Photo Retouching

Steph

Graphic Design

From e-commerce retouching on portrait and beauty images to enhancing outdoors, fashion and product imagery including color matching, color grading, cropping, removing unwanted details and consistency for pre-press, hire experienced image editors who can ensure quality control on image backgrounds, scaling and positioning of elements, working with masks in Adobe CC and Photoshop and process finished images in Camera Raw and Capture One. . Find Photo Retouching WFH freelancers on January 21, 2025 who work remotely. Read less

Board & chat Inside your order

From retouching blemishes and airbrushing scars and wrinkles to skin

Skin Retouching Services

Get control over noise-to-blur balance and remove luminance noise from

Noise Reduction

Adobe Lightroom

From Luminosity masking to frequency separation for removal of

Beauty Retouching

Hire video editors skilled in Adobe After Effects for basic

Chroma Key

Hire freelance image and photo editors experienced in Adobe Creative

Photo / Image Editing

Freelance image editors available to tell stories with photographic assets

Photo Illustration

Ghost Mannequin

Graduates

Verified

Keep exploring

Wikipedia Photo Retouching Courses

Top Frequently Asked Questions

What to Know

What Photoshop tools can help me retouch?

Retouching in Photoshop involves enhancing or repairing images, particularly focusing on skin, but can also extend to other elements like clothing, backgrounds, or objects. Here’s a breakdown from beginner to advanced techniques:

Beginner Techniques:
Basic Tools for Skin Retouching:
Spot Healing Brush Tool:
Use: Quickly remove small blemishes or spots.
How-to: Select the tool, adjust brush size, and paint over imperfections. Photoshop will automatically sample nearby pixels to cover the blemish.

Healing Brush Tool:
Use: Similar to Spot Healing but allows manual sampling.
How-to: Alt-click to sample a clean area, then paint over the blemish. This is useful for larger areas or when you want control over the source of the healing.

Patch Tool:
Use: For larger areas or when you need to remove more significant blemishes or scars.
How-to: Draw around the area you want to fix, drag it to a clean area, and release. Photoshop will blend the selected area with the texture and color of the destination.

Clone Stamp Tool:
Use: Copy pixels from one area to another.
How-to: Sample an area by Alt-clicking, then paint over the area you want to clone. Useful for repetitive textures or when you need to cover up elements entirely.

Basic Color Correction:

Hue/Saturation Adjustment:
Use: To adjust skin tones or correct color casts.
How-to: Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation, and tweak the sliders to match skin tones or remove unwanted colors.

Intermediate Techniques:

Frequency Separation:
Use: Separate color (low frequency) from texture (high frequency) for advanced retouching.
How-to:
Duplicate your layer twice. Label one "Color" and the other "Texture."
Set "Color" to Gaussian Blur with a radius of 6-10 px (adjust based on image size).
Set "Texture" to Image > Apply Image with settings: Source: Merged, Blending: Subtract, Scale: 2, Offset: 128, then change the blending mode to Linear Light.
Now, retouch on the "Color" layer for color and tone, and "Texture" for skin texture, using healing brush or clone stamp.

Dodge and Burn:
Use: To enhance facial features or correct lighting unevenness.
How-to: Create a new layer, set to Soft Light, fill with 50% gray, then use the Dodge tool (to lighten) and Burn tool (to darken) on this layer for subtle enhancements.

Advanced Techniques:

Liquify Tool:
Use: For reshaping facial features or correcting proportions.
How-to: Go to Filter > Liquify. Use the Forward Warp tool to gently push features into place, ensuring you keep adjustments natural. Use the Pucker tool for fine-tuning areas like the nose.

Dodge and Burn with Curves:
Use: More precise control over light and shadow than basic dodge and burn.
How-to: Create a new layer, fill with 50% gray (Soft Light blending mode), then use the Brush tool with black or white and the curves adjustment. Paint with black to darken, white to lighten, adjusting opacity for subtlety.

Advanced Color Grading:
Use: To achieve a specific mood or match skin tones across different lights.
How-to: Use multiple adjustment layers (Selective Color, Color Balance, etc.) to fine-tune skin tones. Layer masks can help apply these adjustments selectively.

Orton Effect for Skin Glow:
Use: To add a soft glow to the skin for a more ethereal look.
How-to: Duplicate the layer, apply Gaussian Blur (about 10-15 px), then set the blending mode to Overlay or Soft Light. Adjust opacity for the desired effect.

General Tips:
Work on Layers: Never work directly on your original image; use layers for non-destructive editing.
Use Layer Masks: For precise control over where adjustments are applied.
Zoom In: For detailed work, zoom in to 100% or more to see pixels clearly.
Save Often: Use Ctrl+S (Cmd+S on Mac) frequently and consider saving versions at different stages.

These techniques build upon each other, so as you progress from beginner to advanced, you'll find yourself combining methods for more nuanced results. Always keep in mind the goal is to enhance while maintaining a natural appearance.

#JaneIsPowerful

Find people to hire.

Job done or your money back.

Continue with X

Continue with Google

Continue with email

Browse Categories