post processing - How to make the subject look smooth and plasticky as seen in a lot of stock photography?

An image of a flower from Pixabay almost looks like an illustration. I see the same kind of thing in this picture of a woman on 500px.

I've been told in the past that it is a specific effect, but I've forgotten the name. Does anyone know what the effect is called?

Answer

It's hard to tell what you're looking for based on a brief description and just two examples. Here's an image that was taken on a FujiFilm X-E2 at ISO 200, 1/350s, with an XC 50-230/4.5-6.7 OIS-II lens at 230mm F6.7. No special processing before uploading, though Imgur may do some processing that is out of my control.

If it illustrates what you are seeking, there are a number of options that may suit you. (Otherwise, I have no idea what you're asking. Clarification and more examples would be helpful.)

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  Select the subject. For instance, with food photography, a lot of time can be spent sorting ingredients, re-cooking dishes, and plating multiple variations.

  
  


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  Experiment with composition. Even just slightly shifting the subject, eg, the location of foods on a plate, can greatly improve a photograph.

  
  


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  Increase aperture, focal length, and subject-to-background distance to create a shallow depth of field that results in a sharp subject with blurred background. Sensor size is useless if these elements aren't in place.

  
  


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  Reduce captured noise by using low ISO or image averaging.

  
  


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  Change camera-specific settings. No choice but to read the manual.

  
  


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  Create motion blur by moving the camera with a subject or using long shutter speeds with moving water.

  
  
  


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  Photograph at macro-scale, which inherently has a shallow depth of field. Extension tubes are a good way to get started. Don't worry about the math. Just get a cheap set with pass-through electronics, and start experimenting.

  
  


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  Use studio lighting techniques to separate foreground and background.

  
  


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  Use basic editing techniques, such as color correction, with levels and curves; healing and cloning; retouching with wavelet decompose or frequency separation.

  
  



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  Resize so that imperfections are shrunken down to sub-pixel sizes. This is somewhat related to pixel binning.

  
  


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  Reduce noise along with techniques to avoid destroying detail in the wrong places, such as creating masks based on high pass or edge detection filters. If done excessively, people can end up looking like wax figures.

  
  


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  Use magical plugins and filters, which include a "liquify" plugin (iWarp on GIMP) that performs digital cosmetic surgery. This seems like what you may have been initially asking about, but I'm no good at casting such spells.