Make any portrait subject look great
James Paterson teaches you how to retouch your portraits with simple Photoshop skills and some fantastic free Actions
People naturally want to look their best in photos – just look at the popularity of face-smoothing modes in selfie cameras. But whenever you decide to edit a portrait photo, there’s a point where things stop looking natural and start to look fake.
This is why Photoshop is such a great tool for retouching. There are usually a few different ways to tackle a particular job, which means you have full control over the look of the image. And because you can make adjustments on separate layers, you have the freedom to undo or tone things down if the effect looks a little over the top – you can even make changes days or weeks later.
It’s always tempting to remove imperfections, but often if you reduce the effect slightly rather than going all-out, the result – while still flattering – is more authentic. Here I’ll show you how to make effective but subtle enhancements to a face, from removing tiny imperfections to reducing bags under eyes.
We’ll look at a few retouching tools that can remove skin problems for you. There are also filters and Adjustment Layers that can work wonders over eyes and skin.
I’ve also supplied a set of retouching Actions on this issue’s disc. These are a recorded set of commands you can play on your own portraits. The person in the photo will thank you for making them look their best!
DIGITAL CAMERA 57
Some of the world’s most interesting places are, not surprisingly, some of the most popular. If you’re there, so are a lot of other people – and they’re all in your shot!
This is just one example. We’ve all got lots of photos with annoying tour buses, ugly signs or power lines we don’t want in our shots. Amazing interiors are often spoilt by ropes, signs or modern equipment, and otherwise perfect portraits can be ruined by things you don’t want in the background.
The traditional solution to this challenge is a cloning tool. Luminar 4 has a Clone & Stamp tool that works in the same way as regular clone tools everywhere, and is especially effective on repeating patterns, fine details and man-made objects.
Getting tones and colours to match is difficult with clone tools, however, unless your clone ‘source’ has the same texture, pattern or tone and is nearby in the same lighting. The bigger the object you’re trying to remove, the less likely this becomes.
This is where Luminar 4 has a secret weapon – the Erase tool. This removes objects intelligently, taking textures, patterns and tones from the surrounding image to cover up the object you want to get rid of – automatically. It’s far more effective on larger objects than regular cloning, and it’s far quicker, too.
Often, the results are spectacular and immediate. Sometimes, though, a trickier subject will produce a result that’s better, but still not quite right. These manual tidy-ups are where Luminar’s regular Clone tool comes into its own.