Rangefinder Magazine
September 2005

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Photoshop Tricks: by Scott Kelby and Felix Nelson
Quick Fashion-photo Retouch

This is one of a series of Adobe® Photoshop® tutorials sponsored by Adobe Systems and the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) to be reprinted in Rangefinder. The article is from Photoshop User magazine, the official publication of NAPP (www.photoshopuser.com).

Here’s a simple but effective way to take an average photographic image and turn it into an image that could proudly grace the covers of many popular fashion magazines. We’ll focus on adding cool reflections to the eyes and bringing out highlights on the lips.

STEP ONE: Open a close-up image of a woman’s face. We’ll start by bringing out the natural highlights on her lips. Choose the Lasso tool (L) from the Toolbox, and make a selection of the highlights on her lips (see example).

STEP TWO: Go under Select and choose Feather. When the dialog appears, enter 2 pixels and click OK. Press Command-J (PC: Control-J) to put the selection on its own layer (Layer 1). Now, change the Blend Mode of Layer 1 from Normal to Screen.

STEP THREE: Press Cmd-L (Ctrl-L) to bring up the Levels dialog box. Click on the Shadow adjustment slider (the black one on the far left) and slide it toward the right until the outside edges of Layer 1 disappear.

STEP FOUR: Now, move the Midtone adjustment slider toward the right to “blend in” Layer 1 with the original background layer and click OK. You can lower the Layer Opacity if the effect looks too stark (in our example, we lowered the Opacity to 85 percent).

STEP FIVE: Create a new layer (Layer 2) by clicking on the Create a New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette. Choose the Rectangular Marquee tool (M) from the Toolbox and make a rectangular selection over one of the eyes.

STEP SIX: Press Cmd-Delete (Ctrl-Backspace) to fill with white. Then, press Cmd-T (Ctrl-T) to bring up the Free Transform bounding box. Move your cursor outside the bounding box until a double-sided arch arrow appears. Rotate the selection into place and press Enter or Return.

STEP SEVEN: Go under Filter, under Blur, and choose Gaussian Blur. When the dialog opens, enter 3 pixels and click OK. Cmd-click (Ctrl-click) on Layer 2 to make an active selection. While holding down the Option (Alt) key, click-and-drag a duplicate selection just above the iris of the eye (see example). Press Cmd-D (Ctrl-D) to deselect.

STEP eight: Change the layer Blend Mode of Layer 2 from Normal to Hard Mix, and lower the Opacity to about 45 percent.

STEP nine: Cmd-click (Ctrl-click) on Layer 2 to make an active selection. While holding down the Option (Alt) key, click-and-drag a duplicate selection over the other eye. Press Cmd-D (Ctrl-D) to deselect.

STEP TEN: Duplicate the original Background layer by dragging it onto the Create a New Layer icon. Use the Lasso tool (L) to make a selection around the foreground elements in your image (the face, arms, and right side of the hair in our example).

STEP ELEVEN: Press Cmd-Shift-I (Ctrl-Shift-I) to inverse the selection. Go under Select and choose Feather. When the dialog appears, enter 20 pixels and click OK.

STEP TWELVE: Go under Filter, under Blur, and choose Lens Blur. Enter 25 for Radius and click OK. Press Cmd-D (Ctrl-D) to deselect and complete the effect. Add some text to create your own high-fashion glamour magazine cover.

Scott Kelby is the president of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) and a best-selling author. Felix Nelson is the creative director of Photoshop User magazine and NAPP and is the art director for Mac Design magazine. He is also a co-author of several Photoshop books and a Photoshop instructor.