." Then group the two layers (select the two layers & cmd+g) With the Low Frequency layer selected, Filter>Gaussian Blur filter and choose a pixel radius with which all the fine details will be blurred. I have mine set at 3.7 but there are some photographers who will set it to 5 so this is just up to your preference in terms of how much detail you want. I p
Cites Joanne C · 2015-04 · Photography Stack Exchange · on “How can I achieve consistent skin tones in my photographs?”
The short version of the answer to your question is that you do it both "in camera" and in post-production. A longer answer breaks out into a few thoughts: In Camera Light the subject correctly. I really recommend using an incident light meter (a decent hand held one) to calculate the correct exposure for the subject rather than relying on the reflective light meter in your camera. This enables you to keep lights and darks correct rather than relying in the camera meter to pick the correct middle ground. Get the correct color temperature. If you know what it is, and your flashes are accurate in temperature, then dial it in. Otherwise use a gray card to get it. Makeup. There's a reason that p
Cites Aurélien Pierre · 2017-04 · Photography Stack Exchange · on “How can I take portraits in the style of Charles Hildreth?”
Is there something important to say about the light in the portraits of Charles? There is. There is no mastering of light here. It's always diffused natural light, either from an overcast sky or very large windows, with very little shadows. No risk taken, just the very basics and lots of color retouch in post. The catchlights in the eyes here [LINK] and here [LINK] show one or two white reflectors on the ground. It looks to me like regular magazine material, no creativity, just pretty girls. It's easy to reproduce, and easy to forget. Lens Buy an expensive bokeh maker, not a lens. That is a 85 mm F/1.4 or perhaps a Canon 85 F/1.2 with a full frame camera. Location Choose a background color c