Research and planning: Introduction to photoshop (Skin correction tutorial)

Before.

After.

This is my third skin tutorial piece I have edited on Photoshop Pro, first of all I started off by;

• I used the 'Plaster tool' which is located on the left side bar of the page, this was a simple task to remove and spots or blemishes, I enlarged the photo zooming right into the skin where I wanted to remove any unwanted spots etc.
• Secondly I used the face smoother, this helped to smooth the skin, create an airbrushed affect and non-greasy look, most likely to be used on photo's in magazines or posters. I did this by clicking on 'layers' so that I could then create a duplicate layer, then I highlighted the duplicate layer and clicked on filter -blur to blur smart, which then did the effect I used. However it came our rather plastic looking so then I took the opacity down, creating a more natural image.
• Then I moved on with changing the eye colour, this again was a simple task to complete, I used a paint brush and changed the shape and size of the brush to fit the eye, I then chose a colour that I changed it to. I then used the paint brush again but this time used a very small lined brush and choose black as the colour, I then went around the eye to create an eye liner effect and also used the same brush to add extra eyelashes, creating her eyes to stand out more.
• Afterwards I then changed the colour of her lips, I used a rounded paint brush and choose a plum red colour, However I took the opacity down as I wanted it to look fair.
• To change her hair colour, firstly I choose light brown colour, a little darker than her usually colour, I used the paint brush once again but changed the size to a large size so it made it quicker to complete her whole hair. However I had to change the opacity fairly low to 35-50% so it kept the outline of the hair strands and to keep it looking natural.
• Last of all I changed the background, I started by highlighting the background layer, then clicked on images - adjustments and colour balance which then allowed me to pick a colour to change the background.