SO...
1. open image then level (using the master RGB) as abt such:
shadows: Slide to the foot of the Shadow histogram or slightly more shadow
midtones: varies from 0.9-1.3...depends on pict exposure
highlights: Slide to the foot of the Highlight histogram or slightly more highlight
"Just ensure that you have a good balance of shadows and highlights with your new
midtone value"
2. Add 1st Channel Mixer adjustment layer for the skin.
Click MONOCHROME and set as abt such:
Red: 70-85%
Green: 20-30%
Blue: 5-10%
"The above values are good for slight fair to slight dark skin tones.
This setting will blow out most parts of the picts, but dont care, as long as you get the right exposure for the skins,
esp the face...if the hand is over a bit, it's still ok, but only a bit. just ensure
that the RBG value for the almost white area is not 255 flat!"
3. Make a new layer called SKIN and merge visible (Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E) and OFF the layer
4. Add 2nd Channel mixer layer for the overall pict.
For this, i usually set abt
Red: 30 or 70% (varies)
Green: 70 or 30% (varies)
Blue: 0-10% ... depends on pict cos it might blow out white areas
Note: if you set Red at 30, you set Green at 70 and vice versa or both level out
at 50%
5. Make a new layer called OVERALL and merge visible (Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E)
6. Turn on the SKIN layer and move it to the top, and move the OVERALL layer just below it.
7. Click on the SKIN layer and click the "MASK ICON".
A Masking layer will appear beside the thumbnail on the SKIN layer.
8. Use the BRUSH TOOL (soft edges), set colour to BLACK and adjust the OPACITY to you liking,
and start masking, BUT do NOT mask the skin areas.
You'll notice that areas masked will show the OVERALL layer's tone.
Thus, you are selectively blending the two layers.
9. Make the final layer called FINAL IMAGE and merge visible. You're Done!
NOTE: If anyone of you are using those lousy Canon kit lenses, u can enhance the optic's
performance in PS by applying USM at
Percentage: 150%
Radius: 1
Threshold: 5-20 (Varies) - I usually use 5
The above setting works well with a Canon 500N 28-80 or 70-300 kit lenses.
The HALO is slight to average...and is exceptable (unless if you are trained to look for HALOS)
even on 8R SUPER prints.
So have fun!!! This workflow is only valid for those in this thread only.