In this course, we approach skin retouching using a manageable and repeatable workflow based on a solid foundation and understanding of the elements that make up skin problems in digital photography.

This course is developed by fashion, beauty & portrait photographer, retoucher, and educator Michael Woloszynowicz (Toronto, NYC & LA) and commercial beauty photographer and retoucher Julia Kuzmenko McKim (Los Angeles, CA).

The Module 3: Common Skin Retouching Issues, Dark Skin lesson image

We kick off this course with a discussion about how light angle and light quality affect the appearance of the skin in images. And how to break down various problems into their respective components and then use the retouching tools and techniques at our disposal to tackle them to produce a polished, natural result.

The course will begin with some essential theory and the required Photoshop basics to serve as a foundation for the rest of the lessons, so even if you are relatively new to Retouching, you won’t be overwhelmed with the lessons that follow.

We’ll then move on to the crucial techniques for skin retouchers to know and master. In Module 3, we will apply those techniques to correct various skin problems across multiple skin types: from young to aged, from fair to dark, and tackle a variety of common skin retouching challenges such as oily skin, problematic skin, eye area texture, and so on.

In the end, we will also briefly discuss other skin-related retouching challenges that we often encounter in beauty and portrait photography, such as removing forearm hair, fixing nails, and retouching hands.