Beauty Retouch Tutorial
Florencia Abila
In Part 3 of the Dramatic Beauty Portrait Tutorial, we will finally get into the first main step of the skin retouching process. Basic skin retouching involves addressing subtle skin and texture issues on our portrait images. We will not only look at techniques for skin retouching in Photoshop, but also discuss the theory behind our decision process during the retouching process. I will also show optional techniques for those looking for quicker or alternative options during their portrait or beauty retouching. In case you missed it, during Part 1 of the tutorial we went over the lighting and shooting of our image and in Part 2 we looked at the "pre-editing" process.
The patch tool is useful for addressing larger areas of texture that you would like to correct. The patch tool can work in two main modes, source and destination. When using the tool in the source mode, you select the area that you want to change and then drag out to find an area of texture you would like to replace the original selection with. In the video you will see me select a blemish, drawing a freehand selection around the problem area, and then drag out to find the "good texture" that I want to replace it with. Conversely, when using destination, the patch tool does just the opposite. Once you have made a selection, Photoshop will copy that area allowing you to drag the texture you selected and drop it onto a problem area. I much rather use the source mode when I am working with the patch tool. I am also much more likely to use the patch tool on large nondescript areas. So if I have some wrinkles in a background, I may select the patch tool to remove those wrinkles. The reason I say nondescript is that even if the texture you select isn't an exact match, no one would know because that portion of your image doesn't have specific characteristics.
The other drawback to the patch tool is that it requires you to work directly onto a layer, providing the very non-destructive "current and below" option that our healing brushes do. You can, however, utilize your masks if you want to work in a slightly more non-destructive way.
The spot healing brush is a good option if you want to be able to address smaller areas of texture like blemishes and small hairs, but you want to work a little bit faster. The spot healing brush, unlike the patch tool, is a brush-based tool. You can change the size and also the hardness of your brush, giving you more control over how you retouch. The spot healing brush, however, does not allow you to select the texture you want to "borrow" or use to replace the bad texture. Spot healing looks at the texture of the image surrounding the spot you select and "estimates" (it uses a mathematical system to figure out what your selection should look like) what the correct texture should be. When working on large areas of consistent texture, like maybe a forehead, it may work really well, but in areas that change quickly like around lips or on hair, it may not be the best option.
The healing brush is my go-to tool for this portion of my retouch. The healing brush looks and acts very much like the spot healing brush, but it requires you to select your sample point. The sample point being the good texture that you want to use. So if working on a Mac, you would hold down the option key and click on the good texture, and then paint on the problem area. In the video you will find how quickly you can select new sample points and then paint to fix a problem area next to it. It is very important to continually select new sample points so that the texture you are adding is the correct texture. If you paint and the texture doesn't look perfect, undo it. Do not settle for a bad sample point, you will make your image look worse and clearly fake. Be purposeful with your selections.
In the video tutorial I hit on the whys of this portion of the retouch. It is just as important to know what you should be correcting as it is to know what you should not be correcting at this stage. Understanding the your purpose and goal during each step is probably as important, if not more important, than understanding the technical side of how to do it.
In Part 2, we looked at the pre-edit stage. This tutorial showed two different ways of creating copies and preparing our images for retouching. Method one utilized virtual copies, each one tweaked differently and then opened in Photoshop as layers to composite a perfect image. We also looked at how to do this with Adobe Camera Raw.
The next part of the tutorial is possibly the most essential part of a quality beauty retouch: negative dodge and burn. The term itself is one I first heard from fellow retoucher, Pratik Naik. But this step is the key to high-end retouching.
Yes. If you are going through this phase and see small thin hairs, then the healing brush can usually handle that, but when dealing with hair in general, then using healing and cloning is the way to go. Each retoucher will work slightly differently. I have seen some that use the clone stamp primarily for hair work.
Over the weekend, I spent a lot of time with some very talented photographers and beauty retouchers. Beauty retouchers are the talented folks behind those makeup ads that make the skin, teeth, hair and coloring look real and perfect while still keeping the genuine lines and textures of the skin. In some of the interviews conducted, we asked the beauty retouchers specifically what type of educational resources they watch or read to inspire themselves to better their skills. And one of these talented artists gave advice that you may not have thought of putting in your educational arsenal.
Beauty retouching a face or digitally fixing makeup mistakes takes more than a vast understanding of Photoshop; you must also understand the dynamics of the human face and the secrets of a well-practiced makeup artist.
Experience four days of interactive, online training sessions featuring a range of educational content with experienced photographers and content creators. This free event kicks off with a series of technical boot camps to build essential skills, followed by live, online sessions on photography, video, business and social media. Join live from March 10-13, 2022!
thank you for this informative video! in the video you want to share how easily we can edit the face for highlightning ! it is really an awesome article! i am a new photographer it will help me to edit the photo which are makeup mistakes! it will enhance the beauty of the picture!
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From billboards, to magazine covers, to social media advertising, beauty retouching is in high demand. Master a professional approach to retouching and learn the nuances of working with people and portraits in Photoshop.
The retouching process can be long and complicated. Dodging and burning, coloring, sharpening, and blemish removal are all important parts of the edit. So where do you start? We walk you through a complete beauty portrait retouch while showing you every step, in-depth.
Great editing not only involves knowing what techniques to use, but when and how to apply them. Follow along as we show you a complete portrait retouch, from the planning stage all the way to exporting for the web.
From stray hairs to small pimples, we show you how to remove minor skin blemishes that we all deal with. Learn to use tools like the Spot Healing Brush, Clone Stamp, and techniques like Frequency Separation to help your subjects shine.
Professional sharpening will help the important details stand out while guiding the eyes of the viewer to the areas that matter most. Learn how to apply precision sharpening and how to sharpen different areas of a portrait separately.
Add shape and definition to a portrait with dodging and burning in Photoshop! Learn the tools and techniques that will allow you to enhance the highlights and shadows in an image, adding contrast and emphasizing the natural shapes and form of a subject.
If you want to be a professional retoucher, mastering the art of frequency separation can help you get there. Learn how to separate the colors and tones of an image from the texture and details. Then edit them independently of one another, for perfect skin textures and smooth tones.
Not only will you learn our professional retouching workflow, but we also include two custom Photoshop Actions that will help you work faster than ever! Try our Frequency Separation Action which allows you to edit skin color and skin texture separately and then use our Sharpening Action to enhance the details in an image before you export!
I really enjoyed this tutorial. I have learned more in the past week of watching this tutorial than years of watching free videos on youtube. The level of detail and professional instruction given in this tutorial was definitely worth upgrading to PHlearn pro subscription. I know that this course will definitely help me in my retouching career. Thank You Aaron!!!
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Great course, thank you! I tried to retouch photos by myself and spent a lot of time on it and the result was really low. I realized that if I want to get a high-quality retouch, I have to spend at least half a year studying how to do it properly. I decided to consult professionals from digitalbeautywork.com . It was my first experience and I was impressed with their work approach. If you have no time or lack of experience, and you need a high-quality photo or video retouching, I recommend them.
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