Milk and Honey | newborns · The biggest tip for creamy baby skin is starting with great light. If...

images + editing steps by Lisa DiGeso, Milk & Honey Photography + Amy McDaniel of Dewdrops Photography© 2014 TheMilkyWay.ca

Milk and Honey | newborns

Milk and Honey | newborns

© 2014 TheMilkyWay.ca2

Creamy Baby Skin

The biggest tip for creamy baby skin is starting

with great light. If the baby is lit properly it

makes editing the image so much easier.

Newborn skin is tricky because we often run

into issues such as jaundice, baby acne, lots of

redness, and lots of bumpy skin.

“Creamy baby skin” is basically defined as skin

that has had all these ‘problem areas’ reduced.

There are great plug-ins such as Portraiture and

great free skin smoothing actions, as well as the

high pass method (shown in this course) that

can help achieve great results.

The goal with creating creamy baby skin, is

correcting the color of the baby’s skin tone,

giving it a nice and even look.

But the trick is to keep the skin looking realistic!

If all the texture is taken out (ie Portraiture

at 100% strength) it leaves you with a plastic

looking baby.

I rarely run portraiture on a higher level than

20-35%. My most commonly used tools are the

patch tool to remove patches of red, baby acne

& texture and the spot healing brush to fix small

blemishes & spots.

In addition to these tools there are a variety

of tips & tricks, we will show you to add to

your arsenal of techniques to help you create

newborn images that shine!

Starting with great light + proper exposure will cut your editing time WAY down!


1.1 ACR SKIN TONES

Skin Tones in Adobe Camera RAWOpen your raw file in ACR.

Make adjustments using

the basics panel,

adjusting white balance,

exposure, shadows &

highlights as needed.

TIPClick on the arrow on the right side of your

histogram to show clipped highlights.

When you pull the exposure over, the red

areas will show you what parts are being

blown out (avoid having blown out sections on

the skin!)

Once the WB and exposure looked good on

the blanket, I used the adjustment brush to

just work on the baby’s skin

(click on the brush on the top tool bar to go to

the adjustment brush panel)


=

(If you click on “show

mask” - you will see

exactly where you are

painting with brush)

Uncheck ‘show mask’

so you can see your

adjustments as you do

them.

Using the sliders, adjust

the temperature &

exposure so baby looks

neither too warm not too

cool, and the exposure

looks slightly brighter but

still realistic to the image.

NOTE: You can toggle the ‘preview’ button

on and off to see the changes you are

making...it’s good to check in to make sure

you haven’t gone ‘too far’ with your edit!

If you have, reduce the effect.

If your mask includes parts of the image

you don’t want it to, simply click on ‘erase’

and erase some back off.

I like to use a very soft brush!


1.3 Fixing Jaundice Skin in ACR

Option 1 Global Correction

First, if you need to adjust your WB or exposure for

the image, do this first. Base the ‘correct’ WB on

your blanket - not the skin tones.

Then, go to the HSL panel.

With the saturation tab selected (middle tab)

adjust the Orange slider (in this example I used -16).

Adjust and tweak the yellow slider as needed

(to tell if you have lots of yellow in the image, you

can move the slider to the far right...if you are

seeing a big change in yellows, you might want to

reduce a touch of yellow - so, move the slider to the

left to be in the - numbers.

Return to the basics panel to make any final

adjustments to the temperature as needed.

(this is the technique also shown in video 1.5)


1.3 Fixing Jaundice Skin in ACR

Option 2 Targeted Correction

If you want to target only the skin of baby and

leave the warm rich tones of the rest of the

image, use this method to adjust baby’s skin

only.

Using the adjustment brush, paint on the

baby’s skin (click on ‘show mask’ so you can

see if you accidentally painted on the blanket).

If you have, click on the ‘erase’ and carefully

go back in and erase off the blanket so only

baby is selected.

Adjust the temperature slider in the

adjustment brush to reduce the yellow out of

the babies skin.

Using the exposure slider in the adjustment

brush panel, increase the

exposure as needed so baby

is brightened up.

(in this particular edit,

temperature was reduced to

-34, and I bumped exposure

+.10.)

Note: the number values

aren’t important - each

image is going to need

different

adjustments!


1.4 Fixing Jaundice Skin Photoshop

Using the quick select tool, select all around the

baby.

Choose the ‘selective color’ on panels and it will

mask your selection.

Using the slider of the Yellow color drag the yellow

slider down on the mask.

If you go too far baby will start to appear magenta.

To bring back any yellow from a headband or other

item on the baby that should be yellow, use a black

brush on the layer mask and paint it back in using

a soft brush.


1.6 Red Skin Reducer (with actions)First, I would use the close or patch tool to clean up

any little flakes and bumps.

Then I would choose one of two actions to help cool

down the red areas.

#1. Paint Away Red Spotches, from Greater

Than Gatsby (newborn essentials kit).

When you run the action, you then ‘paint on’ where

you want to see the effect. I generally use 50%

opacity, and using a white brush with a soft edge,

lightly brush away the red.

If you’ve done it too much, you can reduce the

opacity of the effect.

#2. Sonkissed Purple Hand + Foot Action

When you run this action, you’ll see there are a

number of different layers. The one I use for red, is

called “Red be Gone” - and I use my white brush at

30% to paint the effect on.

(note: I like to keep feet pretty pink)

If there are some shadows that need to be lifted, you

can also use the ‘Lighten Me.’

I use that at 10%.

(again...if you want to reduce the effect, simply

reduce the opactiy of the layer).


1.7 Removing Red Tones (no actions)

Start by duplicating the Layer (Cmd or Ctrl J)

Using the quick selection tool, select around the

baby.

Right click and select feather.

Depending on image, adjust feather radius

(I often use 5 pixels - this will soften & refine & the

edge).

Create a new adjustment layer -

Image Hue/Saturation (so this will be a layer JUST

affecting what you selected with your lasso tool).

In the Hue/Saturation screen that pops up, select

the red channel.

Use your eye dropper tool and click on an area that

is VERY red that you want to reduce.

Slide the Hue all the way to the left

(image will look bizarre & blue).


On the botton slider start pinching

together the color from the right

so the blue color starts to come off

the skin, and just the red areas you want to target are

colored.

Slide the hue all the way back up past 0 and into the +

area.

The red should start coming out of the image.

Adjust the saturation of the targeted area and the

lightness to taste.

Erase the lips back in at approx 50% to restore some

pink to them (or, you can create a layer mask and paint

over lips - that way, if you mess up, you can always fix

easily!).

If image still feels too saturated, create a new layer

mask and use the Hue/Saturation panel and reduce

overall image saturation by approx -5 to-10

(if some areas feel too desaturated- like little pink

toes, use a black brush and paint it back in using a soft

brush at 50% opacity).


1.8 Fixing purple hands/feetDuplicate layer (Cmnd or Ctrl + J).

Using the quick select tool, select the discoloured area.

Click the levels panel (this will create a new

adjustment layer).

Using the RGB panel in the levels layer

adjust the middle slider to increase the brightness.

To remove purple we need to reduce both

blue AND red - so, first using the blue channel in

levels, pull the middle slider to the right to remove

the blue and add yellow.

Next switch to the red channel in levels, to pull out

or add in red. If you need to add more red back in

switch to the green channel in levels and tweak as

needed.

You may need to go back into RGB and play with

the brightness, to match the skin tone.

NOTE:We should be shooting in a way that baby’s fingers/

feet/hands/toes don’t change color. With immature

circulatory systems they can change color very quickly.

Please adjust baby’s position during your session

when you see purple fingers/hands/feet vs “fixing in

photoshop.”


1.9 CMYK SKIN TONESCMYK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow & Key

(which is really black).

The rule of thumb for CMYK for caucasian babies

is that yellow should be higher than magenta and

Cyan should be 1/3-1/5 of the yellow.

Example: a correct skin sample would be...

C 15%

M 45%

Y 48%

K 0%

Take a sample of the area by using the eyedropper

tool . Use the average sample size of 11X11

Take your sample from around the hairline area

(pick a neutral area that does not have a lot of

highlight or shadow to best give an accurate

sample).

To adjust & colour correct, use levels or curves

and adjust by picking the channel using the

opposite colour.

RED-Cyan

Green-Magenta

Blue-Yellow

ie: if Cyan is too high add red

(but...don’t just focus on numbers - be sure to use

your eye!!)

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

excellent article to reference on Skin tones &

ethnicity

http://pixelationblog.wordpress.com/2009/06/10/

correcting-skin-color-skin-tones-age-and-ethnicity/

http://pixelationblog.wordpress.com/2009/06/10/correcting-skin-color-skin-tones-age-and-ethnicity/

http://pixelationblog.wordpress.com/2009/06/10/correcting-skin-color-skin-tones-age-and-ethnicity/


1.17 High Pass Skin Soften (no action)If you don’t have portraiture and want a super

effective way of softening skin, try this!

Duplicate Layer (Cmnd or Ctr +J)

Go to the filter panel & select High pass

Set the radius to 9.3

This adds sharpening, use the shortcut

Cmnd (or Ctrl) + I to inverse (this creates

softening)

Add a Layers mask to the high pass layer

Select inverse again

(this gives us the ability to paint on,

instead of painting off)

Set the blend mode to overlay

Using a soft brush at 100% opacity, brush on

areas to soften, avoid areas such as eyes, lips &

nose to retain the detail.

The strength of the layer at 100% can be too soft

and appear plastic, so reduce the opacity of the

layer to 30-40% and flatten.


1.17 Fix Background with Marquee tool and/or cloningIf you need to fill in some of your background, a

blanket, wood board, etc, a handy tool is using

“Content Aware” with your marquee tool.

Select the marquee tool.

Create a rectangle around the area you want to

fix and hit delete.

In the dialogue box that pops up, ensure it is:

Contents: “content aware”

Mode: Normal

Opacity: 100%

Click ok.

Repeat for other sections.

If you don’t have that option, or it isn’t providing

nice results, you can try the clone tool.

Duplicate Layer (Cmnd or Ctr +J)

Then select your clone tool.

Select an area that is similar to what you want to

fill in. Then, click in the area until it is filled.


1.18 Blanket Save (using paint tool)

This works well when there isn’t a lot of texture

(if there is a lot of texture, the clone brush or

marquee/content aware tool is likely the better

bet!).

Cmnd (or ctrl) + J ( duplicate the layer).

Using your eye dropper tool select an area that is

close to the same color you would like to fill in.

Using a soft brush at 50-100% paint over the area

to fill in.

Reduce the opacity to 20% and paint around the

area to seamlessly blend.

* if you find it isnt blending seamlessly duplicate

another layer and select another color to paint

over at 20% ...then reduce opacity to taste.


1.19 Blanket Fade

Duplicate the layer (cmnd or ctrl + J).

Use the eyedropper tool and select an area from

the center of the image as the color to paint.

Using a soft large brush, paint over the entire image

at 50-65%, with a focus covering the background

the most.

Create a layer mask on that layer.

Using a black (soft) brush, go in and erase off baby

at 100%.

Adjust the

opacity of the

top layer, and

erase off the

foreground at

approx 35%.

Adjust the top layer to taste ( I typically set mine to

60-75% opacity).


1.20 Black backgrounds & negative space

Duplicate layer (Cmnd or Ctrl + J)

Using the quick select tool (W), select around

the subject.

Right click & feather 5 pixels to refine edge.

Cmnd or Ctrl + I ( select inverse)

Select a curves layer and pull the middle of

the curve all the way down to darken the

background.

Crop image and create canvas larger than

original image by using crop tool.

I typically crop in the rule of thirds when using

negative space.

Use the eye dropper tool to select the correct

black colour.

Use the paint bucket too to fill in unpainted

areas.


1.20 Black backgrounds & negative spaceHere’s a great alternative to ‘painting in’ black.

Create an adjustment layer, “Selective Colour.”

Make sure it’s on “Blacks.”

Take the Black slider and start bringing it up (it

will make skin look a little dark - don’t worry!)

Using a black soft brush, at ~77% opacity, paint

off the layer mask on the skin.

Done!


1.22 Background extension

Duplicate the Layer (Cmnd + Ctrl J).

Using the rectangle marquee tool, select an area

close the subject.

Right click & select layer via copy.

Cmnd or (ctrl) + T ( transform selection)

and pull the side of the selected area to cover the

backdrop you wish to cover all the way to the side.

* if doing this in a larger area it can cause the colors

to stretch an not look quite right.

In an instance such as the above mentioned I would

do the above steps a couple times to cover the area

that way, instead of doing 1 larger one.

(you can also try the ‘content aware’ option by hitting

‘delete’ /content aware, at mode: normal, 100%

opacity)


1.23 Background Blur

Create 2 Duplicate Layers (Cmnd + J twice).

On the top layer lasso around the area to fill.

Use content aware to fill this area.

(it’s ok if it’s not totally perfect,

it will be blurred out anyway - see final

image on left)


With the top layer selected select field blur.

Blur approx to 50-80 pixels.

On this top layer create a layer mask

With the mask layer selected, use the black

brush to paint the subject back in with a soft

brush at 100% opacity.

In order to balance both sides and to appear

realistic... try and keep the same amount of

blur equal on either side.

Erase the foreground back in at approx 45-

50% opacity.

Reduce opactity of the top layer to taste (

approx 50-75% )TIP!

Make sure to zoom in around subject when brushing back in

with a very small soft brush. The goal is to seamlessly blend

with the backdrop, alternate painting on with the wihte brush

with erasing off with the black brush to get it perfect


1.24 Gradient Floor Fade

Duplicate the layer (Cmnd or Ctrl + J).

Using the eyedropper tool select a color

around the baby that you want to use for

floor fade.

On the tools panel select the gradient map

tool.

Use the setting foreground to transparent

and double check the color you selected

when using the eye dropper tool is selected.


Zoom out and click in the center of the image

and pull the gradient all the way down to

double the size of the image.

Create a Layer mask on this layer.

Using a small black soft brush erase the

subject back in at 100% opacity.

Zoom in and reduce brush size to erase all

fine detail around the subject.

TIP - click the eye on the layers panel on and

off to see if you missed any spots.

Reduce the opacity of the layer to 70%.

Change the size of your brush to larger and

brush off the foreground at 25%.

Flatten.

For any areas that are not blended, duplicate

the layer, paint over the seam with the same

color with a larger brush at 27% erase off at

100% using the black brush if any got on the

subject.


1.24a Changing Background tint using colour balance

Duplicate the layer (cmd or ctrl + J).

Use the lasso tool and select around the baby

Cmnd (ctrl) + I (inverse).

Select Hue/Saturation from the panels.

Slide the red (or another coluor) all the way

over so you can see where you have selected

and using a soft black brush paint on areas

you don’t want the colour tint to affect (switch

to the white brush to paint on areas of the

background you do want to tint).

Reduce the size of your brush , and zoom very

close to work on fine details with a soft brush so

it blends seamlessly.

Once you have refined the edges, adjust the

hue/saturation sliders of the background to the

color you would like.

(if there is a part of your background that you

don’t like the strength of the tint, use a soft

black brush at low opacity, and brush some of

the effect off)


1.25 Composites (froggy)

Make sure your two images have similar

exposures and White Balance in ACR before

bringing in to photoshop.

Once in photoshop, take what will be the ‘top

image’ and click, Cmd A (for select all), the

Cmd C (copy).

Click on second image, and Cmd V (paste).

Reduce the opacity of the top layer, and Cmd

T (transform) to see how they line up.

(move the top layer, while holding shift key,

drag the image so it lines up - it may require

some size tweaks)

Then bring opacity back up.

Create a layer mask on the top layer (and

ensure the mask is selected).

With a black brush, paint ‘off’ the hand to

reveal the image below.

(use a small brush when you are close to the

body).

Cmd + Shift + E (flatten image).

Some are definitely easier than others!


1.26 Composites

I typically start with the ones that have

my subject in them before I work on the

background only ones.

Select around the area you would like to

add to another image.

Cmnd + c (copy) that image and on the

image you are working on Cmnd V paste.

Add a mask and use the soft black brush

to erase off the areas you want to merge.

Zoom in very close to seamlessly blend the

areas.

Click the layer eye on and off to check to

ensure it blends nicely.

Continue to tweak and adjust until the

image starts to look right.


1.28 Removing body hair

Depending on certain ethnicities some mamas

request hair typically that is on arms & shoulders to

be removed.

This is typically only something I do if requested.

Duplicate Layer (Cmnd or Ctrl + J).

Using the patch tool, circle small patches of hair and

fill with areas from on the body that don’t have hair

but have similar skin tone.

Make sure to remove hair from in the shadows using

the patch tool as well.

Duplicate the layer again.

Using the blur tool soften & blur at approx 50%

opacity so the texture is even.


1.29 Subtle VignetteDuplicate the layer (Cmnd J).

Using the eliptical marquee tool, select around

the subject.

Feather the selection 45 pixels.

Select inverse (Cmnd I).

Select Curves and pull the center down slightly

to darken the area.

Gaussian Blur the

curves layer at approx

150px.

Adjust the opacity of

the layer to taste.

TIP:

for a less perfectly round vignette instead of the

eliptical marqee tool use the lasso tool and draw

an assymetrical outline instead.


1.30 Multiply layer (spotlight baby)

(to add a little drama to your image)

Duplicate the layer (Cmnd or Ctrl +J).

In blending mode, go from normal to multiply.

(yes..it will look a bit crazy!)

Add a layer mask (and select mask), and with a

black brush (at about 80% opacity, brush off the

effect on the baby and prop).

Then adjust the opacity of the layer (~75%)


1.31 Graduated filter vignette(from within ACR)

Once all other parts of your image are adjusted

(WB, exposure, etc) - click on the ‘Graduated

filter’ in the tool bar.

Typically, I use it by reducing the exposure, and

then dragging in the filter from the edge of the

photo towards my subject.

Sometimes just on the sides.

Or, from the top and bottom too.

You can adjust the exposure to tweak the of

strength of the effect.

(just watch that your don’t turn your shadow

areas into black blobs!)


Black & White Conversions

You can choose to use actions, or you

can choose to do your own black &

white conversion! Both are fun & totally

customizable based on what you like!

1.33 B&W conversion (basic) Duplicate layer (Cmnd or Ctrl + J)

Desaturate layer (Cmnd or Ctrl+Shift+U)

Duplicate layer & set to soft light at 66%

Using the burn tool on shadows at 12%,

brush over baby’s eyelashes for more detail.

Add a colour layer.

New fill layer add colour of vanilla - #fceedd

Set the opacity of the layer to 23% and the

blend mode to colour burn.


Lisas’ Workflow

As soon as client leave, back up cards!

On External hard drive, all raw files are backed up immediately

after the session.

They are organized in a folder by year, subfolder month, & sub-

folder client name.

On desk top

Create a To edit Folder, sub folder Client name.

In this folder create 4 folders

PSD Files - PSD & Edited PSD files are here

Print Files - completed Jpegs for client

RAW Files - backed up Raw files of session

Web Files - websized & watermarked files

Lisa doesnt delete the orginal files off the card until the session

is edited. (this has all RAW files backed up in three places)

Open Bridge and open images from the RAW folder on the

desktop.

Images are culled using ratings of Cmnd 8 ( green label)

and Cmnd 5 ( 5 star)

Using the filter to only see selected images they are opened in

ACR

ACR corrections are done, and saved in the PSD File folder.

PSD files are opened in photoshop & edited.

PSD files are saved as fiilename - edit.

Jpegs are saved in client print file (cropped to 15x11).

Web iimages are resized and watermarked using the free MCP

Action (http://www.mcpactions.com/facebook-fix-actions.html)

http://www.mcpactions.com/facebook-fix-actions.html

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