Learning more about Photo Retouching..

The kind of photo retouching Im talking about is say taking a picture of a person and retouching it to look like they are a model and their picture is ready to be placed in a magazine.. make things look alot better. I know im not being very specific.. thats because I know hardly nothing about how to do it and I was wondering if anyone had any links they could post up for me or maybe even some really good tips... I searched google forever and couldn't find much... id love the help!

Search on;

Colour correction (color for you yanks)
Adjusting skin tones
Photo restoration
Touching up a photo
Airbushing
Lighting

None of the websites will be a "Here Skettalee, this is for you, this is how to do a picture for a magazine." ;)

Instead, learn how to manipulate the colour and master adjusting levels and the tones. Learn how to clean a photo and how to touch it up.

*A serious moral issue*
If something is permanent on a person, leave it (mole, scar, etc...) If it is not (zit, wrinkle, etc) then you can remove it.

Then learn how lighting and layer styles work. Then, when all cylanders are firing, you will be able to style a photo however you like.

Just remember, there are going to be few sites that will tell you exactly what you want to know all in a nutshell. Learn the tools and what they do.

BTW, colour correction is such an integral part to PS its not even funny. 90% of people dont even bother with it and their works suffers (Auto color is not the proper way)

I cant give you any links but i can give you a tip or 2.

About the airbrushing:

You will 80% (or more) of the time use the clone brush. With the clone brush you dont want to sample from one area (say a nice skin tone) and use that to retouch a whole other area. You will want to sample often and from as many places as possible. Also make your samples "local". If your retouching the left side of something...sample from the left. If its the right...sample from the right. You want to do this everywhere (top/bottom/right/left/diagonals etc). This way as you brush...you form a circular pattern and all the tones from each side kinda meet in the middle and merge.

Next after you brush you want to select the area you changed...(id use lasso..you dont want any lines/specific shapes...or you could ctrl-click if you brushed on a diff layer) feather that selection and add noise (not too much). Also if it looks too blurry you may want to select it again...feather and give it a little sharpening.

As a second tip....get used to channels. Get familiar with the channels pallete....what channels are....using channels withing "levels" etc.


Also go to your local books store and pick up "Photoshop User" Magazine. In the issue on stands now (June 2003) and the last issue (May 2003) there is a 2 part article (both months) about the exact thing your asking for. I dont know how good it is (didnt read it ) but it looks like it could help...... and its only $9.95.

i want to order that book... like a years subscription... can i? im gonna search.. but anyway.. i appreciate the help! thanx .. anymore tips?

www.retouchpro.com

www.digitalretouch.org

search for works by Katrin Eismann, she is considered pretty good at retouching.

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/forum.asp?forum=1006

hope some of those links help

hmmm, also if you are trying to achieve the 'glossy mag look' then try searching for the 'Penthouse Technique'