Posted 13 years ago
·
Author
Neutral Soft Light [NSL] is a superior enhancing technique than using the dodge and burn tools for one simple reason; your skin does not come out orange toned and a color fix is not needed. Color fixing simply desaturates your skin creating this gray filmy look. The NSL technique is one that I use when I retouch professional photography photos (portraits). It can clear the skin down to the tiniest pore.
Enough chatting. Business time.
NOTE: This is a simple tutorial. It requires you to have some knowledge of photoshop and skill of your own.
1. Open your skin file of choice. I have Mayu's pulled up just as an example.
![Image](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4129/5072955176_2c0e673987.jpg)
2. Create a new layer above everything else.
![Image](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4086/5072355375_f5fa728a16.jpg)
3.Go to Edit > Fill....
![Image](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4148/5072955356_579e3c5c18.jpg)
4. Use these settings. You are filling with 50% gray.
![Image](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4092/5072355613_646957f061.jpg)
5. Change your blending mode to "Soft Light" (duh.)
![Image](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4085/5072955414_ffbbb548f7.jpg)
6. Choose a soft brush and set these settings. You can alter these to your preference. 10-20% on both opacity and flow is good.
![Image](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4112/5072955524_e70227ea40.jpg)
7. Set your background and foreground colors to #000000 and #FFFFFF so that you can flip back and forth between the two. Black is to darken an area and white is to lighten an area. If you make a mistake you can set your layer mode to Normal, eyedrop the grey and "erase" your mistakes with your brush by simply painting over them.
![Image](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4104/5072955562_78cacc3887_s.jpg)
That's all!
Enough chatting. Business time.
NOTE: This is a simple tutorial. It requires you to have some knowledge of photoshop and skill of your own.
1. Open your skin file of choice. I have Mayu's pulled up just as an example.
![Image](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4129/5072955176_2c0e673987.jpg)
2. Create a new layer above everything else.
![Image](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4086/5072355375_f5fa728a16.jpg)
3.Go to Edit > Fill....
![Image](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4148/5072955356_579e3c5c18.jpg)
4. Use these settings. You are filling with 50% gray.
![Image](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4092/5072355613_646957f061.jpg)
5. Change your blending mode to "Soft Light" (duh.)
![Image](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4085/5072955414_ffbbb548f7.jpg)
6. Choose a soft brush and set these settings. You can alter these to your preference. 10-20% on both opacity and flow is good.
![Image](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4112/5072955524_e70227ea40.jpg)
7. Set your background and foreground colors to #000000 and #FFFFFF so that you can flip back and forth between the two. Black is to darken an area and white is to lighten an area. If you make a mistake you can set your layer mode to Normal, eyedrop the grey and "erase" your mistakes with your brush by simply painting over them.
![Image](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4104/5072955562_78cacc3887_s.jpg)
That's all!