Retouch a female portrait

Get your model looking her best with the help of new tools in Lightroom and Camera Raw

- Sean McCormack

The world is changing – and as part of that change, there are some differing opinions on the use of retouching in portraits. On one hand, you have fashion magazines starting to indicate that photos have been retouched, as part of selling perfection. On the other hand, you have clients asking for digital magic to be applied – sometimes it’s a bad skin day, other times longing to have a little less day-to-day stress showing.

Most people are aware that the photos they see in advertising are not real, even if they’re not thinking about it in the moment. It can still be a case of “I wish I looked like that” – and, in fact, so does the model in the photo. Adding retouching skills to your portraits, for better or for worse, will make you look like a better photographer.

Lightroom and Camera Raw have new tools that make retouching the raw file directly even easier. A recent update added the Texture Tool, which was developed to reduce texture, specifically in a manner that smooths skin in a natural way. Using Texture as a local adjustment, you can easily target skin for a quick and pleasing edit. The previous common method, using negative Clarity, was passable, but not particularly great.