Portrait retouching

Learning goal

You will be able to plan a portrait's retouching together with the person photographed, talking through what they want and what they don't. You will turn a short conversation at the screen into a written list and set out clearly whose decision each change is. You will apply the retouching not at full strength, but at a strength that keeps the face's texture and age, and compare the result with the original at both full size and small size. You will respond to a person's wish to lighten or darken their skin with an honest conversation, without belittling them and without deciding in their place. By comparing the skin's real tone with the person themselves or with a reference in the same light, you will separate correcting an exposure or color error from changing the skin's color.

The question

The florist's owner looks at her portrait for a long time. She loves it; then she moves closer to the screen and points with her finger. The old burn scar on her hand should be erased. The two small pimples on her cheek should go. Then she hesitates a little: could her skin be lightened a bit too? Your friend opens the retouching program but stops without touching the brush. Which is a help, and which is turning her into someone else? Is there a way to make someone look their best without changing them; and if there is, who decides where that way ends?

Context

In the naturalness and limits lesson you discussed the difference between improving, which fixes the passing accidents of the moment of shooting, and changing, which touches a person's lasting features, as well as the plastic face and retouching consent (Lesson 21.8). You separated color and tone from texture and touched each one separately in the frequency separation lesson, and used the healing brush, which covers a flaw with the texture around it, in the cleanup lesson (Lesson 21.7, Lesson 21.5).

This lesson looks at how those tools and principles are applied at the end of a portrait shoot, together with a real person. In retouching, the hard part is often not using the brush, but deciding which mark will stay, which will go, and who will make that decision. A portrait is a person's face; their voice must also have a say in the final state of their face.

Simple explanation

Whose decision is retouching?

A retouching conversation is a short talk in which the photographer and the person photographed sit together at the screen and talk about what will change in the photo and what will stay. The conversation starts with open questions: "Is there anything in this photo that bothers you?", "Is there anything you definitely want to keep?" The photographer says that passing things, a pimple that came up on the day of the shoot, a strand of hair fallen across the face, flower pollen smeared on a shirt, can easily be fixed. Lasting things, a scar, a mole, a burn mark, wrinkles or vitiligo patches, are that person themselves; for them the decision is left entirely to the person and the photographer doesn't push their own taste.

A retouching list is a short list in which the decisions made in the retouching conversation are written down: what will change, what will stay, which decision belongs to whom. The list protects the photographer both from forgetting and from a disagreement that could come up later. If you are working on behalf of an organization or a client, the list doesn't replace the conversation with the person themselves; the voice of the person photographed is still taken.

How much retouching is done?

Retouching strength is how strongly a retouching step is applied to the photo. Many retouchers first make a correction at full strength and then reduce its effect to half or less. That way a shadow under the eye isn't erased, it only lightens; a wrinkle doesn't disappear, it only softens. The face stays a face that has been corrected but still has its own texture and age.

Strength also reads differently on each skin. On dark skin, a correction that evens out color and tone, if applied too strongly, can erase the skin's natural sheen and warm transitions and turn the face into a gray, matte surface. On light skin, when a color correction made to remove redness goes too far, the liveliness in the cheeks is lost too and the face looks pale. In both cases, reducing the correction by half and enlarging the face shows whether the skin's own glow has stayed in place.

At the end of the retouching, the before and after states are compared side by side. This comparison is made at two sizes: at full size, to see whether the texture has been lost; at small size, to see whether the face has changed as an impression. An eye that looks at the same face for a long time doesn't notice changes made step by step; taking a break and looking at the photo again, or showing it to the person, shows where you have ended up.

What do you say to a wish to lighten the skin?

Lightening or darkening a person's skin isn't retouching, it is changing their face; this principle was discussed in the naturalness lesson. But when a person asks for it themselves, the photographer's job is neither to scold them nor to quietly apply it. First you need to understand where the wish comes from. Sometimes the person has seen themselves darker or grayer in the photo than they are; this is often an exposure or color error, and correcting it brings them back to their own color.

A skin-tone reference is a comparison used to check the real tone of the skin in a photo: the person themselves next to the screen in the same light, a neutral gray card placed in the frame once during the shoot, or another reference frame shot in the same light. If the skin in the photo is darker or paler than the person themselves, bringing it to its real tone is a correction. If the skin in the photo is in its real tone and the person still wants to look lighter, the photographer talks honestly about what this means, shows the two versions side by side, and can say clearly where their own limit is. The decision concerns the person's face; but the photographer can also set the limit of a work that will carry their signature.

Visual evidence

Your friend turns the screen to the florist's owner and they write the list together. The two pimples on the cheek belong to the day of the shoot; they go on the list as "will go." When they come to the burn scar, your friend asks, "Where is this mark from?" The owner smiles: from a heater, the first winter she opened the shop. She looks for a while and says "let it stay."

For the skin, your friend asks her to stand next to the screen in the window light and compares her hand with her hand on the screen. In the photo her skin is a little darker and grayer than it really is; because of the reflection from the shop's green wall and a slight underexposure. Your friend corrects only this error; the skin returns to its own warm brown. The owner looks again: "Okay, this is me." She no longer wants it lightened.

The pimples go with the healing brush, at half strength. When before and after are put side by side, the wrinkles, the burn scar and the texture are in place; only two small spots are gone and the skin is in its own color again.

Common mistakes

Summary

Making someone look their best without changing them starts with a retouching conversation held together with them: passing accidents are fixed, the decision on lasting marks is left to the person and the decisions are written on a retouching list. Retouching is applied at a strength that keeps texture and age and is compared at two sizes; the skin's tone is checked with a skin-tone reference, exposure and color errors are corrected but the skin's color isn't changed, and when that wish comes, the conversation is honest.

Mini assignment

In this assignment you will retouch a portrait you took together with the person in the photo.

1. Sit with the person at the screen, ask what bothers them and what they definitely want to keep, and write a retouching list.
2. Fix the passing flaws on the list, and reduce the strength of the correction enough for the face's texture to remain.
3. Bring the person next to the screen in the same light, compare the tone of their skin in the photo with its real tone; if there is an exposure or color error, correct only that and show them before and after.

Check yourself

• Did the person make the decision on lasting marks?
• After retouching, does the face still carry its texture and age?
• Was the change you made to the skin an error correction, or did it change the color?

Glossary

Mini quiz

1. For which of the following is the decision left entirely to the person?

• A) A pimple that came up on the day of the shoot
• B) A strand of hair fallen across the face
• C) An old burn scar
• D) Flower pollen smeared on a shirt

2. What is the aim of reducing retouching strength?

• A) Correcting while keeping the face's texture and age
• B) Making the file smaller
• C) Saturating the color
• D) Undoing the retouching completely

3. If a person's skin looks darker and grayer in the photo than it really is, what is done?

• A) Lightening the skin as much as wanted
• B) Comparing with a skin-tone reference and correcting the exposure or color error
• C) Turning the photo into black and white
• D) Doing nothing

4. If the person still wants their skin lightened while it is in its real tone, what does the photographer do?

• A) Applies it right away and quietly
• B) Scolds the person
• C) Delivers the photo without showing it to the person
• D) Shows the two versions, talks honestly about what it means, and can also say clearly where their own limit is

Answers

1. C — Lasting marks are the person themselves; the decision to touch them is theirs.
2. A — The correction stays visible but the face doesn't lose its texture and age and turn plastic.
3. B — Bringing it back to its real tone is an error correction, not changing the color.
4. D — An honest conversation makes room for both the person's voice and the photographer's responsibility.

Summary card

• Retouching conversation: what bothers you, what should we definitely keep?
• What is passing gets fixed; for a lasting mark the decision is the person's.
• Write the decisions on a list; even on behalf of an organization, take the person's voice.
• Don't leave it at full strength; reduce the strength, compare at two sizes.
• Skin-tone reference: error correction yes, changing skin color no; if the wish comes, talk honestly.

Bridge to the next lesson

The florist's portrait is finished and the owner turns to your friend and laughs: "You're always photographing others; do you have a photo of yourself?" Your friend thinks. They need their own portrait for the back cover of their photobook and for the introduction on their web page; but they can't be behind the camera and in front of it at the same time, and there is no one to press the shutter. How do I take a portrait of myself? The next lesson takes up the self-timer, the tripod and a focus point set in advance.