Beauty photography is exquisite but it is undeniably one of the most difficult genres in photography. It is seldom to produce the perfect shots from straight-out-of-the-camera photos. Aside from the best lighting, angles, and mood design, the best photography retouching skills are essential in order to get a prized beauty shot.
There are plenty of photo retouching tips that can help achieve the best results. These seven tips, however, are the most helpful and are used by a lot of photo retouching professionals.
1. Symmetry
A symmetrical face is more visually appealing. Take a closer look at portrait photos. There are facial features where you can find symmetry, such as the eyebrows, eyes, nose, lips, chin, and the jawline. It is appropriate to ensure that the left side of the face is proportional, if not perfectly symmetrical to the features of the right side. Evening out these areas by using the liquify tool can make a huge difference to the photo.
2. Shapes and Lines
You may not notice it but the eye can easily point out shapes and lines that are created in the silhouette, body, and pose of the model. The liquify tool can make the image look interesting by adjusting the lines and curves that you see on a picture in order to avoid any breaks that tend to be distracting.
3. Skin Blemishes and Fine Lines
Although it is common to assume that a perfect skin should be flawless, it is by preserving the natural skin texture during a photography retouching that actually produces a great beauty image. In fact, even when a model has applied make-up on her face, there still errors that will peek through, especially when the makeup does not go well with the lighting. Making the skin looked too airbrushed makes the model look fake. In beauty photography tips by experts, using healing brush tool and clone stamp tool can help take away too prominent fine lines and blemishes. The technique is to sample a similar but blemish-free skin when using these tools to keep the skin looking natural.
4. Frequency Separation
Another common practice that is used in photo editing services is the frequency separation technique. This is applicable if the model’s skin needs more than the healing brush tool and clone stamp tool to correct. Photography retouching using this technique involves adjusting the focus of the picture by manipulating the shadows, lights, and skin textures. Instead of having too prominent facial features, some areas of the skin are subtly blurred to achieve a svelte effect. The softening of these features creates a more beautifying effect than keeping the textures as is.
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5. Solutions for Flyaway and Unruly Hair
Unruly hair can destroy a photo, unless the theme looks for an unkempt-looking model. This can be remedied by using either clipping path or the clone stamp tool. While clipping path is usually used as a background removal tool, it is actually great for taming flyaway hair while still preserving the details of the hair strands. Clone stamp, on the other hand, can even out even out the hair color and volume to create the illusion of a tamed and neater hair.
6. Dodge and Burn
You already know that you can apply digital make-up to the model. Using the Dodge and Burn tools can fix any skin unevenness as well as emphasize makeup and accessories. This technique can correct the tones and highlights so you can direct the focus on specific areas of the skin.
7. Color Toning and Contrast
Color correcting the skin and hair are non-negotiable but so is modifying the tones and contrasts. It is one of the many ways in photography retouching to create an artistic touch to the image. Making the colors look warmer or cooler evokes different moods. The same goes when adjusting the Hue, Saturation, and Luminosity—the three components of the color theory.
Truth be told, you cannot create the most beautiful portrait without any of these photography retouching techniques. Mastering all of them will not only help enhance the photos, but also develop a more artistic perspective in your approach in retouching photos. These are the most basic tools of the trade, so to speak.
