In this tutorial I’ll show you basic beauty retouching techniques
that will help you enhance a portrait image. You will learn how to clear
blemishes from the skin, how to apply makeup and enhance feature like
the eyes or lips. Going beyond the “normal” retouching process we will
show you how to add more glamour to your portrait by adding eyelids
jewels using stock images.
In this tutorial I’ll show you basic
beauty retouching techniques that will help you enhance a portrait
image. You will learn how to clear blemishes from the skin, how to apply
makeup and enhance feature like the eyes or lips. Going beyond the
“normal” retouching process we will show you how to add more glamour to
your portrait by adding eyelids jewels using stock images.
Retouching a portrait is all about
enhancing features like the eyes, lips and skin without making them look
fake. To achieve that we will use the Dodge/Burn tools to reshape the
lighting on the hair to give more volume and on the eyes and lips to
make them more attractive.
Color changes will be made using
adjustment layers like Color Balance for more control and also to
maintain a non-destructive workflow. You will use a custom Clone Stamp
brush to duplicate details on the scene and the Lighting Effects filter
for final illumination enhancements.
Final effect

Stock used
Step 1 – Cleaning the portrait
The first task on making a portrait stand out is to remove any blemishes on the skin. I used the Spot Healing Brush tool for that to remove highlights, tiny highlight pixels around the eyes and forehead and the Mixer Brush tool to soften the skin.

Step 2 – First color change
Start changing the mood of your image by using adjustment layers. We used a Gradient Map to remap the colors on the shadows and highlights. The default Violet to Orange gradient was used but we changed the orange to #ecaf68. Set the layer’s blend mode to Softlight at 30% Opacity.


Step 3 – Adjust contrast
Adjust the contrast of the image using
Levels or Curves. The highlights on this images were a bit washed out so
I brightened them to 235 using Levels. The Midtones were also brightened slightly to 1,05 so that the whole image looks a bit brighter.


Step 4 – Ornamental brushes
I used a round hard brush to manually
paint with black a few dots under the eyes. Make the brush progressively
smaller for each dot. Then duplicate the layer for the right eye and
mask as needed. Use the Softlight blend mode at 100% Opacity.


Step 5 – Rough makeup painting
To create the eye shadow makeup we used a
big soft brush. The color used doesn’t really matter, try different
color intensities until you get the tone right. On another layer, do the
same with the bottom part of the eyes using another color. The blend
mode used is Overlay.

Step 6 – Refining the makeup
Use
soft brushes with low opacity when using the Dodge/Burn tools and when
masking the makeup. Make several passes and build up the intensity of
the effect gradually.
Once you have the rough painting, use
layer masks on both layers to refine the makeup. To get a realistic
makeup effect use a big soft brush on the layer mask and a low Opacity on the brush, about 25%. Use Hue/Saturation to choose the color of the makeup.

When working on portrait retouches do not overdo the adjustments. Make subtle changes and use the Opacity setting to reduce the effect. Turn layers on and off for quick preview.
Step 7 – Dodging and Burning
Create a new layer and go to Edit>Fill and fill with 50% Gray. Change the layer’s blend mode to Overlay and use the Dodge/Burn tools on this layer with an Exposure of 3-5%. Dodge the highlights and Burn the shadows using medium sized soft brush.
EnhancementsControlled color changes
The dodge and burn tools are excellent for enhancing features. Used on very low Expoure (3-6%)
you can reshape the structure of the body by dodging the highlights and
burning the shadows. You can make the eyes stand out a lot more by
heavily dodging the eye lids and iris of the eye with a small soft brush
and a higher Exposure value of 20-30% depending on the image. This
technique can also be applied on the lips and hair.

Step 8 – Enhance eyes and hair
Increase the Exposure of the tool to
about 25% and reduce it’s size. Using the same layer filled with gray
dodge the eye lids to make them brighter. Use the dodge tool on the hair
highlights as well. Duplicate this layer for a stronger effect.

Step 9 – Color Balance
The purpose of the Color Balance
adjustment is to add a color cast to the entire image. We made the
image colder especially on the Shadows and Midtones by adding more Cyan
and Blue. The amount of color added on each channel depends on your
preferences.

Step 10 – Lips color
Change the color of the lips using a Hue/Saturation
adjustment layer. Fill the layer mask with black and then paint with a
white brush to reveal the effect only on the lips. Use the three sliders
to adjust the color intensity and brightness.

Step 11 – Details using jewels
Use the provided jewel stock image to
make the image more interesting. Scale the jewel stone to suit your
needs and then duplicate as many times as needed. You can change the
color with Hue/Saturation. Apply a small amount of Drop Shadow for more realism.

Step 12 – Clone duplicates
Use the Clone Tool to
duplicate the rose on the model’s hair. Avoid making an exact replica of
the rose by changing the clone source properties from Window>Clone Source. Alt+Click the original rose and paint on a new layer to create the new rose.

Step 13 – Final light effect
Create an empty layer and press Shift+Control+Alt+E to merge all layers on the new empty layer. Apply the Lighting Effects filter on this layer from Filter>Render>Lighting Effects. The purpose of this final effect is to darken the corners and draw attention on the face.

0 Comments