Adobe Photoshop CS6 Top 100 Simplified Tips and Tricks by Lynette Kent

Chapter
4
Chapter
Retouch Portraits
You can use Photoshop to give your subjects a
digital makeover and make them look more
beautiful, younger, and healthier. However,
altering images in Photoshop is so easy that
new users often overdo it and make people
look like plastic versions of themselves. You are
trying to enhance a person’s best features and
minimize other areas, not turn him into
someone else. If your subject looks at his
photo and thinks that he looks good, you have
done your job well.
You can use the tools in Photoshop to remove
spots and blemishes, enhance the eyes, whiten
teeth, soften the face, and more. You can also
change a model’s eye color to fit a client’s
request. You can enhance a portrait by adding
a catchlight to the eyes, even if the camera did
not capture one. You can even reduce wrinkles
and smooth the skin without plastic surgery.
Applying the enhancements on separate layers
enables you to preserve the original image as
well as blend or reduce the changes, making
them appear more natural. You can keep all the
layers and continue to make small adjustments.
To finalize the image, select Flatten Image from
the Layer menu before saving it with a new
name. Like a magician, you should not reveal
your tricks or show the original unretouched
photo to the subject!
Because these enhancements should be subtle,
a pen tablet is particularly useful when
retouching portraits.