Knowing how to pose your subject, light them properly, and take a good photo is only half of what it takes to create a good portrait. Knowing how to retouch your subject effectively while still maintaining a natural look is the other half of creating a successful portrait, and this fantastic video tutorial will show you how to do it.
Coming to you from Joel Grimes Photography, this excellent video tutorial will show you how to retouch a portrait using Photoshop. One thing that is important to remember is to err on the side of less retouching, especially when you are first learning how to retouch people. If you look at the work of highly skilled retouchers, you will probably notice that they make their work look very natural, as if they did no retouching at all (unless they are going for a specific stylized look). Going overboard with your retouching can end up making your subject look overly plastic or artificial, something most clients will not want. Try to keep a close eye on the overall progress as you are working and re-evaluate it one last time before you export the final image. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Grimes.
