# Photoshop challenge - too much light on skin - can it be fixed? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 15, 2015, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photoshop-challenge-too-much-light-on-skin-can-it-be-fixed/725271 "2015-07-15T23:45:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photoshop-challenge-too-much-light-on-skin-can-it-be-fixed/725271/21 "2015-07-17T16:21:41Z")
I should add, that best Photoshop practices would be to use the adjustment layers rather than how I did it, because the way I showed above is actually destructive on the top layer. Using an adjustment layer curve and adjustment layer shadows/highlights would allow us to change the values after the fact without disturbing the pixels on the original image. I get a little sloppy about that sometimes, but I should point that out, as while the workflow remains the same either way, it’s not the best practices way of doing it. ---
**Author:** ![Macca26](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Macca26](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Macca26)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photoshop-challenge-too-much-light-on-skin-can-it-be-fixed/725271/22 "2015-07-17T16:32:41Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I should add, that best Photoshop practices would be to use the adjustment layers rather than how I did it, because the way I showed above is actually destructive on the top layer. Using an adjustment layer curve and adjustment layer shadows/highlights would allow us to change the values after the fact without disturbing the pixels on the original image. I get a little sloppy about that sometimes, but I should point that out, as while the workflow remains the same either way, it’s not the best practices way of doing it. (Not to you but to OP in reference to this) Be aware that adjustment layers affect everything underneath of them, including the original image. So if you end up erasing parts of the top layer, the adjustment layer will filter down to affect the bottom original image even though the point of using layers was to keep that from happening. This means you need to use layer masks on both the image and adjustment layer instead of actually erasing, and you have to keep them consistent with each other as areas expand or grow in the masks… For simple touch-up jobs of hobby/amateur use I consider this to be overkill since honestly, I have never actually gone back to a photo afterwards to edit more. I simply do what **pulykamell** actually did, which is edit the upper layers directly so I don’t have to screw around with masks (especially partially transparent ones). I can just copy a new layer out of the original if need be. I still find Shadows/Highlights the best quick tool for the job rather than messing about with layers. It adequately fixes the majority of photos with “meh” lighting qualities, with levels and color balance fixing up the last bits. I tend to just use the brush tool with various color/hue/saturation settings when doing spot edits on quick stuff! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photoshop-challenge-too-much-light-on-skin-can-it-be-fixed/725271/23 "2015-07-17T16:53:22Z")
> [@Macca26](#): > > (Not to you but to OP in reference to this) > Be aware that adjustment layers affect everything underneath of them, including the original image. So if you end up erasing parts of the top layer, the adjustment layer will filter down to affect the bottom original image even though the point of using layers was to keep that from happening. This means you need to use layer masks on both the image and adjustment layer instead of actually erasing, and you have to keep them consistent with each other as areas expand or grow in the masks… Good point, which is probably why I end up not using adjustment layers all that much. That said, you can have the adjustment layer only affect the layer beneath. If you click on the little space between the adjustment layer and the layer below while holding option on Mac (I think that’s alt on Windows), it will clip the layer to the one below. I’m not sure whether that helps in our example, though, as I haven’t really thought it out. (And it looks like there isn’t a highlights/shadows adjustment layer from what I see, anyway. I thought there was.) Anyhow, like you, I tend not to worry about non-destructive editing unless I am doing something very involved, like a portfolio image. Then I tend to save everything in layers. A typical version would be a base layer, a dodge (lighten) layer, and a burn (darken) layer. Or, since I’m usually working with RAW files, just have all that as metadata in Lightroom and use the adjustment brushes for that sort of thing, and when I have it how I want it, if I need to clone anything out or do major PS work, export it as a PSD from Lightroom to Photoshop and do the nitty gritty there. Tonal corrections I just try to take care of in Lightroom as much as possible. Photoshop is nice for when I really want to nail the skin tones and do individual color channel curve adjustments. Lightroom has that capability, but I find its curves panel much coarser then in PS. Fine-tuning curves is better in PS. That said, 95% of my images don’t make it into PS. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photoshop-challenge-too-much-light-on-skin-can-it-be-fixed/725271/24 "2015-07-17T17:11:36Z")
SavageTeens. com? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photoshop-challenge-too-much-light-on-skin-can-it-be-fixed/725271/25 "2015-07-17T17:14:01Z")
> [@lost4life](#): > > SavageTeens. com? Yeah, I was a little :dubious: about that. Had to remove that in the example video, just in case, as it is linked to my real name (which is public knowledge here, anyway.) ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photoshop-challenge-too-much-light-on-skin-can-it-be-fixed/725271/26 "2015-07-17T17:25:54Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I made a quick video of [my basic workflow](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f49RsWbzayQ&feature=youtu.be) as I think it might help more if you see it done rather than read about it. Please excuse the crappy audio. My Macbook’s internal mic is very noisy for some reason. > > Of course, in Photoshop there’s a gazillion ways to skin a cat. I’m just outlining the basic idea above of using layers; if it’s still too much of a highlight for you on the arm, you can go in the correction layer and darken it even more. I just realized that I could have also done it as an adjustment layer, rather than actually copying the layer and playing with it directly. (Some of my workflow is stuck with how I used to do it on older versions of PS that didn’t have adjustment layers.) The same idea applies if you are using adjustment layers. thank you pulykamell. your video explains a lot that will help me. Especially being able to correct only certain parts of the image. Can’t wait until the weekend when I have time to experiment with these tools. Again, this is a spam photo. Literally tens of thousands litter Usenet. Who knows where there photo came from. I picked one at random that illustrated the image exposure issues that I’m trying to learn to fix. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photoshop-challenge-too-much-light-on-skin-can-it-be-fixed/725271/27 "2015-07-17T17:37:32Z")
I’ve heard many of these spam sites grab personal photos from Facebook and other social media. Or they take commercial modeling images, crop, resize and post as their own. They brand them with their spam site and make a quick buck. The old Usenet groups are just packed with this junk. I’m real careful about posting any personal family photos. Don’t want them used by anybody else. Especially click bait sites. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2015, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photoshop-challenge-too-much-light-on-skin-can-it-be-fixed/725271/28 "2015-07-18T01:01:02Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > One more thing: The pen tool is my absolute favoritest tool in Adobe anything. I hate the pen tool. I avoid it as much as possible, and tend to use the brush tool in the red overlay selection mode thingy. I can’t avoid it for rotoscoping in After Effects though, unfortunately, even though a brush alternative would be a lot easier sometimes (there’s a crude one, but it sucks). Anyway, I now return you to your regularly scheduled thread. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2015, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photoshop-challenge-too-much-light-on-skin-can-it-be-fixed/725271/29 "2015-07-18T02:14:54Z")
Also, if you are working from your own photos, and you’ve shot them in raw, you’re going to want to work within the raw file for highlight and shadow recovery as much as possible, as you’ll have more flexibility there. (There might/will be more highlight information in your 12- or 14-bit raw file than in the 8-bit JPEG. Parts of the images that look like they’re completely clipped when rendered to 8-bit might actually have enough luminance and color data in them to recover fully useful information.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photoshop-challenge-too-much-light-on-skin-can-it-be-fixed/725271.md?page=1)