Photo Retouching refers to modifying or deleting unwanted details in a photo. The most common use of retouching is in portrait photography, where the quality of retouching can slow down the image when it is determined that it is getting better and cleaner, not artificial.
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What is Photo Retouching?
When we talk about photo retouching, we literally talk about the Photoshop program. The importance of photo retouching is so great that it is very effective in satisfying the customer and they can easily recognize the difference between artificial and natural photo retouching, which naturally, the more natural the retouching will be a better advantage for you.
Photo editing Vs. Photo retouching
Generally, correcting brightness or light, color temperature, ]cropping a photo is called editing. Editing a photo can take seconds or minutes, depending on the desired changes, but When simple editing does not work, retouching begins. Initial retouching includes removing blemishes (scars, pimples, and acne), smoothing skin, whitening teeth, removing scattered hair on the face and shoulders, correcting colors, or even removing an element in the image.
The need for Photo retouching
Professional photographers usually check the environment and the way of lighting before starting photography, and if there is a problem, they try to find the best light for photography with a few small changes. With small changes that are made to the environment before you start shooting, the use of retouching and editing can be minimized. But it should be noted that retouching is an integral part of the art of photography and can not be removed in photographs.
Types of face retouching in photography
- Primary retouching, which involves removing skin blemishes, removing pores, whitening teeth, or removing an item altogether.
- Advanced retouching that modifies items such as color, light and personal style.
The purpose of face retouching in photography
The purpose of face retouching is to eliminate imperfections and shortcomings in the face. In fact, face retouching should be such that the weaknesses of the face are eliminated and the strengths are highlighted. In the process of retouching the face, one should not overdo it and turn the person’s face into another person, because by doing so, the main purpose of retouching is removed.
Important things in doing face retouching in photography
- The face should not deviate from its natural shape
- Some details should remain on the face
- The principles of photo standardization must be observed before starting retouching
- Have complete control over photo components such as light and dark
Photo retouching usage
- Soften the skin by removing pimples, acne and blemishes
- Make the eyes look nicer
- Revitalize the skin by lightening it
- Apply more clarity to facial strengths
- Teeth whitening
- Check and fix breakdowns
- Correct extra Loma and gamma lights throughout the image
- White balance photo
- Manage shadows on face and body
And many more, retouching for each type of photo has different conditions of execution that the retoucher must solve all the cases according to the techniques and principles.
Photo retouching software
The most famous and popular software in this field is Adobe Photoshop. Photoshop software is used in all areas of graphics, but its scope is large and it may seem a little difficult to work with. There is other software in the field of retouching and photo and face editing that is specialized only in this field. Some of them are:
- Luminar software
- Photolemur software
- PortraitPro software
- FaceFilter3 software
- Movavі software
Photo retouching Musts:
- Do not take the photo out of its normal state
- For face photo retouching, the person should be at least three to 5 years younger than their current age, Then we should not overdo face retouching
- Using tools requires knowledge and principles of retouching, so we will not get the right result by wasting time and manipulating
- Before photo retouching for skin, you must learn to standardize the photo
- Photo retouching is a science and we have to learn a lot of principles and we should not think that we need a retouching software to achieve fully professional retouching
- Many details must remain in the face
- Do not go directly to the Blur tool, because when you blur a photo, you lose a lot of detail. It may not be very clear on a mobile screen, but when photos are printed or displayed on a monitor, you can feel the detail disappear.
- Do not do the photo retouching in the main layer, by creating multiple layers, you can go back without damaging the other layers. If you edit on one layer, it becomes harder for you when you make a mistake and you have to go back.
- For face retouching, do not deal with the white part of the eye
- Return your monitor to its original settings from time to time as long as
- Monitors are unstable. The more you use them, the more their color changes. Depending on the type of monitor, you can see different colors from the latest calibration. This is why calibration systems ask you to calibrate the monitor at least once a month.
- Do not overuse the sharpening tool, depending on each photo, the method of editing and photo retouching the photo is different. Sometimes a combination of methods is used to retouch a photo, but if you exaggerate the use of each method, the final output will look artificial.