Using Adobe Photoshop To Apply Makeup

If you've ever been to Disney's Epcot Center in Florida you might recognize the Venetian mask  in today's image.  She and several others wonder around the Italian Pavilion, not talking, but interacting with the guests.  The mask worn by the character is very smooth, very white and have zero detail.  Every once in a while I shoot a wedding  as a gift for relatives or friends and do some makeup on the bride if her makeup isn't up to photographic quality.  Nothing obvious, I'm not going to give a bride garish purple lipstick if she was wearing a light pink shade, but made bring the color up just a tad so it is visible.  If an eyebrow looks a little strange I might "reshape" it to be more pleasing.  I consider this to be a part of the retouching process.  I wouldn't hand a bride a shot showing her with a big old zit on her cheek, so why would I give her something where it looks like she forgot to put on her makeup?  In today's image I obviously had to go quite a bit further than goosing the colors.  There was no color to start with, so everything had to be added, the face sculpted and restraint used.  To find out more about how her makeup was applied and her face shaped, hit the "read more".

First thing was to make some Masks. The face itself was selected using the Quick Selection Tool (W) and saved (Select/Save Selection). The lips were another Selection with a modification made using the Refine Edge (Select/Refine Edge) to Smooth and Feather the lip selection. The face Mask was used several times to restrict where other shading and coloring was applied.

Next was giving the face a general color. A Pastel Yellow Orange (from the standard Swatches Panel) was used to fill a New Layer above the original image. The face Mask was applied and the Blend Mode changed to Color. The Opacity was reduce in increments of 10 points (hold the Shift Key down while using either the mouse or Down Arrow Key to make the adjustment.

The next New Layer was filled with Light Magenta Red (again from the Swatches Panel) and the lips Mask applied. To soften the lips to a more natural appearance the Refine Edge in the Masks Panel was used to make the transition between face and lips seamless.

Another New Blank Layer was brought up and the Face Layer Mask loaded again (Select/Load Selection). Light Magenta (again from the Swatches Panel) was used with a big soft Brush (B) and the area under the eyes painted. The Blend Mode change to Color and the Opacity reduced. The big thing to remember in doing any sort of makeup in Adobe Photoshop is to use a gentle hand. Opacity provides a "fine adjustment" tool for bring the colors down. You actually want to start a little bold and dial it back using Opacity.

The area over the eyes came next. It's basically the same as the area under the eyes. The color used was a Light Violet (I really don't like the Raccoon eye look). Again, an over sized Brush (B) with a large feather was used here also. When doing this type of work you want to use just the "feathered" portion of the brush to apply the colors.

The final step (before sharpening and applying a Vignette) was to "sculpt" the face. A New Layer was put on the top of the stack and filled with 50% grey. A smaller brush, with a tighter feather, an Overlay Brush Blend Mode (found on the context aware tool bar at the top of the frame) and a very low Brush Opacity was used to provide the shading to define the face. Because the need was to produce darker shades, only a Black was used and the Brush Opacity adjusted to give lighter and darker areas. The area under the brow, the outline of the nose and the cleft under the nose were hit darker and the side of the face, the shadow side of the nose and the area under the cloak were more lightly touched.

There was a couple of miscellaneous things done. Above the cloak to the left of the scene was a green leaf that was a distraction. The Quick Selection Tool (W) was used to isolate the area and a simple swipe of the Clone Stamp Tool (S) covered the leaf with the background brown.

The Sharpening was straight forward, but the Vignette was a little different. It was a three step process. One Vignette was the area away the face. The second and third were Gradients to bring down the brightness of the ruffles lower in the image.