How can this womens necks be cleaned up?

[dieseldave]

These 2 women both have bad , fleshy necks. I cannot figure out how to fix them.

I have tied to use the tools to lighten the reds on the first one's neck and chin, but it doesn't seem to phase those areas. 

The second has a couple of rather large tendons diagonally down her neck, green tinge to the right but darker brown.

Any experts out there? 

 

[Callum]

Hi dieseldave,

I have been able to clean up one of the pictures using the auto balance features and the inPainting tools to remove the tendon. I have highlighted the auto balance adjustments in the below screenshot. I think you should be able to fix both images using these tools.

Thanks

C

[Wosven]

I would only diminish the highlights and shadows of the tendon and the wrinkles in the neck, not erase anything. The focus would stay on the faces.

Using inpainting, clone tool, and some adjustements (white balance for warmer tones).

[firstdefence]

Best option is to use the Frequency Separation Filter.

1. Open the image and make sure the image layer is selected
2. Click on Filters > Frequency Separation
3. Adjust the Radius slider to blur the image, try setting it to about 5-6px, ignore the other slider.
4. You should now have two layers, a high frequency and a low frequency.
5. Quickest fix is to select the high frequency layer
6. Select the Inpainting tool and wash over the "fleshy" area's with a soft brush, you can play with the brush settings to get something you like but as a starting point try
   • Soft brush from the Basic set
   • Width 16 - 24px
   • Opacity: 100%
   • Flow: 35%
   • Hardness 20-30%

Now go be a digital artist lol!

 

Note: if you tinker with the low frequency layer by blurring area's to smooth them out it can make the skin look flat and unrealistic, doing it the way mentioned above retains the skins tonal qualities. but either way read up and watch videos on the Frequency Separation Filter it's a great tool to use.

 

[Wosven]

@firstdefence

The second one is too much. There's no more volume on the neck.

And if there are huge modifications, people will see it or wondering why the portrait is wrong.

[firstdefence]

There is always room for variation but the method is sound and can be applied as little or as much as is required to get a satisfactory result, I just gave a demo of how much can be done in a very short time but one can of course err on the side of digital restraint 

You can apply very subtle effects using a softer brush, less flow lower opacity etc.

I'm sure the OP will consider using it to get the effect they want.