In today’s installment I am going to share with you some of my techniques for retouching and enhancing the glamour headshot.  I will preface this post by saying that I have no standard formula for this type of retouching.  I do use certain third party actions and filters along with the proprietary tools within Photoshop itself, but I caution you to not rely solely on any one set of actions or any one filter for all of your images.  For starters, your pictures will wind up looking just like those of everyone else using those actions.  More importantly, you will never grow creatively if your sole purpose is only to get through your image workflow as quickly and efficiently as possible.  Take some time to experiment and explore.  Every image is different and every image requires unique manipulation to make it all that it can be.  Only experimentation and practice will enable you to decide quickly which techniques to employ to dramatically enhance each of your images.

So let’s go through the steps I took to achieve the before and after results you see above.  The first thing I do when I open an image like this is to remove any obvious blemishes and birthmarks.  (I discuss this with my clients beforehand and determine whether they want birthmarks removed or simply softened).  Using the healing brush in Photoshop I can click away these imperfections in seconds. The next thing I do is soften any obvious creases and lighten any dark areas under the subjects eyes.  I use the clone tool in Photoshop, in the “lighten” mode at an opacity of only 10%-15%, cloning a light area next to the area I wish to lighten and gradually lighten it with many clicks of the mouse until the desired result is seen.

I then set my sights on the subject’s eyes.  Using Photoshop’s dodge tool at an opacity of about 12% I carefully lighten the color of my subject’s eyes and lighten the whites of the eyes.  Using the smudge tool I “push” the white of the eye into the corners to remove any red that is showing.  Finally I set the burn tool to a very small diameter and carefully burn the black line around the colored portion of the eye.  These adjustments, when practiced regularly, will take you less than a minute and work wonders to enhance the inherent beauty of your subject’s eyes.

Next I go to work on my subject’s skin texture.  There are countless ways to address this. Both Lightroom and Aperture now include skin softener brushes where you can enhance your subject’s complexion when you open your RAW files for the very first time.  There are also countless third party filters and actions that plug in to Photoshop available to you.  For an extreme close up, like the one we’re working on, I love the Kodak Digital GEM Airbrush Pro filter.  I start by duplicating the main layer and roughly selecting the area where the airbrush filter will be applied.  I feather that selection by approx. 20 pixels and apply the airbrush filter at it’s default settings.  I then erase the filter effect from the subjects eyes and mouth and reduce the opacity of the duplicate layer until I like the look.  The airbrush filter at 100% opacity is too much, thus it’s application on a duplicate layer (with the final adjustment being made via the layer’s opacity setting).  I then flatten the image and move on to some selective burning.

There are numerous ways to burn an image in Photoshop but I have found the burning and vignette tools in The “Kubota Image Tools” action sets to be incredibly efficient while rendering extraordinary results.  I applied two levels of vignettes to this image: first an oval shaped vignette tilted to the same orientation as my subjects head; followed by the edge burner action to darken the edges of the print.  I also burned down the side of my subject’s face to draw the attention of the viewer to my subject’s incredible eyes.  Once again I flatten the image for the final steps.

For the final touch on this image I used the Kubota Action called “Lord of the Rings” to put a wonderful glow on the subject’s skin and to add a diffuse glow to her veil.  Though this action renders a dramatic result you have to be very careful using it as it can block up the shadow areas or blow out highlights in an image.  To avoid this, and to render a true custom effect; I run the action, flatten the image and save the file to my desktop under a temporary name.  I then open the last saved version of my file and copy and paste the temporary file over it.  Using the eraser tool I brush away the “Lord of the Rings” effect from the deep shadow areas in my subject’s hair, from the eyes and from the lips.  I then adjust the opacity of this layer down to where I like the overall effect.  Lastly, I flatten the image again and use the Kubota “Edge Blur – More” action on the right hand side of the image to put a nice blur in the bride’s veil, then I add a touch of sharpening to the bride’s headpiece.

In future posts I will share some other great Photoshop tools and techniques I employ to retouch and enhance my images.  I welcome your requests for solutions to any specific challenges you may be having and will do my best to get you the answers to your questions.  In the meantime fire up Photoshop and explore, experiment and practice.