How can I reduce the appearance of vitiligo in portraits?
Asked 12/21/2010
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2 answers
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I’m photographing my wife, who has vitiligo, and I’d like to reduce the contrast between lighter patches and the surrounding skin in a natural-looking way. I was thinking about editing tools that could blend or smooth the color difference, but I’m also open to techniques before the photo is taken. What approaches work best for portraits?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
15y ago
2 Answers
5
I guess this may be a bit of a naive suggestion, however I'll offer it anyway. Why not just use makeup? You can try to fix such a photo with post processing, however it will either take a lot of time to produce an ideal result, or it will never be quite ideal, and may look a bit odd in those spots. If you have your subject use makeup before taking the shot, you should be able to produce a natural matching skin tone in the necessary locations, and simply take a "natural" shot without the need for extensive and complicated retouching after the fact.
Originally by user124. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user124
15y ago
0
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The most practical approach is usually to handle as much as possible before shooting. Community advice suggests using makeup to better match the surrounding skin tone, which often looks more natural and saves a lot of retouching time afterward.
If you do want to fix it in post, this is possible, but it can be time-consuming and may look unnatural if overdone. Dedicated retouching plug-ins can help because they’re designed to blend tone and feather transitions more smoothly than basic fill tools like a paint bucket.
You can also experiment with how you shoot: black-and-white conversion or different lighting may reduce how noticeable the contrast appears, though results will vary and may even emphasize it in some cases.
So, the best workflow is:
- Try makeup first for a natural base.
- Use careful retouching afterward if needed.
- Test lighting and possibly black-and-white to see whether the patches become less prominent.
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