Photoshop CS5 Retouching and Styling

[leighdiprose]

People ask me all the time - "how do I edit a portrait?" I put together a small video tutorial on how to do some retouching and styling on a portrait, so hopefully this will answer some of those questions.
The free image was from a stock site. I didn't have a plan on how I was going to edit it...just went with the flow. If you learn something from the video let me know.



There are some many different ways of doing anything in Photoshop so if you know of any other way on how to soften skin please let me know.
Enjoy the tutorial.

[I @ M]

People ask me all the time - "how do I edit a portrait?"

I think your first response to that question should be ----

"photograph the subject properly in the first place" ----

I think that if I had to go to anywhere near that amount of time and level of manipulation with a photograph I would give up.

[leighdiprose]

I think you are right Andrew. Its probably why the image was a free stock image (I didn't take it) . No one would want to pay for it!
I always strive to take the best photo possible...but I must admit I do like photoshop.

[JM Tran]

hmmm I dont know, I have mixed feelings for this

while it is a detailed tutorial, the result you have put out looks a bit too alienated and frankly - would someone pay for a sitting to have a photo like that? lol

and you can get pleasing results using a softbox or beauty dish and edge lighting for a more pleasing and natural effect than having to waste 10 mins to do one photo, not very efficient and economical in a professional sense, even for amateur use.

[leighdiprose]

I agree with you. The only reason I did this tutorial was not for the photo quality but to share what photoshop is capable of. I would never give this image to a client. Heck I didn't even take it. It was a free download from a stock agency called *removed - see the site rules : #19. members with less than 30 days membership and 50 posts cannot name/promote commercial websites*
I'm all about sharing the knowledge.