All portrait subjects want to look their best, and now that we are bombarded by masses of images of models and actresses with flawless skin, perfect teeth and captivating eyes on a daily basis, the yardstick by which we measure ourselves has been radically altered.
Traditional photographers had to spend many hours retouching with inks and brushes, and although some professional digital retouchers can spend almost as long, Photoshop has a few tools that can help the average photographer produce a great portrait in much less time.
We’re not talking about dramatic transformations, but losing the odd pimple, a little skin smoothing and maybe touching up dark hair roots can give your sitter a ‘fresh from a health farm’ appearance that they will thank you for.
You don’t want people to look artificially smooth or plastic, but you can add a healthy glow and sparkle here and there.
The key is to be subtle. As well as looking amateurish, obvious signs of heavy retouching are pretty insulting to the sitter. Imagine your subject showing her mum the end result – you would want her to say, “You look nice, dear,” not “What’s happened to your nose?” or even worse, “Who’s this?”
The idea is to tone down any imperfections rather than completely cover them up. After all, it’s those imperfections that add character to a person’s face.
Achieving that healthy glow, instead of that overly plastic take on person portraits can now happen. Heavy retouching are obvious so the amateur approach has a much more prettier outcome. Just tone down the bigger imperfections and leave that natural glow.