Tag: adobe

Adobe Lightroom Classic 12.3 Update: Enhance Your Images with AI-Powered Denoise, New Masking Features, and More

Adobe has released a major update to Lightroom Classic in April 2023, version 12.3. This update introduces several new features and enhancements that make editing and managing your photos more efficient and powerful.

AI-Powered Denoise

One of the standout features in this release is the AI-powered Denoise tool, which efficiently removes noise from Bayer or X-Trans RAW images while preserving finer details. Users can access the Denoise tool from the Detail panel or the Enhance menu. The Denoise tool features an intensity slider to control the amount of noise reduction, and users can preview changes before processing the image. The enhanced image is saved as a new DNG file with an "Enhance-NR" badge for easy identification.

New Masking Features

The update also brings new masking features that allow users to automatically select facial hair, clothes, and more with the People mask. Additionally, Lightroom Classic now supports Curve in masking, allowing users to make precise local adjustments without affecting the rest of the image. Users can create and edit masks in the Develop module, making local adjustments with the Curve tool and local Histogram.

Quickly Identify Tools Used in Editing

In the Develop module, eye indicators have been added to all Edit panels, Healing, Redeye, and Masking tools. This makes it easy to track edits and tools used to quickly edit an image. Users can press and hold the eye indicator to temporarily hide the settings of a particular panel, instantly viewing changes made to an image. Holding the Alt or Option key reveals panel switches, allowing users to turn off or reset edits within panels.

Edit in Photoshop

The update also makes it easier to edit Lightroom Classic photos in Adobe Photoshop. Users can choose the version of Photoshop they want to use and open photos as Smart Objects or Smart Object Layers. Lightroom Classic automatically imports new photos saved in Photoshop into its catalog.

Support for New Cameras and Lenses

Lightroom Classic 12.3 adds support for new cameras and lenses, with full lists of supported profiles available in the Supported Camera Models and Supported Lens Profiles articles.

Other Enhancements

Additional improvements include enhanced scrolling performance in the Library module, mask names added to History steps when mask settings are changed, new Adaptive Presets for the Adaptive: Portrait group, and an updated embedded browser framework for Map and Web modules.

The April 2023 release of Lightroom Classic (version 12.3) brings powerful new features and enhancements, allowing users to make more precise edits, manage their images more efficiently, and seamlessly integrate with Adobe Photoshop.

Retouching Skin in Photoshop. Making Bad Skin Look Good

Retouching Skin in Photoshop. Making Bad Skin Look Good

Here is a quick Photoshop tutorial on how to make bad skin look great. Retouching skin is not a simple task. You can easily overdo it and make the skin look unnaturally airbrushed and almost cartoonish. That being said, with some care and a few practice runs you'll be touching up skin in your photographs with Photoshop in no time.

Step 1:
Open your photograph in Photoshop

Step 2:
Right click on your background image in you layers window and click "duplicate layer". You'll now have a clone of your background. This is important for both masking your image and adding the right skin texture later on.

Step 3:
This is where you make most of the changes to your subjects skin. Make sure your second layer is active and go to your "filters' button at the top of the Photoshop window. Click "filters -- Blur -- Surface Blur". Ensure that "preview" function is activated so you can see the changes that you're making to the skin tone immediately. There are no ideal settings for this filter. simply play around until you feel comfortable with having cleaned up any sking blemishes in your subjects face or body.

Step 4:
You will have lost some detail in important areas such as the eyes of your subject as well as any areas with hair. This is easily fixable by ensuring your second layer is active and clicking on "layer -- layer mask -- reveal all" (found at the top of the Photoshop window). You need to use this mask to expose the textures in the eyes and the hair. To do this simply choose black as your foreground color and paint with the "brush tool" over the objects eyes and hair. The original texture of the image will become visible.

Step 5:
However, you'll probably notice that your image has a slightly plasticized look to the skin. Although the skin blemishes are fixed, the image now looks unnatural. In order to fix this you need to expose some of the background skin texture. To do this simply ensure your second layer is active and then use the "opacity" level in the layers window to expose some of the original skin texture. Usually a setting above 50% is desirable because it allows you to maintain the effects of the cleaned up skin while at the same time making the photograph look natural.

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