Blog 14: Get rid of the bags under your models eyes

Bags under your eyes might be one of the most unflattering things in portrait photography. Everybody has them, caused by stress sleeplessness or worrying. Fortunately for us, it is quite easy to get rid of them, without having to smear a thick layer of makeup on our models, using Photoshop! Let me tell you how.

As usual, we start by opening the photograph. To do this, click on File à Open and then select the photograph you want to process.

Use the RAW converter to make adjustments to your photograph the way you want to. Remember that processing done by Photoshop is non-destructive. If you feel like you made a mistake, just experiment with the settings until you have the photograph you want.

Press the “Open image” button. You can now use the photograph for further processing. Select the magnifying glass and zoom in to approximately 50%. Make sure you have a good view of your subjects eyes. In this example, magnification is set to 50%.

Duplicate this layer by pressing CTRL+J. On the right side of the screen, you can now see Background layer and Layer 1. We are going to do our processing on Layer 1. Make sure that you have selected Layer 1 and that your screen mode is set to “Normal”.

Now we have a clear view of our models face and a layer for processing, it is time to begin to get rid of the bags! Select the “Patch” tool”. This tool is hidden under the “spot healing brush”. Right-click on the spot healing brush and select the patch tool.

Now use the patch tool to select the bags of the model. The patch tool works just like the lasso tool. It will let you select shapes freely.

If you did it right, there will now be a dotted line around whatever you have selected. While keeping the left mouse button pressed, drag the selection to a part of the skin that is smooth. In most cases, this will be right underneath the eyebags.

If you release your left mouse button, Photoshop will give the bags the same smooth structure as the skin that you have selected while keeping lighting and colour intact. Don’t forget that people have two eyes! You have to do the other eye as well. 

We are almost done! It might be so that your model now looks like a plastic doll or the processing looks fake. This is because no person has a perfect smooth skin under her/his eyes.  

To remedy this, you can adjust the opacity of the layer we have just processed. Lower the opacity to return some of the bags and make the skin look a little more natural.

 Comparison:

                                Before                                     After

Summary:

-          - Open the photograph

-          - Make your adjustments in RAW converter

-          - Zoom in to about 50%

-          - Duplicate the background layer CTRL+J

-          - Select the patch tool

-          - Make a selection of the eyebags

-          - Drag the selection to smooth skin

-          - Do the same for the second eye

-          - Adjust opacity to make it a bit more real

-          - Further process the photograph to your liking.