Need Your Input On My New Retouching Class Before It “Goes Live.”
I’m working on a new online course called “Professional Portrait Retouching Techniques with Adobe Photoshop” and I hope to have it “up live” on KelbyTraining.com in the next two weeks or so. Before I wrap it up, I hoped to get some input from you, to make sure I cover the techniques you think should be included.
First, some background: This is a class on portrait retouching, so it’s not going to cover color correction, or fixing lighting, or anything that’s not directly related to portrait retouching in Photoshop (both head shots and body sculpting). Also, there won’t be any retouching of nudie naked nakedness. In fact, there will be no nudity at all (other than my own, of course, as I usually record these in the nude. I’m kidding. You knew that, right?).
Anyway, here’s the list of individual lessons from the class, but it’s not too late to add a few more. Here we go:
» Eyes (making them larger)
» Eyes (whitening the eyes)
» Eyes (Enhancing eyes, and changing eye color)
» Eyes (Adding or enhancing makeup)
» Eyes (creating longer lashes)
» Eyes (Making them sparkle)
» Eyes (removing dark circles under, method 1)
» Eyes( removing dark circles under, method 2)
» Replacing closed eyes with open eyes
» Fixing reflections in eye glasses
» Teeth (Brightening)
» Teeth (Removing yellowing)
» Turning a frown into a smile
» Making lips fuller
» Removing Blemishes (Method 1)
» Removing Blemishes (Method 2)
» Reducing acne or freckles
» Removing wrinkles
» Reducing nose size (Method 1)
» Reducing nose size (Method 2)
» Reshaping Nose
» Smoothing Skin (basic)
» Smoothing Skin (advanced)
» Removing Hot Spots
» Sharpening skin
» Sharpening Female skin
» Making your subject look thinner overall
» Removing shirt creases and wrinkles in clothes
» Making arms and legs look thinner
» Reducing Jowels
» Adding highlights to hair
» Changing hair color
» Removing stray hair
» Digital tummy tucks
» Removing love handles
» Complete start to finish retouching Workflow 1
» Complete start to finish retouching Workflow 2
So that’s the current lesson list, but your ideas posted here on the blog can certainly have me adding to it. If I wind up using one of your suggestions in the class, you’ll get a signed copy of my upcoming book, “The Digital Photography Book, Volume 2″ and my sincere thanks for making the class better for everyone who takes it.
Thanks in advance for your input and advice. It’s most appreciated and it really makes a difference. 
HI Scott,
I saw from your last suggestion post that you read all of them and from reading all of these posts, it’s apparent that not everyone does, due to the crazy repetition of some of the suggestions.
I think that people need to know about how much to retouch and what to / or not to change and to what extent. Maybe a checklist for your client or a proof that you can “mark up” The art is knowing when to stop. I believe that good retouching is retouching that you “can’t see”.
We always see examples of good art, but not the bad. I see more bad retouching…over sharpened eyes with blurry skin is my pet peave. Bad retouching is usually too heavy handed on anything.
Also, good retouching is an art of patience, so there should be time saving set up, but know to take your time doing the work, watch out for the “quick fix”.
Know the end need of your retouching, is it family portrait, commercial, acting (where they need to look like their photo), pageants (where it’s ok to be a little more ‘plastic’ and have a boo-foo doo!), glamour, or a default pic on myspace?
That’s my piece about retouching!
Thanks for all you do…
Achieving accurate skin tones is one of the seems the one of the most challenging tasks in digital photography – one I just never can get right. A simple way to achieve this would be a great late Christmas gift from you to me!
I just reread my post and sorry for the whipping! I looked at your list and these are the biggest beatings of retouching that I experience. Some of the items are repeated from earlier posts, they are here for reiteration:
Fixing hair lines around the forehead area, filling in or pushing back. Or the evil separation of some hair in a bang…
Fixing roots or lightening the hair to make it more blonde, (when enough light has not been made available to the top of the head).
Trimming and shaping eyebrows to take away the “Groucho” look or to fill over zealous pluckers.
Blotchy skin: red, yellow or blue casts. Or weirdly when hand color doesn’t match!
Digital dentistry, mainly teeth shapes, lengths and straightening. Oh and helping correct “gumminess”.
Hair “smoothing”.
Lastly, a quick tutorial on fixing bad makeup, blending eyeshadows, making the foundation and neck match (no severed heads), reshaping lips and fixing lipstick that has run amuck, digital powder, clumpy eyelashes and fixing eyelashes that look like a dead bug (separated, individual lashes), overblushing and no blush and adding gloss to flat lips (or taking away a little shine, if they look like they just finished eating fried chicken).
Thanks for all the help Scott, you have such a gift for teaching….
Zac
Hi,
I would be interested in:
- how to move eyeballs so they appear to be looking at the camera
-tips on NOT overdoing it with the liquify tool
-how to get the best natural looking skin tones
Thanks!
Silly question Scott.
On the new training site once you join can you watch the same training more than once? Like your 7 point system book I tend to have to watch somehting a couple times to retain it etc..
Scott
Consider adding a section on removing body piercings.
How to professionally colorize old / black and white photos . Every one goes from color to black & white
Hi Scott,
This relates to tooth shape. You also might want to address how to fix the “gummy smile”. Teeth have an individual ideal crown length and width that are porportional to each other. Sometimes referred to as the Golden Porportion or Devine Porportion. This is the basis for the esthetically successful dental make-over. If you would like more info please contact me. I’m halfway through your 7 point system. Love it!
In your outline you spelled jowl incorrectly…maybe just a typo, but thought I’d mention it…just the old editor in me coming out.
I would like to see some techniques on evening out skin tones where there is sunburn or one area (face) is darker that the another (neck).
Hi Scott.
I read your blog this morning and thought,”Wow.. he seems to have it covered”
But then I had a family member ask me to retouch a portrait, and the hardest part was to select around the person and reduce the impact of the background.
So thats my suggestion…
Have a great New Years.
How about evening out freckles…. another area that one can go too far..
I also agree with the first post… removing that double chin…
Can’t wait to see this class… I’m signing up as soon as I finish this project at work!!
Hi Scott,
“Backgrounds”… you must include some technique to change or improve the background to a portrait shoot. I personally would love to see some techniques on hair selection so you can change the background of a portrait.
Scott
Head and body swaps
How to decrease a double chin – and good skin tone automation… creamy, nice skin with actions??
Scott –
114 comments at the point of posting this, so I doubt this has not been mentioned yet, but I’ll give it a go anyway without reading all of these comments.
In your books, which I am a big fan of, I am surprised not to see any material on skin tones correction. Whenever I’m retouching a portrait, this is always the first step I do. If skin looks orange, or has green or blue cast to it, or whatever, when it should look normal/natural, does it make any difference how the rest of the portrait looks like? I use simple RGB color curves adjustment that Lee Varis describes in his Skin book to make skin look natural, but I’m surprised this subject does not get more attention from you and the rest of Photoshop guys. That adjustment makes a huge difference.
When you view images on calibrated monitors, it’s really distracting when human skin doesn’t look human.
PS – If you do decide to include something on skin tones, you should break it up by age, gender and race. Female skin tones are different from male, infant skin tones/color shouldn’t look the same as an aged grandma, etc.
Hi Scott,
I did not see anyone mention the 2-5 minute retouch. I would love to see a quick workflow included for touching up the photos for a presentation to your client. You obviously would not want to waste time on images that they may not want. Other than that the list looks good.
Steve
Hey Scott
Great line up of topics:
Here are a few issues in addition to your list, that I have run into when doing retouches
Face Shine
Men’s beard issues, especially those having both black and white hair stubbles.
Fixing crooked necklace or jewelry, or removing work ID tags.
Fixing blotchy skin, or red vein/blue vein in older folks
Fixing crooked or chipped teeth
Proportion head (adjust top to bottom)
Adjust width of head
Moving/ adjusting face components, such as brows, eyes to scale, move or rotate “parts”
Raise / lower the brow, raise lip, raise cheeks, narrow/widen eyes. Even the eyes for symmetry
If freedom to change mood: Alter face features to set a mood style, such as confidence, happiness, kindness, Proportioned,
Hope you use some of these ideas, really looking forward to being able to contribute.
Best wishes and Happy New Year
Greg
How about some old timey photo resortation— pre-60’s with rips, wrinkles, fading, just a bad ole photo, grain and disclolorization probs?
Dear Scott:
Could I add one more suggestion/request: I believe your plans are to have this part of your online Kelby Training and thats GREAT news. Also I think this is one training session that would also benefit via DVD distribution as well. I know I would keep this one as a handy reference. Just a thought
Hey while Im on thoughts. Regarding the new Kelby Online 24/7 training subscription would it also be of interest to offer at additional subscription rate a way to obtain hard copies of training or a way to download the online training sessions.
Greg
This may be a variation of some other requests, but I would like some help on correcting skin tones when one person in the picture has an olive toned skin and the other a fair tone. I run into this with my family (fair, Irish) and my in-laws (olive, Italian)!
I have been enjoying all the wealth of information on the NAPP site and am looking forward to the coming year and using my subscription to Kelby Online Training!
Keep up the great work. God bless you and yours.
Constance
Hi Scott,
It looks like Constance’s post on the 28th is similar to my request. I am an African American and think it would be nice to see some examples with people of color, especially in mixed groups where the color is off. One particular challenge I had earlier this year occurred when I took a picture that included a darker skinned person and a European American with pale white skin. Also included in the same photo were picture of various skin tones. My biggest problem was trying to adjust the darker skinned person because the color seemed to be way out of line. I don’t know if this would fit in the book but any tips you have would certainly be helpful. Keep up the great work!
Scott,
Someone mentioned the veil in wedding photography…Correcting the lighting through the veil is hard.
Also, correcting harsh lighting on flesh tones from the flash.
Thanks.
Lila
Scott,
BRACES–they are driving me crazy. Getting those teeth to look natural, especially the back ones, is a huge challenge. I really hate it when the back teeth protrude with metal. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Keep up the good work,
Debbie
Scott
It’s all about the skin color for me – as coming from the UK where not everyone is blessed with a nice tan (and good teeth) giving someone a better skin tone really makes the image
I know about using CMYK ratios and curves to get a pleasing skin color; however everything that I have read assumes a K value of around 0%. Whilst this can be achieved using different color profiles most of the time, it falls down when the person is in shade.
Whilst I know that this is a little advanced – it is so amazing it needs to be in the training.
As someone else said also removing red blotches from the skin is also great.
How about how to remove someone from a family portrait due to divorce?
How about, when you’re done, making it into a new book? I was recently retouching family photos taken over Christmas and I was thinking that a book on portrait retouching would have been really useful.
Please consider publishing a book on this subject. Would like to see a comprehensive book instead of a video. I know, more work for you…..but I like to reference a book when I run into issues.
Have you seen the “Dove Evolution” video? If not, check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U
Anyway, how about how to do the techniques shown on the video ~ raising eyebrows, lengthening a neck…etc
I think you should add a piece on necks. As the population ages(especially the female group), necks are becoming more and more of a problem. Sagging skin, wrinkles, puckers etc are driving people crazy.
j.
Just thought of something else. Have been working with a lot of Latinas lately and there are some particular problems with skin tone for them. It has a tendency to ‘flatten out’ – at least for me. A section on skin tones for people of color would be really helpful.
j.
How to remove eyeglass or erase to a picture through Photoshop CS3?
remove port wine area, scars(large blemishes, Add hair (balding) or filling in thin spots, Straighten teeth
Hi Scott,
I would love to see information about taking animal/pet portraits:
- enhancing the texture and colour changes of animal fur
- changing pupil size (especially when pupils are not round, e.g. cats)
- fixing animal eye problems…not just animal red eye but also the glaring cataracts that so many older animals have.
Thanks for considering these ideas.
Cheers.
Haven’t seen anyone mention this but…
How about changing pupil size!!! Either larger or smaller.
In studio photography the lights can sometimes make a model’s pupils rather small. Increasing their size slightly makes them seem more full, natural and more attractive.
~Klaatu
Head swaps/blending group/individual
Scott
I have many request to restore school book halftone photos of folks when they were younger to look like continuous tone photos. What Photoshop procedure should be used to make the photos look good?
Ted
Hi Scott,
How about those ugly dark spots that are all over some old photos. I have been trying to do some photo restoration, and found these to be a problem. Is there a way to get rid of them, or lighten them without doing them one by one?
Or, maybe this would be for a special class in photo restoration?
The classes are great! Sue
What to do when glasses cause glare. You can’t always get people to take them off and there are older photos to. How to remove the glare and get the eyes back.
1) A section that outlines the advanced techniques for transparent retouching in a beauty environment.
2) advanced dodging and burning with gray layers and curves to accent highlights and shadows
3) advanced dodging and burning with gray layer for retouching as opposed to actually damaging the image
Please post the retouching class we have been waiting since Dec 27 2007, then 2 more weeks, you could have published 5 photoshop books before this class is online.
Waiting and hoping in California.
Steve
1). How to get thicker fuller eye lashes
2). Retouching a photo from start to finish (specify which order to do what)
Wow, I am definitely looking forward to this class.
Hopefully it comes out soon!
Oh yeah. and as for a request, It’d be really really great if you could include a section on high-end d&b retouching. Hard to find any information at all about that subject online.
That would really bring the video tutorial above and beyond.
Cheers
You might want to add about correcting fingernails and shoulder corrections.
Hey Scott, What about removing facial hair (not just 5 o’clock shadow) , you know how gramma just “hates” that beard. Can you make her happy and give her her little Johnny back?
Removing my wife from all of our wedding photos would be Handy Scott…
Hi Scott, I really enjoy the many books and tutorials I have been able to use that you have out.
I would like to see a way to minimize lazy eye – where one eye is significantly smaller than the other.
The other thing I seem to be encountering is how to repair dry and cracked lips. I end up with flat looking lips. UGH
Looking forward to the new lessons!
Hello Scott,
I know it was touched on in a few places, but background adjustments could definitely help a person out. Not necessarily green screen shooting or replacing a background, but adjusting the color, highlights or shadows of the background currently in the picture. Sometimes those subtle changes can make the biggest differences.
Good Luck with the new class and thank you for all that you do.
God Bless,
Dewayne