242
A change of skin
1
Select the skin and copy it to a new
layer. Hold A O as you choose a
Curves Adjustment Layer, and check ‘Use
Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask’;
then grab the center of the curve and
drag up and to the right.
2
The previous step produced some
rather hard highlights, which we
can address next. Grab the middle of the
curve, right at the top, and drag down
a short way. This reduces the glare to
some degree.
P
OLITICAL SENSITIVITY
aside, there are times when
we need to change a figure’s skin
color to match the head we’ve
placed on it.
It’s most urgent when using
images which show a lot of flesh,
such as the sporting pictures
used here: we very often find
ourselves with a body that’s in
exactly the right pose, but of a
skin tone that doesn’t match our
brief. Here, we’ll change a couple
of bodies to match the heads we
want to use with them.
1
Here’s the same problem in reverse:
we want to darken this body to
match the head. It’s a similar process,
but one or two steps work differently
here.
2
Make a new Curves Adjustment
Layer, as before, and drag the
center point of the curve down to
darken up all the skintones. Don’t worry
about the color yet!
IMAGES: PHOTOOBJECTS.NET/DIGITAL STOCK
8
Heads and bodies
SHORTCUTS
MAC WIN BOTH
243
HOT TIP
Every case is
different: you have
to use your eye
when judging how
much to adjust the
settings. The state
of the body in step
3 here would be
enough for many
heads – but this
one is particularly
pale, which is why
the next two steps
were needed.
Working with
Adjustment
Layers means we
can always go
back and tweak
the settings at
any time. When
you’ve worked on
a figure for a while,
leave the room
and have a cup
of coffee. When
you come back
in, any mismatch
between the head
and body will
jump out.
3
So far, so good: but there’s too
much contrast here. The shadows
are darker than we need. So grab the
bottom left point on the curve, and
drag it up around a quarter of the way
towards the top.
4
With the tonal range more or less
right, we can address the color.
Our head is extremely pale; so let’s first
switch to the Green channel (C2
L2) and raise the center point on
the curve slightly.
5
Finally, we need to boost the Blue
channel as well. Switch to it using
C3 L3, and raise the midpoint
of the curve here as well. you may need
to apply further adjustments to the RGB
Composite (C` L`).
3
There’s too much contrast here:
the highlights are once again too
strong. So grab the top right end of the
curve, and drag this down a little way to
reduce the effect.
4
It’s hard to fix that over-saturated
body in Curves; so add a new Hue/
Saturation Adjustment Layer. Lower the
saturation and, if you like, tweak the Hue
setting slightly as well.
5
That’s very close: but there’s still
too much green in the highlights.
Open the Curves Adjustment Layer once
more, and lower the bright point on the
Green curve.
How to Cheat in Photoshop CC
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