In our first retouching lesson, I will concentrate on our basic adjustments in camera raw and import our raw image into Photoshop. This process helps me to pre-adjust the contrast, exposure, image pop and subtle sharpening.

For this lesson, we will put the techniques on hold and create a new help layer in order to point out all the retouching steps. This helps us to stay focused during the retouching process. This is not an obligation, but it does help during the retouching process since you can always fall back on it and remind yourself of what still needs to be done.

Now that we have a basic understanding of what we want to retouch, we will concentrate on cleaning up our background and subject. This is not a major obstacle, even thought it might seem labour intensive. What's important to remember is that the more time you invest into cleaning, the better your image will look. It involves a few steps, such as healing, cloning and refining the background dust marks

Now that I've finished the basic retouching, I'm going to focus a bit more on the hair, as it draws you into the image. I will only be working in selected areas. I'll need to fill in colour in some areas, working with some fill colour, and then making sure to have an even exposure over the hair by using adjustment layers like the Curves Adjustment Layer.

Now that I've finished the basic retouching, I'm going to focus a bit more on the hair, as it draws you into the image. I will only be working in selected areas. I'll need to fill in colour in some areas, working some fill colour, and then making sure to have an even exposure over the hair by using adjustment layers like the Curves Adjustment Layer.

Now that I've finished the basic retouching, I'm going to focus a bit more on the hair, as it draws you into the image. I will only be working in selected areas. I'll need to fill in colour in some areas, working some fill colour, and then making sure to have an even exposure over the hair by using adjustment layers like the Curves Adjustment Layer.

It’s important to understand that the Liquify Tool helps to refine an image. The idea is not to create a different person. The changes that I implement are very subtle and only done with the intention to create a perfect picture.

This is a very important part of the retouching process. Just as with cleaning and healing it might appear to be labour intensive, but the more effort you apply the better your image will look. Here we will apply lots of techniques to ensure that we get that smooth silky skin. This section will involve working with both the High Pass Filter and the Gaussian Blur, but a little bit different to what you might be used to. These will basically be applied in the reverse effect – The High Pass will blur while the Gaussian Blur will sharpen.

Now that I've adjusted my colour the way we want it, I will start working on the light control. This will mostly involve using a Curves Adjustment to add a touch of contrast to the image as well as a Selective Colour Adjustment Layer to adjust our colours. I will also apply a Hue and Saturation Adjustment layer and work in the red tones. For the light control, I'l start off by using the marque tool to create a circular selection around our subject. I then feather the selection and apply a Curves Adjustment Layer, which I'll use to create a vignette effect as well as adding a light pop to the subject.

In this section, I will be working with my famous Dodge & Burn technique. The main thing about dodging and burning means we are going to dodge the highlights and burn the shadows. This will allow me to emphasise the highlights and shadows in my image.

Another aspect of this image is the props. The model wore a pair of sunglasses and the reflections from the strobes are quite apparent. The process will involve creating two new layers, one for each lens of the sunglasses. I then use the pen tool to make a circular selection of each  lens. Make sure when you make your selection that the feathering is set to zero. I then use the Gradient Tool, Noise filters and masks to create the perfect and realistic look.

Now that I've done most of our retouching, I will add our final adjustments. Here I'll be working with the Selective Colour Adjustment Layer to create or to add that extra flare of colour to the image. I'll also crop the image down to the perfect size.

Here I'll be adding shapes, namely, bubbles the background. Here I'll be working with Effects and Layer Masks to create the effect of bubbles behind and around the subject.

For the final lesson, I'll work with adding a bit of colour to the selected areas that might otherwise appear a bit bland compared to the rest of the image. For this I'll be using Solid Colour layers, layer masks and Hue and Saturation Adjustment layers to add colour to selected areas.

Additional to this course I've also added a list of bonus tutorials that would compliment this course as well as a lesson that will focus on the Wacom Pen Tablet and how to set it up.