Today we’re talking about Retouching again, some Dos and Don’ts to be exact. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve gotten a lot of questions about what’s important for retouched photos to look natural and what not to do, so that’s what we’re covering right now.

Also this is just my personal opinion and what I like to do on my photos. If your editing style or technique is different I would love to hear about it! Let me know what your most important points are in the comments below or message me on Instagram about it and let’s chat!

Do #1 keep it natural. When retouching, especially when first starting out, lots of photographers/retouchers tend to over-edit. You don’t need to remove all the pores and smooth the skin completely, we want to see some of that natural texture. Instead, remove bigger pimles or redness and keep pores etc. as natural as possible.

Don’t #1 blurr or smooth the skin. Tying in with the first point, avoid blurring or smoothing the skin with any filters or brushes. This will make any photo look very unnatural, very obviously edited and often look a little cheap too. Simply remove big distractions, but keep the skin natural otherwise.

Do #2 use similar textures. When retouching, make sure you “cover up” pimles etc. with similar skin texture. You will see exactly what I mean by this in the video, but if you use texture that doesn’t match the area you’re working on it will again be very obviously editd.

Don’t #2 only focus on one tiny section. When working on one small section of the skin/face for a long time it’s easy to get carried away and over-edit the spot. Instead, zoom out every couple of minutes to make sure you’re still doing a nice job and you’Re not over-editing one small spot.

Do #3 keep an open mind. People do things differently, and if you like things done a certain way somebody else might think that’s not good at all. Everybody has their own way of doing things, so don’t be offended if somebody tells you you’re doing it “wrong” – there really is no wrong or right, it’s all about how you get the image you want.

Don’t #3 be too perfectionist. This is super hard, coming from a perfectionist myself, but it’s really important that you don’t get to perfectionist with your images. Natural skin/real people don’t look absolutely perfect and your images should still have some sort of reality in them.

Want to learn more about retouching in Photoshop? Take a look at my Masterclasses!