Retouching

I have been busy working hard on my retouching skills these last few days, and thought I would share some with you. I have used "Photoshop School" magazine as a guide for this method, which can be picked up from whsmith.

I have used an old portrait from my GCSE portfolio to create this final portrait:

Before

After

1: Set these settings: Temperature 5200, Tint -9, Whites +8, Blacks -20, Clarity +9, Vibrance +18.

2: Use the adjustment brush to draw around the eye, excluding the pupil. With settings: Exposure +1.55, brush size 3, feather 50, and check show mask.

3: Hold shift and 'open object'. Use the magic wand tool to select the background, then select inverse.

4: Click select then refine edge. Set radius to 2.4 px, use the radius tool to refine the edges of the portrait. Set contrast +9, shift edge -8, select decontaminate colours, set amount to 70%.

5: Use the transform tool to reposition the portrait.

6: Hold ctrl and select 'create new layer'. On this layer below the portrait create a background, here I have used a gradient.

7: Create a new layer, and select 'sample all layers'. Use the spot healing tool to remove any blemishes.

8: Press ctrl + shift + alt + e to merge a copy of all layers. Duplicate the layer, but open in new document under destination.

9: Select channels, and change the mode to 'lab colour'. Use the lightness layer to dodge and burn shadows and highlights. Duplicate the layer back to the original document.

10: Use the filter High Pass on the new merged layer, setting radius to 3.5px. Set this layer to 'Overlay'.

With a few final tweaks using curves, etc. The final portrait!

For full tutorial I would fully recommend the 'Photoshop School' magazine.