I hope you are inspired by the book Photoshop Restoration & Retouching and that you would like to share your work with other reader's. Show us how you've taken the techniques in the book and gone further with them. If you send me before and after files (please keep them small, 1 MB in total) of the retouched image I'll post them here in the Reader's Gallery.

Portrait Retouching • Page One
Portrait Retouching • Page Two
Portrait Retouching • Page Three

Please mouse over an image to see the before and after.
PJ Leffingwell before
 PJ Leffingwell after

Hello Katrin,

Thank you for steering me in the right direction to create the attached retouched portrait (seen above)! I am attaching a before and after picture of a little girl (below) I shot in the studio yesterday. With your book I was able to get that look I've been trying for. I am sure I can make more money selling this to the clients then before. I needed those last couple of little secrets to get what I was looking for. Thanks so much, I hope I can meet you in person and take one of your classes soon.

Thanks,
PJ Leffingwell

PJ Leffingwell before
 PJ Leffingwell after

Shan Canfield - photographer, teacher, and excellent Photoshop user captured the original image of his daughter Nora with a Nikon 990 digital camera (above). She then used numerous layers and adjustment layers to finesse the 'grab-shot' into a beautiful, atmospheric portrait.

Please mouse over these portriats to see the retouched versions.

Hi Katrin
Here's another Nikon 990 shot of Nora. For the after shot, I used a variety of adjustment layers, masking, & digital makeup layer. I also took a trip to the Image>Liquify command and performed plastic surgery; adjusting the arches of the eyebrows, the lip size and shape, and the chin and jaw line. I used the regular liquify tool and the bloat tool for these adjustments. The end result I was trying to achieve was a look that I see applied to the guest photos on Saturday Night Live.
All my best,
Shan Canfield

As Jeff wrote to me, "Here is before and after portrait retouch job of my lovely wife Paula, originally shot with the Nikon D1 for a brochure. I replaced the background with a new canvas background created in Photoshop, whitened the teeth, retouched the skin surface glare, softened the lines under the eyes, shadowed the chin area, highlighted the hair, and thinned out her face. She loved it!

Below, you see another portrait retouch that Jeff did, which is also very well-done.

Jack Dickard retouched the above photo of his wife and wrote me, "I'm continuing to slowly and steadily work my way through your book. I have some prior Photoshop experience but I am pleasantly surprised to learn so much more about the program from your book. I'm attaching a photo I retouched using the techniques you demonstrated in chapter 10."


Hello Katrin,

Thanks for publishing a most enjoyable and comprehensive book "Photoshop Restoration and Retouching". Here's a sample of what happens when your subject blinks at the wrong time. Using your techniques, I cabbaged my granddaughter's eyes from another photo, to correct the situation. I used a Nikon CoolPix 775 digital camera with normal image quality (1024 x 768) to take the original photograph.

Sincerely,
Bob Rodina

Lorie Zirbes used Photoshop to refine and flatter this portriat by smoothing the skin, refining the skin tones, and removing the distracting white object from the bottom of the frame.

 

Dear Katrin,

I only recently purchased your book and I am truly happy I did. I am self taught at Photo Restoration and I thrive on finding useful information. Thank you for writing your book.

I am attaching a before and after photo of one of my friends. She asked me to make her photo into a glamour shot after I retouched her sister. Not only did I make her look glamorous I helped her with a digital diet.

First, I did the standard blurred layer to clean up imperfections. Next, I copied and pasted both women to a new layer. I decided to give my friend a diet so I copied and pasted her to a new layer. Next, I selected Edit> Transform> Distort and eased away a few pounds.

My friend was thrilled with this photo!
Jeanette Butler-Scott

Hi Katrin,

This is a photo of the sister in the first photo I sent you. On the day I took this photo she was sad, but very beautiful. I decided to give her a photo to show how beautiful she is.

    Here's what I did:

    1. She had just got off work, and she was wearing makeup on her face but not on her chest - so, I converted the photo to black and white.
    2. I used a blur enhancement technique I had learned to smooth out a few lines on her face, neck, chest and arms.
    3. Then I added Diffuse Glow 2/1/15 and changed the background to black.
    4. Used a Layer mask to smooth out the hair.
    5. The finished photo looked great but was missing something.
    6. I copied her eyes and lips from the original photo (I always work on a copy), and pasted into this.
    7. I did stretch her mouth just a little to make it more sensuous.

Cindy said the photo made her cry, and wanted to know if I could do that to her in real life. She said she looks at it everyday and it gives her strength.

Thank you,
Jeanette Butler-Scott

Roxie Frausto-Thiessen used the techniques from the portrait and glamour chapters to polish up both of these contemporary photos.

Portrait Retouching • Page One
Portrait Retouching • Page Two
Portrait Retouching • Page Three