Image retouching is one of the most popular yet tricky photo editing services. The proper image retouching can make a simple shot extraordinary and attract your viewers when the wrong implementation can ruin your whole strategy and marketing attempt.
Knowing about the details and techniques of photo retouching will give you a huge advantage when working on a large batch of images and trying to manipulate them. To create a better result, useful tricks can make your work a lot easier and bring out the beauty of your image within the shortest period.
Some dos and don’ts about photo retouching and how it can help you to be a better photo editor are explained here. All of these techniques and instructions are to hone your skills and master the art of photo retouching.
Do’s: Image Retouching
Know About All The Resources You Have
Photo retouching is a large and resourceful image editing process. You will need to use multiple resources to make a photo retouch work and highlight the features you want. To use the resources for your benefit, you will need to know the usefulness of those tool end how they can benefit you.
Experiment And Explore Your Photo Editor
When working with a creative tool, it’s better not to limit yourself. Keep experimenting to find out which is the best way for you to photo retouch. You can explore different tools in your editor and understand their functionalities. Photo editor tools come with multiple usefulness. So, exploring them and understanding their usefulness is the best way to utilize them and create profit.
Take Time While Color Correcting Your Image
To Make your image look beautiful, you will need to have the right combination of colors. The foreground and background need to synchronize correctly. While color correcting your image, you can not overlook how it will look after composition changes. Take time and adjust the colors to determine which looks good and highlights the subject Better.
Use Layer Adjustment
Using multiple layers in one image can make the image look better. Adjusting the layers should be taken seriously to improve the image quality and create a better combination. If one layer does not go with another, it will look like some unwanted scrap gathered together. Make your image look pleasant to the eyes. Make sure all the layers merge beautifully.
Unleash The Power Of the Magic Eraser Tool
Magic eraser tool can do more than you can think of. If you want to remove all the blocks of the same color or select an area, you can do that only with one click of the magic eraser. To use this tool, you will need to understand its function and familiarise yourself with its movement. Giving that effort surely pays off. Unleash the superpower of the magic eraser tool and take your retouching skills to another level.
Use Healing Brush Tool To Get Rid Of Unwanted Spots
You can use multiple tools and options if you want to get rid of any unwanted spots. You might think of a clone stamp tool or patch tool. But you will be surprised to know how efficiently the healing brush tool can remove small spots. If your image has plenty of small cracks or spots you want to remove, the healing brush tool works way better than any other tool. Understand the potential of the healing brush tool first and determine where you need to use it and how much.
Don’ts: Image Retouching
Don’t Overuse Clone Stamp Tool
The clone stamp tool is useful for copying any object in your image and multiplying the object in other areas. For instance, if you want to copy a cloud and make the clear sky cloudy, this tool can help. But overusing the clone stamp will cover the image with uneven and non-synchronized patches and make the photo look ugly.
Be Careful With The History Brush Tool
The history brush tool can revive the original state of your image and nullify the changes in a specific area. But this can be dangerous too. When you are undoing the edit, you know what might into your way. But the history brush tool can just copy the primary image and paste it without adjusting the image background without the synchronization of the color. So, choose wisely before you regret it.
Don’t Rely Too Much On Gaussian Blur
A gaussian blur is surely a useful option. When you want to even a specific area or get rid of small spots, gaussian blur can help you. But using too much gaussian blur can make your image unclear and noisy. Also, the excessive use of gaussian blur can make you accustomed to the blurry effect. It can subconsciously affect your editing style and decrease the quality of the whole image.
Don’t Limit Yourself To A Few Tools
While you start retouching images, a few tools might seem a lot more effective than others. But don’t stop there. Yes, you can use your preferred tool frequently. But you should know what tool is made for which purpose and how it can maximize the benefit of the image retouching process.
For instance, you might think the magic Eraser tool is one of the most effective tools for removing any specific area. But other erasing tools or the normal eraser have their benefits as well. Try to find out how magic erasers cannot replace the general eraser and why they should be used sometimes. It might feel like familiarizing yourself with these new tools is taking a lot more time. But when you step into advanced retouching and try to create your edited image from scratch, these tools will come in handy.
Conclusion
Image retouching needs a lot of practice and familiarization with the whole process to perfect the skill. But some tips can help you to reach there faster. If you can follow the mentioned techniques and find out your style, then the whole retouching process will be much easier for you. Good luck with your retouching journey, and looking forward to your results that can make you shine brighter and guide you towards your success.