It seems that with each new day there is a new video tutorial with “high end” retouching, but that’s fair since very photographer should learn these skills at some point in their career, and the tutorial featured here brings across some key points you may not have thought of but deliver great results.
If you google high end retouching it will become clear that not everyone releasing a tutorial has the same quantifier, therefore we will establish it as magazine print quality. After global adjustments, one of the next and most challenging steps is cleaning up the skin. The end goal is to retain as much of the original detail and texture as possible.
[RELATED: The Clone Stamp Tool | What Everyone Misses & Where To Find It]
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWFTqeTgcDn/?taken-by=zonophoto
In this tutorial, Berlin based photographer Zoë Noble takes us through her process of using the clone stamp in Photoshop CC to retouch the skin. She first creates two separate tool presets, one to lighten and one to darken, that allow her to easily toggle between the two presets within the layer. Combined with a high opacity brush, this is an efficient way to clean up the skin and retain most of the original detail without destructing the image.
She goes over what blending modes you should be using in certain areas with the clone stamp tool and why, and also goes over that you should be altering the hardness of your brush depending on the focus area of the image.
Zoë has struck a balance of being precise, timely and educational while retaining a level of interest within this video. Perhaps it is because she is self taught and found what teaching methods kept her attention. Hopefully there is a slew of future tutorials from Zoë we can all benefit from. It is enlightening to see this caliber of work being produced and published goes to show what is possible when you commit to your passion.
You can subscribe to Zoë’s YouTube channel here.
