This shot comes from the same
senior portrait session that I referenced in a
previous post. It's a typical example of the kind of fashion/glamour retouching that I normally do for my modeling clients, which includes:
- Skin smoothing (while still retaining texture)
- Removal of major blemishes
- Reduction of dark circles under eyes
- Eye & teeth whitening
- Removal of stray hairs
- Lip color enhancement
- Iris enhancement
- Tonal contrast boost (using luminosity, dodging & burning, and a few other techniques)
- Eyebrow cleanup/enhancement
- Minor facial reshaping
Obviously, this young lady was quite beautiful to begin with, and by most folks' standards she didn't really need to be "enhanced". However, to be a successful commercial photographer these days it's an absolute MUST to achieve a mastery of the latest high-end beauty retouching techniques. So I give
all of my fashion, glamour, and senior portrait clients the 5-star treatment to really accentuate their best features and make them look like they just stepped off the cover of Cosmo. It's relatively difficult to find photographers who have expertise in this area, so I continue to study, practice, and improve my craft constantly.
To see the before & after, just move your mouse pointer over the image for a few seconds until it changes. Then you can switch them back and forth as much as you like.
As always, I am more than happy to share my post techniques with anyone who is interested, and I'd be delighted if you'd click "Like" and share your thoughts in a comment below. Thanks!
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19 comments:
Russ - I'm a new fan and really appreciate your willingness to share your Photoshop expertise with the rest of us! I love everything you've done with this one, but my biggest question is about your treatment of her eyebrows. Could you give us some of the details? This comes up so often when I'm working with seniors.
Thanks!
Kipi
Absolutely, Kipi, and thanks for your question. What I generally do with eyebrows is first use the clone stamp and/or healing brush to clean up stray hairs and do any mild reshaping that might necessary. Once I'm happy with their shape and definition, I'll darken them to add body, density, and contrast. Here's the procedure I use for this:
1) Perform a "Merge Visible" (Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E on a PC, or Cmd+Shift+Option+E on a Mac), which creates a flattened copy of the image (including all underlying layers) at the top of the Layers palette
2) Change the blend mode of this new layer to "Multiply"
3) Add a black layer mask to conceal everything on this layer (the fastest way is to hold Alt/Option while clicking the "Add Layer Mask icon")
4) Paint over the eyebrows with a fairly hard white brush at 100% opacity
5) Finally, reduce layer opacity to around 20-30%, or to taste
That's about it! I also use this technique on hair for my white seamless shots, because it brings detail back into clumps of stray hair that have gotten blown out by the strong backlighting.
Please let me know if you have any additional questions, or would like further detail.
It looks like you've made her eyes bigger (not just by brightening). What did you do to achieve this effect without making it look unnatural?
You are correct, Jennie. Enlarging the eyes is a very common technique in glamour photography.
I almost always use the Liquify filter for this task. Once the dialog launches, I choose the "Bloat" tool along the left. The key to success with this technique is to use what's called a "freeze mask", which you can paint onto the surrounding areas to ensure that they don't get distorted in the process. This allows you to isolate the eyes for enlargement and keep everything else in place. It's also important to choose the right size brush for this, as it's easy to get an unnatural appearance if you go too large or small. It may take a bit of experimentation to get it right, but I recommend starting with a brush that's slightly larger than each eye and go from there. Hope that helps!
By the way, a quick Google search on freeze masks yielded the following tutorial...different subject matter but same concept: http://www.webdesign.org/photoshop/photoshop-basics/liquify-freeze-and-thaw-masks.8160.html
By the way, love your work! Just fanned you on Facebook.
Love seeing the before and afters!
That's a lovely pic of lovely model and that smile is really bewitching. Hey, got some questions too.
1. The model's shoulders still show spots. Will introducing vignetting(or perhaps a n.gradient filter effect in this case) help the cause? or is it something to stay away from in glamor photography?
2. The hair has come out nicely where it sharp. However as my eye travels over the hair, I suddenly encounter this oof hair strands(to the model's left below her jaw) which seem to distract. I'm wondering if you left it in on purpose?
Thanks Russ! I'll have to try this technique out.
LIFE: I intentionally left traces of the shoulder spots in, because completely removing them would have effectively eliminated one of her defining characteristics. When it comes to glamour retouching, I almost always try to de-emphasize (rather than completely remove) anything that I think helps define someone's appearance.
That having been said, if I actually *were* shooting for Cosmo, then I would certainly be carrying things a bit further, because the collective bar has been set much "higher" (not necessarily "better") for photographers and retouchers at this level. In other words, retouchers do whatever it takes to transform someone into what they consider to be the perfect representation of a model, regardless of how much or how little Photoshop trickery is required to do so.
On the other hand, most of my clients are simply looking for a flattering (but believable) representation of themselves, and in many cases it would be insulting to them if I were to completely distort (or remove) any of their defining features, no matter how seemingly unattractive they might be by conventional standards. Sorry for rambling....but I hope I've explained my point of view a little better.
2) You're right-- I certainly could have chosen to remove more distracting hair than what I did. The fact of the matter is, she was a high school senior who did not have a professional hair/makeup artist to help her during the shoot, and as such, she certainly wouldn't have been considered "camera ready" if I were shooting for Cosmo. So I had to relax my standards somewhat, and remove only the wisps of hair that I felt were the most distracting. In a situation like this, it's completely a matter of taste, and is up to the retoucher's sole discretion. But I see where you're coming from.
Tiffany: Thanks, as always!
Jennie: Be sure to share your results with us!
That is amazing photography. I like the whole concept. Thanks for sharing this.
@Teeth Whitening Products: It's comments like yours that continue to be the wind in my sails. Thanks for your encouragement. =)
Russ - Thanks so much for the info! I'm working on a senior right now and can't wait to try it out! The liquify tip is great!
Anytime, Kipi....please do share your results with us!
I read your post, i really appreciate your experience and i will get good knowledge from their as well.
@Web: Glad to hear that you enjoyed this post! Please let me know if there are any other topics that you'd like more info on, and I'll try to cover them in future posts.
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