How To Turn Skin Pale and Hair Gray in Photoshop

In this video tutorial watch as I show you how to turn skin pale and hair gray in Photoshop. I have used these two techniques on many images now, and this way is far more adaptable than simply using a desaturate filter.

In the video, I first show you how to change the skin tone pale. I have used this on many images, it works very well with fantasy or fashion. The way I do it though is by using channel mixer adjustment layers, three of them to be precise. And this is where our control comes in. With these three we can control contrast, desaturation, and strength. Because we are using adjustment layers, this also means we are working non-destructively, so we can change the effects of this at any point during the editing of this image. I know I have mentioned this many times, but if you are not working no-destructively, then you need to.

As the video continues, I apply the adjustment layers and turn the skin pale. But to truly wield the power of this technique we have to apply it locally. So by adding a layer mask, inverting it, and then painting the effect in with a brush, we can do just that. Once I have shown you how to turn the skin pale, then we basically use the same technique to turn the hair gray, except we just play with the settings a little. Nothing too strenuous.

This tutorial is great for beginner and intermediate Photoshop artists who shoot fashion, but also anyone looking to learn how channel mixers can actually be used, because apart from this I never use them. Do you?