Boudoir & Portrait Retouching Workflow for Photographers

Marko Smiljanic

4.5

Based on 54 ratings

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Marko Smiljanic

Retouching adds personal touch and breathes life into photos, and it doesn't have to be a slow and tedious grind. This course aims to save you time, spark your passion, and help you create outstanding portraits, by showing you an entire retouching workflow, perfected over 10 years of active work both as a professional boudoir photographer and retoucher.

Complete start-to-finish retouching guide will teach you:

RAW Photo Editing - Color Stylisation & Grading, Color Contrast
Efficient Skin Retouch Basics & Tools - Smooth Skin and Preserve Detail
Advanced Frequency Separation & Mixer Brush Made Simple.
Thinking Outside the Box and Creative Ways of Using Tools and Techniques
Finding the Most Time Efficient Methods
Adding Depth and Dimension using 3 Types of Dodge and Burn
Master Subject Separation, Guiding Attention, Boosting Detail
Create Atmosphere and Ambience in Your Photos.
Learn to Analyze Photos, and Squeeze the Last Drop of Color Contrast
Sharpen and Optimize Your Photo for Publishing.

Having spent most of my recent years offering private education, I've noticed a growing trend of photographers reaching out to me with some basic knowledge, that's more often than not, a confusing mess of 'half baked' information, techniques and advice picked up from various Youtube channels. All this in most cases causes total confusion, stress, wasted time, poorly retouched photos, eventually leading to loss of passion and love for this beautiful art and craft.

This course is my best effort to date, to demystify retouching, bring clarity, simplicity and fun into the process many photographers struggle with, allowing you to explore what truly matters - your creativity, efficiently and stress free.

By the end of this course, you will understand where color harmonies are being created, how to post process your RAW file and pull the most out of the RAW data, how to retouch skin for any kind of professional publication or commercial work, how to add depth and dimension to your photos, making the color pop, and creating the sought after subject separation, famously known as the ''3D effect''

Contents and Overview

3 hours of study content and follow along material, covering the way from the initial color stylisation and Lightroom/Camera RAW setup, to a high end professionally retouched photo that could be printed or published. For your convenience, the course is divided into 7 chapters, all starting with a discussion and analysis of our goals, followed by the in depth explanation of the tools we're going to be usingThe course is going to be focusing on non destructive retouching techniques, that are the high end industry standard, explained in a simple, beginner friendly way, A significant portion of the course focuses on color work, that is besides skin work, another key factor that makes a photo stand out. The 7 chapters of the course are:

Chapter I — Color Correction and GradingChapter II — Basic Skin WorkChapter III — Advanced Skin RetouchChapter IV — Dodge and Burn Chapter V — Detail Enhancement Chapter VI — Plugins and AtmosphereChapter VII — Final Color Correction

You will also receivea RAW file used in the lesson, for practice, or if you wish to follow alongTwo Action Packs, there to help you save tremendous amount of timePhotoshop Workspace Presets to help organize your workspacePortrait Retouching Checklist - with everything you need to look at and analyze Dodge and Burn guides and examples

I would add that the methods and techniques you will find here are universal and you can apply them to all kinds of portrait photography (high end beauty, newborn, elopement, studio, neon, outdoor, family, boudoir, lifestyle, glamour, nightlife, commercial, couple, fine art, business…)

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What's inside

Learning objectives

Boudoir photo retouching
Portrait photo retouching
Color grading and color correction
Advanced skin retouching techniques
Dodging and burning

Light shaping
Skin retouching
Adding depth and dimension to photos
Adding atmosphere to photos

Boudoir photo retouching
Portrait photo retouching
Color grading and color correction
Advanced skin retouching techniques
Dodging and burning
Light shaping
Skin retouching
Adding depth and dimension to photos
Adding atmosphere to photos

Syllabus

Hello everyone! Check this video to see what I can teach you about and what will you be able to do once you complete the course!

Introduction

You will be able to analyze the color present in your shot, find color harmonies and create subject separation with nothing but color! I will show you how to correctly setup your programs as well!

Full start-to-finish walkthrough of the coloring and stylization process of an indoor portrait shot via Lightroom/Camera RAW, with complete explanation on Lightroom setup and panels and how we can use them to create subject separation with color.

This will also serve as the analysis of colors present in a raw file and a discussion on finding color harmonies that we can implement. Also included is a quick start to finish edit of an outdoor shot with before and after comparisons.

Before covering the select few skin retouching tools, I will also show you some tips on working efficiently within Photoshop. We will cover the retouching actions I use every day to save time, the many functions of layer masks, the right way to use clone stamp tool, the combination of patch tool and fade technique, the transparent layer and how I use it to fix color, body shaping using liquify, and how you can creatively use the history brush.

Frequency Separation, the holy grail of skin retouch — the technique many speak of, yet so few master.

If it’s bad retouch, there is a 90% chance someone didn’t understand how actually retouching using this technique should be done. This lessons chapter aims to alleviate the stress and show you a correct, professional and, trust me, the easiest way to do it! Most YT teachers never mention the Mixer Brush or Patch Tool Fade techniques when working with Frequency Separation. I will tell you all about it and how you will preserve all that skin detail while giving your image a high end polished look. All of the photos I’ve ever retouched were done this way!

This tutorial breaks down 3 types of Dodge and Burn techniques in a beginner-friendly manner:

the Global D & B, Local D & B and Micro D & B. All 3 are used to add depth and dimension to your image, creating the famous subject separation, commonly known as the ''3D effect''. I will teach you how to contour the body and face like the makeup artists do, shaping light to enhance certain features of the people on your photos.

The techniques taught can be applied to any portrait shot (daytime / nighttime / neon / indoor, outdoor, etc.) even to your landscape photos!

This chapter deals with a variety of techniques I use to deliberately guide attention within the frame. This is also going to be a part in which we’ll be covering various adjustment layers and various non destructive methods. We’ll take a deeper dive into time saving actions I’ve provided you with, learning how to enhance color, boost the detail clarity, whiten eyes and teeth, correct redness, draw color and light where needed etc.

Although this is not a chapter that deals with skin retouching, I’ve decided to include it as a bonus, for those of you wishing to add another dimension to your photos — the ambience!

We will cover a select list of plugins that I frequently use to give my photos the extra ''spice''.

The final chapter aims to help you, squeezing that last drop of color contrast out of your photo using two methods. This will give an image the final look, enhance the retouch applied and color contrast we’ve been working hard on. We will also take a look at the Retouching Checklist I’ve provided you with, analyzing and looking for all the places we can improve our retouch upon. In the end I will teach you a quick way to sharpen your photos and prepare it for export.

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Teaches skills and knowledge that are used every day across a diverse range of professions in the visual arts and commercial photography fields, making this course highly relevant to the industry

Taught by Marko Smiljanic, a professional boudoir photographer and retoucher, recognized for his work in the visual arts

Offers a complete end-to-end course studying the core skills, techniques, and tools used in the field of portrait retouching across a multitude of specializations and genres

Covers a diverse range of essential topics in the field of photo editting and photo manipulation used in many industries

Offers unique perspectives on familiar techniques used in portrait retouching, which may add color to professional photographer's understanding of the field

Aimed at experienced photographers, as the course explicitly requires a working knowledge of essential digital photo editing techniques

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Reviews summary

Efficient portrait retouching workflow

According to students, this course offers a comprehensive, start-to-finish workflow for boudoir and portrait retouching, praised for its ability to demystify complex techniques. Learners appreciate the focus on efficient, non-destructive methods, particularly for advanced skin retouching using Frequency Separation and Mixer Brush, which many find easy to master. The detailed modules on color stylization, grading, and three types of Dodge & Burn are considered highly effective for creating depth and dimension. Students highly value the practical resources, including a RAW practice file and useful action packs, making it an invaluable resource for professional-level results.

Instructor breaks down complex topics into easily understandable steps.

"The instructor clearly understands where photographers struggle and provides explanations that are both simple and professional."

"I appreciate how the course clarifies concepts that were previously confusing from other online sources."

"The teaching style made learning advanced techniques feel effortless and enjoyable, rather than a stressful grind."

Offers valuable supplementary materials and time-saving tools.

"The RAW file provided was perfect for following along and practicing every step of the workflow."

"The action packs and workspace presets are incredible time-savers; they've immediately integrated into my daily workflow."

"The retouching checklist is a brilliant tool that ensures I don't miss any critical steps when finishing an image."

Teaches sophisticated color grading and dimension-adding techniques.

"The color stylization and grading sections completely changed how I approach my RAW files, making colors pop and harmonize."

"Learning the three types of Dodge and Burn allowed me to sculpt light and create incredible depth and the '3D effect' in my portraits."

"I now understand how to analyze photos for color contrast and create ambience that draws viewers in."

Demystifies advanced skin retouching, preserving texture and detail.

"Frequency Separation was always a mystery, but this course truly made it simple and effective while keeping skin texture."

"I learned how to use the Mixer Brush with FS to get that high-end, polished look without making skin look plastic."

"My skin retouching has improved dramatically; I can now smooth skin and keep all the important details intact for any publication."

Provides a clear, efficient, start-to-finish retouching process.

"I finally found a clear, structured workflow that goes from start to finish, unlike all the disjointed tips I've seen before."

"This course helped me cut through the confusion and put all the pieces of retouching together into one coherent system."

"I now have a streamlined, non-destructive retouching process that saves me so much time and delivers professional results."

Activities

Be better prepared before your course. Deepen your understanding during and after it. Supplement your coursework and achieve mastery of the topics covered in Boudoir & Portrait Retouching Workflow for Photographers with these activities:

Review skin anatomy

Show steps

Understanding the structure and function of the skin will help you better understand how to retouch it.

Show steps

Read a book or article about skin anatomy.
Watch a video about skin anatomy.
Take a quiz about skin anatomy.

Practice by applying Frequency Separation to photos

Show steps

Practice Frequency Separation, an essential skin retouching technique, to improve your sharpening skills and ensure your photos look their best.

Show steps

Select a photo with skin that requires retouching.
Open the photo and create a Frequency Separation layer.
Refine the mask using the Frequency Separation tool.
Adjust the settings of the Frequency Separation layer to smooth the skin while preserving details.
Save the retouched photo.

Show all two activities