Airbrushing video is exactly like airbrushing photos, except for the doing it 25 times a second on a face that keeps moving around…I usually use a cocktail of filters to airbrush skin – blurs, grain, liquify (sp?), dodging, burning – targeted filtering, I call it. Targeted because it’s only applied on certain parts of a face/body; usually large expanses of uninterrupted skin – and avoiding features like the lips, the eyes etc.

Very simple for photos. The problem with video is the face keeps shifting around, so all the places I’d usually apply all those filters keep moving around and changing shape.

(Untreated footage)

(Composited footage)

To keep track of these changes, I masked those areas, and animated the masks to keep track of them (frame by frame, at times. Aaaargh!)

(Footage with masks)

Once that’s done, I’d simply apply the usual filters and voila!

(Final footage)