Ok, Photog friends –Throw-away the portrait retouching software – I’ve got a treat for you!
If you are like me and shoot lots of portraits, one of the most important tools of your post-production is producing a flawless image for your clients.
I used to retouch in Photoshop with the clone tool on “light” at 30% opacity. The results were good, but took a long time – and in the cloning process, the tone and textures sometimes changed. Then I invested in Portrait Pro software to make my life easier. The results were nice, but often too artificial for my liking, and there was WAY too many choices – like make-up and hair color correction – that didn't work that well.
I needed a realistic solution – as you probably do too!
The truth is, that when you have a 50+-year-old in the studio, you want to airbrush the imperfections and even out the skin tone, but you don’t want them to look 20-years-old. Lines and wrinkles can be beautiful – you have to find the balance.
I had heard about the Frequency Separation technique in Photoshop, used by professional retouchers for that "Vogue Magazine" look of perfection. I decided to try it myself. Not only is it Fabulous with a capital “F” – but very easy to execute.
The trick is that you are separating the texture of skin from the tone of the skin on different layers, and adjusting them as needed. Watch my video tutorial and you'll be a pro at this in no time at all!
Have other tips or hints? Leave a comment below!