Basic Retouch

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In this tutorial I will teach you how the make a basic retouch. When retouching photos you don't want the skin to look too 'plasticy', you want the person to look better but in a way that if you were just to see the photo, you would hardly be able to tell it was retouched.

First, find an image that you'd like to retouch. I'm using this image of Meagan Good. What I always like to do first is sort out the spot underneath the eyes. So to do this, taking () tool and select the area around the eye. The colour I have selected is #C29B74. Next, create a new raster layer. Then, taking the brush tool, match your settings to mine:
Size: 15
Hardness: 0
Step: 18
Density & Thickness: 100
Opacity: 100
Draw underneath both eyes. [Like my image to the right.]

Next, got to adjust > blur > gaussion blur: blur it at 4.35 and set your raster layer to 30%. Merge all of your layers. Then, take () tool and match your settings to mine below:
Size: 22
Hardness: 50
Opacity: 100
Soften the whole face minus the mouth, beneath the nose and the eyes. Some random places on the face (like this) random strand of hair, should be removed using the process we used to clear the under eyes.

Next we're going to highlight the cheeks. Create a new raster layer and selec thte brush tool at a size 55 of and a hardness of 0. Choose a nice colour for the cheeks, I'm using the colour #5B432D. I'm going to highlight the cheeks, then set the raster layer to Soft Light at 70%. After I will merge all of my layers. See the image on the right for an example.

Now for the lips. I see retouching a bit like applying makeup, it depends on the mood you're feeling. I'm thinking this picture is crying for some red lips ;]. So, create a new raster layer. Take your brush tool at a size of 5 and a hardness of 0 and draw a line over your lips (like my example of the left). The colour I've drawn mine in is #D00C02. After, set your lip colour to Burn and 40% opacity. Again it depends on the lip colour you've chosen and the image, the Burn setting may not look good with all, so just play around will all of the settings. After, merge all of your layers together. An example can be seen here.

Almost done. Follow these steps exactly:

• Take () tool. Size: 12, Hardness: 0, Opacity: 100. Run it over your teeth [if your image has any that is].
  
• Using the same tool. Size: 5, Hardness: 50, Opacity: 100. Run it over the white section of the eyes.
  
• Take the Sharpen tool. Size: 5, Hardness: 50, Opacity: 15. Run it over the whole of your eyes.

Finally, we finish off on the eyes. It's almost like applying eyeliner - do you want a lot or a little? Take () tool at a size of 5, hardness of 0 and opacity of 50 and run it over the eyes. I'm going to run mine over the top and the bottom right corners, but of course it depends on how much you would like. On other images, your may want to add 'eye shadow', this can be done using the same method we used to do the lips. It's all about using your imagination! More of my retouches can be found here