Photoshop Portrait Retouching Tutorials to take your photography to the next level

As many of you know I have been investing more time in photography. When I first started my blog I used an average semi high-end point and shoot camera. The camera I was using was a basically a point and shoot but just a bit nicer then the average point and shoot. I knew little of DSLR’s and had not actually tried to shoot anything in an artistic way since a photography class I took in high school. And for years (before I had smart phone) I didn’t take pictures at all. But I am making up for lost time.

So when I first started using my fancy point and shoot and posting pictures I wondered why they did not look as nice as other photos I was seeing online. Well after a bit of research I discovered why and promptly went out and bought my first DSLR camera from Canon—the Rebel T3i, which I am still shooting with today. With much anticipation I went out and started to practice with my new camera. Surprisingly much of what I learned in film school (my first degree) came back to me. Or at least in a broad understanding kind of way. I still needed to look things up online but the over-all understanding of how the basic fundamentals of photography worked, came back to me.

So back online I went to do some more research and I discovered that beautiful photographs have more to do with the lens then the camera

Though I still struggled to capture in my photographs the engaging cinematic quality for which I aimed. Hmm. So back online I went to do some more research and I learned that beautiful photographs have more to do with the lens then the camera. And I am happy to report that I am now the proud owner of an f1.4 prime lens. You can read more about prime lenses here.

And of course (and you may have an idea of where I am going with this), the story does not end there. Because in addition to a professional DSLR camera, and a quality prime lens, lots of practice shooting and even a class or two, you will also need to learn how to retouch your photos as well. Whew. Does it ever end?

So today I am happy to share with you some very helpful, relatively easy to follow retouching tutorials. Most of these tutorials do not require a lot of skill. They are step by step tutorials that if you follow them will yield promising results. There is only one process that I found to not be particularly helpful, and that is the low frequency high frequency adjustment layer technique. I tried three different tutorials regarding this method and none of them worked for me.

So I found an alternative to this method, which is the first link listed here. Trust me, if you follow the instructions found in this tutorial you will be able to achieve natural looking, clear, unblemished, wrinkle free skin —you are going to love the end result. And the second link is from F-Stoppers which lists ten to fifteen tutorials from professional and semi-professional photographers that covers: skin retouching, dodging and burning (think conturing and strobing in photoshop), getting rid of redness, adding definition to hair, color balancing, adding intentional light leaks and more.

So if you love photography and want to take your photos to the next level be sure to check out the links below. You can thank me later.

1. www.photoshopessentials.com
2. fstoppers.com

Top image by Sandra Semburg. Remaining images by Dani Diamond.