Create digital makeup

This tutorial will show you how to apply digital makeup and additionally, how to change the eye color, smooth the skin texture of a model and enhance the image.

Though the process of applying makeup in Photoshop is fairly simple, the most important thing about digital makeup is that, by all means, it must look natural. It’s always better to "underdo" it than to overdo it, so keep that in mind while following this tutorial. Less is more, therefore try to be subtle.

The initial image (credits to sxc.hu):

The final result:




Step 1. First of all, we’re going to smooth the skin texture of the model. This will give the whole image a professional feel and improve its overall aspect.

Duplicate the background layer and go to Filter -> Noise -> Median and insert a value of 3. Next, go to Filter -> Blur… -> Gausian Blur … and insert 3 again.

Add a layer mask to the layer you just blurred, fill it with black and start painting with white over the skin, with a soft brush, varying the size according to the area. Make sure you avoid the lines of the face, eyes etc. because you don’t want to blur those, just the skin.




Step 2. Now we’re going to change the lip color to mimic a light pink lipstick. First, press Q in order to enter the Quick Mask editing mode, and then choose a soft brush, choose black as the color and then zoom in and paint over the lips. You’ll notice that instead of black, it will seem as if you were painting with red; this is because you’re in the mask mode. Make sure you don’t go over the edges. If you make any mistake, just choose white and paint over that part.



Switch back to Standard Mode by pressing Q again and you’ll notice a selection appear. The advantage of using the mask mode to select is that you have far more control over the selection than by using the Lasso Tool.

Go to Select -> Inverse and then to Image -> Adjustments -> Hue/Saturation… (or simply press Ctrl+U for the dialog box to appear) and insert the following settings:



Press Ctrl+H to hide your selection (this will not deselect the area, it will just make the marquee around it disappear), so that you can see clearly the edges of the selection. If you notice that an unwanted area around the lips turned pink, simply press Q to enter the Quick Mask Mode again, zoom in and carefully paint with black over that area. Then switch back to the standard mode by pressing Q again and take a look at the result.

Add a subtle highlight on her lower lip by using the Dodge Tool, a small soft brush, exposure set to 70%. With a slightly bigger brush you may highlight her upper lip, again in a very subtle way.

When you’ve finished, make sure the area of the lips is deselected to continue to the next step.


Step 3. To change the eye color, select the eyes by using the same method you used for the lips, and then press Ctrl+U to bring up the Hue/Saturation dialog box, check Colorize and use the following settings:



Press Ctrl+H and check for any mistakes. If there are any, fix them as previously shown with the lips.


Step 4. Now we’re going to do the eye makeup. Select the eyelashes on her lower eyelid by using the Lasso Tool, with a feather setting of 5. Go to Image -> Adjustments -> Brightness/Contrast… and lower the Brightness to -10. Deselect the area.

Create a new layer and paint with a purple, soft brush on it, over the area between her eyebrows and eyes.

Set the layer blending mode to Overlay and the Opacity to 35%. Then refine the edges of the area by erasing with a large soft brush around it, making sure it blends in well and looks natural.



Step 5. To enhance the effect of the image, we can now adjust its color cast to better match the changes we made.

Add a Selective color adjustment layer with the following settings:

Reds: -43 0 -22 +7
Yellows: 0 0 0 -41
Neutrals: 0 0 0 -7


Step 6. Add another Selective color adjustment layer, in order to change the color of her dress from cyan to purple:

Cyans: -100 +100 -100 +100

You will notice that this layer will slightly affect the color of the eyes. I actually liked it better that way, so I didn’t change it.

If you don’t like that, then choose a soft brush and paint with black on the layer mask of the adjustment layer (I’ve highlighted it with yellow on the following screenshot).



Finally, go to Image -> Adjustments -> Auto Levels to really bring out the colors of the image and remove the somewhat reddish color cast it had.


The final result:

Transform a normal image into an artistic one

One of the reasons why Photoshop is so popular nowadays is the unbelievable control it gives you over the images you want to edit. By using the right filters and techniques you can easily transform any bland, lifeless shot into an impressive, artistic dreamscene. It only takes a few steps to turn this image:



into this:




So let’s begin!

Step 1. Open the original image and Duplicate the background layer. Set the resulting layer to Soft Light, 100%. Then go to Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur and insert a value of 5.

Step 2. Duplicate the second layer and press Shift+Ctrl+U to desaturate it. You should now have something that looks like this:



I normally avoid using blurs in my artwork, but in this particular case this effect is very welcome because it gives the entire image a very soft, dreamy glow.

Step 3. To enhance the colorcast of the image, add a Selective color filter with the following settings:

Yellows: 0 0 0 +100
Whites: -25 -5 +100 -25
Neutrals: +10 +15 +20 0
Black: 0 +20 0 0

Then select all the layers, right click and choose Create new smart object, like this:

Step 4. Create a new layer and fill it with black, then move it (by clicking on it and dragging it) down below the smart object. Add a layer mask to the smart object you just created. Now with a very large soft brush, opacity: 35%, paint with black on the mask, around the edges of the canvas to create a dark vignette. It’s preferrable to zoom out to get some perspective over what you’re doing. Make sure you don’t overdo it, because this effect needs to be subtle.



The vignette will focus the viewers’ attention on the central part of the image, while also adding a slightly dark feeling to it.

Step 5. Go to Filter -> Sharpen -> Smart Sharpen… and enter the following settings: Amount: 40%, Radius: 1 pixel. A dialog box will appear asking whether you want to rasterize the smart object, choose Yes.
Duplicate the layer you just sharpened and go to Filter -> Blur -> Radial Blur… Choose Zoom as the Blur Method and 10 as the Amount.
Next add a layer mask to the blurred layer and paint with black on it using a large, soft brush. Make sure you leave the outer edges white. If you make any mistakes just brush over that area with white or black, according to whether you want it to be visible or not.



This will further draw the viewers’ attention towards the center of the image, especially to the bright patch of light visible in the higher left.

Step 6. To further enhance the image’s colours, add a Curves adjustment layer that looks like this:

Step 7. To give the gray background a cyan hue that will contrast with the yellow in the leaves, add a Selective color adjustment layer with the following settings:

Step 8. To add a finishing touch you may add some text of your choice. I chose a very simple message, but I encourage you to come up with something even more suggestive. The font I used for “Autumn Leaves” is Trajan Pro, 36 pts for the capital letters and 30 pts for the rest of the text. For the “by anja” part I used Vujahday Flourish, 30 pts.

I placed the text near the bright spot of light because it’s really aesthetically pleasing, since that part is the main focus of the entire image.

Step 9. Duplicate both text layers and for each resulting layer, go to Filter -> Blur -> Motion Blur (choose Yes when Photoshop asks you whether to rasterize the layer) and enter 150. Place these layers below the text layers.

Then select one of the text layers and add an Outer glow with the following settings:



Right click on the same text layer and choose Copy layer style. Then right click on the other text layer and choose Paste layer style.


The final result: