#PORTRAIT RETOUCHING INSPIRATION HOW TO#
#PORTRAIT RETOUCHING INSPIRATION SKIN#

If you are dealing with stray hairs that are more isolated and simple, you can get away with the spot healing brush and simply dragging from the base of the hair to the end of the stray hair. Sample near the hair you are trying to fix and simply replace the hair with the texture that is next to it.

Stray Hairs:В Use the regular healing brush with a small-sized brush and hardness to taste (0% or 100% is best in most cases).It looks better and takes significantly less time. If I can sample a clean version of the same textureВ where the issue is I can save the difficulty/complexity and time of micro contrast dodging and burning and simply replace the problem with clean skin. I swapped my workflow to healing as much as I can get away with, and only using D&B to fix up some of the issues where replacing texture doesnвЂ™t make sense. Basically, I ask myself can I fix the problem by healing it instead of dodging and burning (D&B for short) it? If so, heal it. I picked up a cool tip from David Neilands. I work with a 0% hardness brush with my healing tool and paint over problems to fix them. Pratik Naik recently released a fantastic tutorial with RGG detailing one of the many ways in which you can approach fixing structure and while Stefan Kohler and I seem to part ways hereВ (as heвЂ™s a 100% hardness guy with the healing brush) both methods are identicalВ with the exception of hardness. I have found success using the healing brush at both 0% hardness and 100% hardness, though now I seem to enjoy the results of 0% hardness more. When it comes to fixing structure I like to use the healing brush for 99% of the process, occasionally swapping out to the stamp tool if required.

#PORTRAIT RETOUCHING INSPIRATION HOW TO#

People often tell you how to fix A or B, but people seldom tell you a list of things you need to have fixed before you push your work out there.В Because if youвЂ™re putting your work out there with a lot of these issues still intact, youвЂ™re cutting yourself off from the next level and ultimately reducing your image quality, which reflects on your brand. Rather than making this an absurdly long and in-depth singular article, I will instead be linking off to wonderful examples of articles either I or people I trust have already written to allow for a more digestible checklist. I think the quality increase and clarity of the image are evident here. Then it swaps between final and RAW three times for comparison. Structure (healing), Luminosity (brightness), Color (fixing limbs, subject to background ratio, and adhering it to a ccolor scheme). HereвЂ™s a quick animation taking you through one of my latest images where I worked through the issues above in order:

Not adhering to a color scheme (distracting).

Limbs (hands, fingers, arms, legs, feet).

#PORTRAIT RETOUCHING INSPIRATION SKIN#

Skin (cracked lips, spots, creases, folds).

The most common culprits I find myself coming across are: In short, everything weвЂ™re looking at doing here is to simplify our image and remove distractions. I can show you the techniques, but the experience part is up to you! So load up that photo you never got around to retouching and allow me to help you through it with this guide! So what are these problems, and how can you identify/fix them? The answer is simple, with the right techniques and a ton of experience.

Portrait retouching inspiration