How to even out color tone in Photoshop. Align skin color in Adobe Photoshop

26.06.2019

The closer the cold and autumn, the more our expensive models' noses and ears turn red. Even when shooting in the warmest and coziest studio, there is a high probability that after a long standing on stiletto heels, the model's legs may turn a little blue.

Either way, skin tone equalization is still one of the essential stages of portrait retouching. In this article, we will look at how to easily, quickly and effectively deal with redness, blue discoloration and other problems associated with uneven skin color.

For a variety and broadening of horizons, the work will be done in the Lab color model. In addition to solving the main task of equalizing skin color, this will also help us to make sure that work in Lab, in addition to processing landscapes, can also be widely used in portrait retouching.

In this case, the method of equalizing the color tone of the skin and combating redness will be based on a certain partial averaging of the tone of the color component by selectively reducing the contrast in the color channels. First, we will find the area on the face with the “correct” skin color, and then we will “pull” all the other colors present in the image to it. At the same time, the “further” the color of the area with the “wrong” color will defend, the stronger the effect will be on it.

Next, using the Calculations dialog, we will narrow the impact to only those colors that we would like to change. It turns out that areas close to the "correct" color tone will practically not be affected. Thus, it will be possible to preserve the subtle color transitions and the naturalness of the photo as a whole as much as possible.

Once the skin tone is evened out, we will limit the effect of the Color Range masked layers, which will allow us to accurately and at the same time quickly highlight the places where the effect on the color is needed.

Take the following photo as an example (saturation is intentionally slightly increased for clarity of the example and does not affect the result).

If we are going to even out skin tone in the middle of the working algorithm, for convenience, we should create a copy of the current state of history in a separate document by clicking on the corresponding icon in the History panel.

To preserve the maximum quality, the resulting copy of the document will be converted to 16-bit mode: Image → Mode → 16-bit (if we already worked in 16 bits, this action is not required), and then into the Lab color model: Image → Mode → Lab Color. For correct work when translating into Lab, select the option to combine all layers - Flatten.

Create a Curves adjustment layer and get to work. Use the finger tool and Ctrl + Shift + Click on the skin tone, which we will consider "correct and healthy".

The shortcut keys Ctrl and Shift when clicking with the tool will put the corresponding points on the curve of each of the channels: L, a, b, - and we will not have to click separately for each of them, risking an element of inaccuracy.

Now, working in the color channels "a" and "b", we will even out the skin tone.

Let's consider a case when, instead of the standard “reddening” of the skin, we have to deal, for example, with its “blueing” (for example, the photo is taken from the photo bank).

In this case, we will deal with the blue reflex in the glare on the nose, formed, apparently, by the sky, or by some other brightly colored object outside the frame.

Just as in the previous example, create a copy of the history state as a new document, change the image to 16-bit mode and Lab color space, and create a Curves adjustment layer. Using the thumb tool Ctrl + Shift + Click on the skin color, which we consider neutral (for the skin) and correct.

Pull the black points in the color channels (because, like last time, the fixed inflection point of the curve when working with the skin is in the red-yellow part).

We get the following result.

As expected, we got rid of the blue reflex, but a small oversaturated area appeared on the nose in the place where the blue tint was most intense before. This happened due to the fact that the colors that differ most from the fixed point are recoloured as a result of our actions most intensively. With this in mind, let's readjust the curve to make it slightly less aggressive. We get the following.

The result has become much more pleasant and natural. Since in this case, the fight against skin redness is not a priority, the impact on channel "a" can either be minimized (as in this example), or eliminated altogether.

Now we will apply the procedure of eliminating the impact on the "correct" shades (we will use the blending modes using the Calculations dialog) and we will get an even more pleasant result.

Finally, copy the obtained result into the main file and limit the area of influence only to zones with "blue" using the Color Range command and get the final result. By the way, our method at the same time also perfectly coped with a slight blue tint on the hair (for a natural result in the hair zone, the layer with the result of smoothing the skin tone needs to be slightly masked).

The apples are red, the sky is blue, the grass is green, and what color is the skin?

Leather provides us with arguably one of the most challenging color ranges in the world of photography, from the lightest to the darkest. In this variety, we can find a wide variety of colors: red, yellow, orange, pink, brown and even black. Very light skin even contains a bit of cyan in it.

You can try to reproduce the correct skin tone by eye, but then you will have to leave a lot to chance. Even with excellent color reproduction, our eyes can be easily deceived. We perceive the skin against the background of other colors, which contains the background, surrounding objects and clothes, and the light source also affects the skin, giving it a particular shade. In order to reproduce beautiful and accurate skin tones, you need to learn a method that allows you to manipulate colors with greater precision.

Moreover, each person's skin has its own color, it depends not only on race, but also on individual characteristics. To understand how skin color varies from person to person, check out Angélica Dass's Humanæ project. Her project is not a technical guide, it highlights the complexity that photographers face when working with color and skin tones that are so different for all people.

This two-step tutorial in Adobe Photoshop will be helpful to you. First, we'll show you how to consistently and accurately balance skin tones in your photos. Then you will learn how to create and use photo data with already balanced skin.

Color theory and skin tones

An overview of some of the fundamentals of color theory will help during the technical process of skin color processing.

Two color systems

You may remember that we use two color systems in photography. The first, the RGB system, is used by us when working with cameras and computers. In this system, all colors are created by merging in different proportions of red, green and blue colors. The second system, CMYK, is used in printing. The colors in this system are formed by various combinations of the following colors: cyan, magenta and yellow. Since these colors are merged into dark brown rather than black, pure black (the letter K in CMYK) was added to the system as the fourth.

Skin color is usually assessed using the CMYK system, even if we are working with a digital image on a computer. Some people think that adjusting skin tone in CMYK is easier than in RGB, but the reason for using CMYK is more historical. The color information we now use when working with leather was originally collected and developed by print shop operators who worked in the CMYK system. The data has been honed over the years, but still in CMYK. Today, there is an incredible amount of information about skin color, which is represented in this particular color system, so it is easier to simply work in it, and not to translate the information into RGB.

It is important to understand that these two systems are not completely independent and have no similarities. On the contrary, they complement each other. And understanding exactly how these systems complement each other will be important as we move on to working with skin color.

To see how the two systems interact, open the dialog box in Photoshop. Color balance (Image> Adjustments> Color Balance) or create an adjustment layer Color balance (Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Color Balance)... Play with the sliders and see how the two systems work together.

Cyan is opposed to red. To get more cyanogen, you need to reduce the amount of red and vice versa.
The opposite of magenta is green. To get more magenta, you should reduce the green, and to increase the green, you need to reduce the amount of magenta.
For yellow, the opposite is blue. In order to get more yellow in the photo, you should reduce the amount of blue and vice versa.

Color systems in Photoshop

It is also important to know that Photoshop allows us to get information from both systems at once without having to switch between them. And although we will use the CMYK system to measure the skin balance, we will nevertheless work with the image in the RGB color space. We will not convert our digital files to CMYK.

Skin color in CMYK values

You can find many suggested formulas to reproduce skin tones accurately. All graphics editors have their favorites. Such formulas are usually expressed as the corresponding proportions of cyan, magenta, yellow and black. For example:

Find the cyan value. The magenta value should be twice the cyan value, and the yellow value should be approximately one third larger than the magenta value (20c 40m 50y).

But as we said earlier, skin tones vary greatly among people. Therefore, any formula should be just a starting point for you. Below I have provided a rough diagram of the CMYK values for different skin tones.

Balancing skin tone

We will split the work with skin color into two parts. In the first part we will try to balance the skin tone using the Info panel and a Curves adjustment layer. In the next part, we will create the skin color template we worked with.

1. Prepare the image

Choose a correctly exposed portrait (preferably a head portrait). A photograph without a lot of background detail is ideal. If possible, before starting to work on the skin color, adjust the white balance. The technique we'll be using to balance skin tones will generally correct the color balance of the entire image, but working on skin tones will be much easier if you don't have to work on correcting white balance at the same time, which may be distorted due to lighting.

You can also retouch the portrait before you start working on the skin color. In some cases, it is easier to get rid of blemishes after the color balance of the skin has been corrected. And sometimes the need for subsequent retouching disappears altogether. Experiment and decide which option works for you in different situations.

2. Select a sample

First, open the Info panel (Window> Info or F8) and select the tool Eyedropper tool(Pipette). In the tool settings panel, select the Sample Size equal to 11 by 11 pixels (“11 by 11 Average”). If your image is low resolution, then it makes sense to choose a smaller sample size.

Select an area of skin with medium light. Avoid bright highlights as the color saturation will be too low for this area to serve as a good reference. Cheeks are not the best place for a sample: girls, as a rule, have makeup on their cheeks, and for many men they have a reddish tint. Good sampling points for women are the chin, forehead, and neck. If you are working with a male face, then take samples from the forehead and the area just below the eyes where the cheekbones originate. Once you have selected the desired area for sampling, click on this point with the tool Eyedropper tool while holding down the Shift.

In the Info panel, click on the eyedropper icon next to the information for the selected skin sample and select CMYK from the drop-down menu. This way, you get the CMYK color values, but at the same time, the entire image remains in RGB.

3. Assess color information

Analyze the CMYK values for your sample. For example, in my photo, the values for the selected point are as follows:

According to my CMYK chart, the average Caucasian skin should contain 25% more yellow than magenta. In my photo, the values of magenta and yellow are equal, so I should add some yellow.

Also, according to my table, cyan should be less than magenta, ideally cyan should be 25% of magenta. In my photo, cyan is about one third of the magenta, so it should be reduced.

Caucasian skin usually does not contain black at all, so I will need to make sure that it is completely absent as I process the image. Black is created by combining cyan, magenta and yellow, and manipulating these colors will change the black level.

4. Use Curves

To get started with the colors, create a new Curves Adjustment Layer ( Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Curves). In the Adjustment Layer panel, select the tool to adjust on the image (hand with pointing finger).

You have to work with separate channels: Red, Green and Blue. Therefore, you should remember:

To add yellow, you need to decrease the amount of blue, and to add blue, you need to decrease the amount of yellow.
To add magenta, you need to reduce the amount of green, and to add green, you need to decrease the amount of magenta.
To add cyan, you need to reduce the amount of red, and to add red, you need to decrease the amount of cyan.

Working with each layer separately, click the tool on the previously set point and move the cursor up or down, thereby modifying the curve and affecting the skin color. The values in the left column in the information panel will be your starting point. The values obtained after manipulation will be displayed in the right column.

For this photo, I started by working in the blue channel to add some yellow, and then I went to the red channel and reduced the amount of cyan. When you make adjustments to one channel, you affect the other channels as well, so you should be very careful when making small adjustments to the values.

5. Adjust saturation

Changing the color balance will affect the color saturation of the image. So after you finish working with the Curves adjustment layer, adjust the saturation of the photo. To do this, add a new Hue / Saturation adjustment layer(Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Hue / Saturation). Decrease saturation if necessary.

Don't be surprised if you have to go back to the Curves layer and tweak any settings after decreasing the saturation. You may also want to correct the ratio of shadow and highlight zones, for this select the RGB channel in the adjustment layer Curves (Curves) and experiment with the position of the curve.

Once you have achieved the desired result, be sure to save a copy of the image before proceeding to the next stage of processing.

Reference List: Skin Tone Measurements

Once you're done with the skin color, save the skin swatches to create your own reference list.

Delete all the points set in the first step. To do this, in the drop-down menu in the Info panel, select De-select “Color Samplers. " Merge the image you were working on ( Layer> Flatten Image).

1. Prepare samples

Choose a tool Elliptical Marquee Tool(M) and select a small area of light skin (about 250 - 400 pixels in diameter). Copy the selection to a new layer (Command / Control-J). Select an area of the same size with medium-light skin passing into the shadow area and also copy it onto a separate layer.

Turn off the visibility of the Background layer. You now have two new layers, each containing a skin swatch. Select two layers and merge into one (Command / Control-E).

Then apply a filter to the resulting layer. Gaussian Blur (Filter> Blur> Gaussian Blur). Adjust the blur value to remove all signs of graininess and skin texture.

2. Create a gradient

In the toolbar, select Gradient Tool(G), in the tool parameters panel, check Foreground to Background(Foreground to Background), Dither and uncheck Transparency(Transparency).

Click on the gradient plate in the tool options bar to open the dialog box. Click on the lower left slider for the color, and then just below in the Color options drop-down menu select User Color. Your cursor will change to an eyedropper. On the layer, select one of the skin color swatches. Repeat all these steps on the other end of the gradient, choosing a different skin color swatch. Give the gradient a name and click Ok.

Once you're done with the gradient options, paint the gradient itself from left to right across the entire layer. Now you have a layer with a gradient skin color of the model from your photo.

3.Save the file

Delete the background layer (first double click on the layer to unlock it and then delete). Resize the image ( Image> Image Size). 1000 x 1500 pixels will be more than enough. For parameter Resample(Resampling) in the dialog box Image Size(Image size) select Bicubic(Bicubic) in the drop-down menu.

You may want to give information about the color directly on the image, for this use the Text Tool (T). I've added CMYK channel values to the sample. Save the file in (.psd) format in a dedicated folder for the reference list. Remember to name the sample correctly. For example, I called mine “Male - Caucasian - Average”.

Using the skin color reference list

Once you've created a base, you can refer to it for portrait retouching and skin tone balancing.

Open a file from the list with a skin sample that matches the color of the skin in your photo as closely as possible. Use the Info panel and the Eyedropper tool as you did in the first part of the tutorial to place points on the skin sample.

Use the CMYK values of your sample as a starting point for balancing the skin, as we did with our image.

Some companies and craftsmen who create their own libraries of skin color data share these materials on the Internet. Skin color and CMYK files like this can be very helpful. But do not save such files in .jpg format, as a picture compressed for publication loses a lot of information.

Conclusion

Balancing skin tones is a tough task, but absolutely necessary to create a quality portrait. You can balance the skin tone with a simple white balance adjustment and make the rest of the adjustments by eye, but the method in this article is simpler and gives better results. Creating your own library of skin color swatches will make it easier for you to work with other photos later.

Instructions

Open the close-up photo and the face you want to retouch.

Select the face contour with a selection tool (Pen Tool or Lasso Tool). Close the selection and in the menu with the right click select the item Feather with the parameter 4-5 pixels.

Copy the selected face to a layer, and then duplicate it again, so that there are two layers with the face. Lighten one of these layers and darken the other with Ctrl + M. Create a third layer, fill it with the intended flesh tone that the skin should have, and place it between the dark and light layers. To each of these three layers, attach a Layer Mask with a full black fill, making the mask areas invisible.

Select the layer with the lightened face, and then select white on the palette and use a soft opaque brush over the face where the light areas should be. Blending mode - Soft Light should be placed between the layer with the face and the layer with the selected skin tone. In the same way as in the previous layer, apply a white soft brush to the mask of this layer to give the face a new shade.

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Helpful advice

When choosing a scrub, know what type of skin you have, whether you have allergic reactions to any components.

Remember, when using scrubs at home, the frequency of use is different for different skin types. If the skin is oily, then you need a gentle one, calculated for daily use and more intense for weekly use. If the skin is combination, then use the scrub once or twice a week (it is better to contain fruit acids, they reduce the amount of fat produced). For dry skin, use the scrub once a month.

After mechanical peeling, a moisturizer should be applied.

Sources:

even out the skin on the face

If you suffer uneven color skin, and your face is prone to a variety of irritations and redness, then it will be useful for you to familiarize yourself with several very simple ways to align color skin that can be used even at home.

Instructions

Perfectly removes redness and evens tone skin mask of fresh cucumber pulp. It's easy to make - just take a medium-sized cucumber, peel and grate. The resulting pulp should be applied to the face with a fairly thick layer, then leave the mixture for about 15 minutes and remove with a damp cotton swab.

Good for the tone of the face and cryomassage, that is, the usual rubbing of the face with an ice cube. You can just freeze pure water or herbal infusions. For example, they perfectly remove redness and extracts of chamomile, sage, string. However, you may well wash your face with these broths and just like that, preheating them a little - this method is best suited for a very irritated skin... Chamomile decoction is extremely effective against irritations, allergies and burns, it is one of the best sedatives for skin.

Whitening and leveling color skin parsley decoction possesses the property, it is especially effective for spots, freckles and even sunburn. It is very easy to prepare such a broth - take a medium bunch of parsley, toss it in boiling water and boil for about 10 minutes. Then the broth should be cooled, filtered and left in a cool place. They can wash their face at will and opportunity, for the state skin it will work in an extremely positive way.

It is quite easy to camouflage irregularities - you just need to use the correct concealer. How to choose it? To mask bluish-reddish spots (which are quite common after), you should pay attention to those with a yellowish tint. To even out the complexion, you should use slightly hammering movements and shade thoroughly, preferably with a special sponge or brush. The tint of the foundation should also be slightly lighter than your color. skin... You can also use cream powder, its texture is slightly denser than that of loose powder, and this is wonderful for masking various irregularities.

Sources:

how to make your skin look good in 2019

Retouching the skin in a photograph is a rather laborious task, and is somewhat reminiscent of the work of a plastic surgeon, but the result is worth the time spent.

You will need

AdobePhotoshop program

Instructions

Open the photo you want to process. Make a copy of the layer using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + J, continue working on this layer. Use the Clone Stamp tool to remove unevenness and minor imperfections in the skin. Select an area of skin near the place you want to edit, hold down Alt and click on this area - you have taken good skin. After that, click on the place that you need. The tool will duplicate good skin there. Make the radius of the tool not very large, also set the hardness to 50 px or less.

After minor imperfections have been eliminated, we will even out the complexion. Use the Polygonal Lasso Tool to select the area of the face. After that, right-click on the selected path and select Feather from the drop-down menu. Set the Feather Radius to 3-5 px. Duplicate two using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + J. Lighten the bottom of the duplicated areas using the Ctrl + M keyboard shortcut, while moving the diagonal down a little. Darken the upper area the same way, while moving the diagonal up.

Add a layer mask at the bottom of the Layers palette, fill it with black. Make a new layer with these two. Fill it with # ba8471, add a layer mask and fill it with black. Activate the layer with mask and highlight. Take a brush with a little opacity and hardness, set the main color to white, start lightening the photo in those places where you need it.

Set the blending mode to Soft Light for the skin color layer in the Layers palette. By clicking on the mask of this layer, take a brush with maximum opacity and pressure, hardness about 80, set the complexion by opening it with a brush. You can reduce the opacity of the layer. Use black as the main color and brush away the color from the eyes, hair and lips.

On the top darkened layer, brighten the nostrils, eyebrows and eyelashes.
Here is a photo with lined skin.

In the fairy tale about a scarlet flower, the middle daughter asked her father to bring her a wonderful mirror, looking into which the girl would see herself always young and beautiful. Today it would be enough for her to ask: "Bring me, father, a computer with an installed graphic editor Adobe Photoshop." From almost any image using this editor, you can make photograph for a glossy magazine.

Instructions

Open up photograph... Make a copy of the main layer with Ctrl + J so as not to damage the image during retouching.

The picture is a bit dark. To correct this flaw, select Image, Adjustments, and Levels from the main menu. In the Input Levels window, move the white slider to the left to lighten the image.

Select the Healing Brush Tool from the Toolbox. Find clean skin on the face, hold down Alt on the keyboard and click on this area. The tool will remember the pattern. Hover the cursor over the problem area and click with the left mouse button - the program will replace it with the reference fragment. Process the entire image this way.

Now you need the shape of the face and nose. From the Filter menu, choose the Liquify command. Find the Push Left Tool on the toolbar. Set the values for pressure and hardness not too high for neat retouching. When you move the cursor up, the image below it moves to the left, when you drag the mouse down - to the right. By changing the size of the brush, make the face oval narrower and the nose thinner. You can undo a failed action by clicking the Reconstruct button. Click OK when you are satisfied with the result.

Now you need to give the image a gloss. Make a copy of the layer with Ctrl + J. Choose Filter, Blur, Gaussian Blur. Move the Radius slider until, in your opinion, the skin imperfections are no longer visible. Remember this value - in this case 2.7 pixels. You do not need to apply the filter - click Cancel.

In the same Filter menu, go to the Other group and select High Pass. Set the value that you memorized in the previous step - 2.7 pixels. Click OK.

Now apply a Gaussian Blur with a radius equal to 1/3 of the value you remember. In this case, R = 2.7: 3 = 0.9 pixels.

Invert the layer with Ctrl + I, set the blending mode to Linear Light ("Linear light"), lower the opacity to 50%. Hold Alt and click on the Add Layer Mask icon in the layers panel. Choose a soft white brush from the toolbox and paint over problem areas on the face and neck, without touching the eyes, hair, eyebrows and other clear contours. Merge layers Ctrl + E.

Now we need to lighten and darken certain parts of the image. Make a copy of the top layer with Ctrl + J. Add an inverted layer mask to it, as in the previous step (Alt + Add Layer Mask). Set the blending mode to Screen ("Lightening"), opacity 10-15%. Make sure that the layer mask is active - you should draw on it. Choose a soft white brush and, varying the diameter, lighten the forehead, cheekbones and chin of the girl. Draw a light stripe down the center of the nose. Accentuate the highlights on the lips, hair, and under the eyebrows. Merge layers Ctrl + E.

Again, create a copy of the top layer and apply an inverted layer mask to it. Now the blending mode is Multiply ("Multiplication"), transparency - 10-15%. With a soft white brush with an active layer mask, apply shadows on the model's face: on both sides of the nose, on the temples, along the cheeks and around the chin. Darken the area around the lips and eyes, accentuate the shadows on the neck. Merge the layers.

There are several ways to smooth out skin in Photoshop. More often than not, the skin becomes too smoothed and looks unnatural and synthetic. Today, I will demonstrate a simple technique to help you smooth out your skin quickly while maintaining the texture of your pores. But before we start, let's take one last look at the original photo.

How to straighten skin in Photoshop. Original.

Step 1

Open the photo and copy the background layer. Just drag the layer onto the new layer thumbnail at the bottom right of the layers palette. Now change the Blend Mode of the layer you just created to “ Vivid light».

How to straighten skin in Photoshop. Step 1.

Step 2

Now we need to invert this layer. Click on Cmd + I or Image> Adjustments > Invert... Then select Gaussian Blur choosing Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur... By applying a blur filter to an inverted image, you get the shape, outline of the image. Rotate the slider until you see pores on your face.

How to straighten skin in Photoshop. Step 2.

Step 3

Now let's align the skin. To do this, choose Filter > Other >High Pass... Move the slider until you are happy with the amount of smoothness. You may notice ghosting and other strange details around the eyes - just ignore them at this stage. Concentrate on your cheeks, forehead, and nose.

How to straighten skin in Photoshop. Step 3.

Step 4

Create a new layer mask and choose black to hide the picture. Switch to white, select a mask and start painting over the skin with a soft brush. Start at the cheeks, move to the forehead, nose and stop at the chin. If the effect is too strong, just lower the opacity of the brush.

How to straighten skin in Photoshop. Step 4.

Final picture

We're done! I hope you are successful with this technique and enjoy its simplicity.

How to straighten skin in Photoshop. Final picture.

A graphic editor makes it possible to make a person's face in a photograph much more natural and attractive. The key to retouching is knowing exactly how to even out skin tones in Photoshop so that the end result won't disappoint.

Lasso functionality

Graphic editor Photoshop can be used by both professional photographers and amateurs. The result in these cases will be different. How much depends on the perseverance and attentiveness of the novice photographer.

Lasso remains one of the most popular tools for leveling skin tones. First, the selected photo must be loaded into a graphics editor. In the left vertical column, click the Lasso tool and use it to outline the area that needs retouching. After that, you need to press the key combination Shift + F6, which will open a window called "Feather selected area". In the field with the radius, enter a certain number of pixels - the number depends on the size of the retouched area. Large details: nose, eyes, mouth should be visible, all small details should disappear.

The next step is to click on the half-closed circle icon in the "Layers" window. A menu will drop out, in it you must select the line "Curves". After that, the selected area will need to darken slightly, and in the second field, select "Red". Raise the curve to such a level that the shade of the retouched area matches the rest of the tone. The final step is to reduce the transparency to the required level. Everything, the tone is evened out.

Functionality "Stamp"

In the editor, open the desired photo and press the key combination Ctrl + J. In the left column, select the "Stamp" tool. In the corresponding field, you need to set the opacity at the level of 10-20%. Using the tool, select all areas in the image that need retouching. After this procedure, visually distinguishable transitions are formed in the picture. You need to get rid of them. This can be done by alternately opening the items: filter - blur - Gaussian blur.

In the window it is necessary to control the resulting degree of blur. The main thing is not to overdo it, otherwise the tone will turn out to be unnatural. Reducing the blurring of the top layer will help to avoid this. It is better that it does not exceed 40%. But the main role here is played by how much the person is ready to change the original photo. Skin tone evening is complete. To merge layers, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + E.

These two tools allow you to even out skin tone while maintaining a natural look. You shouldn't expect this effect when using the standard Portraiture filter.