Professional Portrait Retouching Techniques for Photographers Using Photoshop (Voices That Matter) 1st Edition

I am a professional wedding photographer, and would now swear by this book. I learned basic retouching techniques at school and some of them are similar, but I always ran into that plasticky looking skin issue and we sort of glossed over eyes. All of these techniques bring my bridal portraits to life. I couldn't recommend it more.The instructions are very easy to follow and while you can take each mini-tutorial out of context, I found it most helpful to go through image by image and try the technique. There's no better way to learn than to do. Luckily, Mr. Kelby agrees with me and provides the same sample photographs he uses in the book (and a secondary image to try it on your own) so you can follow along with him step by step and get the same results.Mr. Kelby's writing is also wonderfully approachable and easy to follow. He's got a great sense of humour which really shines through in all his books. This makes him come to life through the page and makes it a lot easier to wade through some fairly complicated photoshop steps. But I didn't find myself rereading to understand what he wanted me to do next.I also really appreciated his advice on how to approach talking to your clients about retouching. The truth is, anytime you work hard at something, you want people to appreciate it, but your clients shouldn't be the person doing the appreciating. Mr. Kelby's advice to say nothing regarding your touch ups will make them feel better about them selves and think you're a genius with a camera. And the genius of these techniques is that, when done right, they look natural and NOT touched up, just like your client, only better.The whole time though, he kept referring to the fact that these are not the same techniques used by professional retouchers who spend weeks on one image (what you see when you look at a magazine cover). I would love to learn those techniques next!Mr. Kelby, well done. Anyone interested in making their portraits better, this is definitely the book for you.

Absolutely fantastic book.I've been using Photoshop since 1995, and I've been retouching portraits for years, but I was hoping to develop the kinds of advanced skills the magazine Photoshoppers use. I was particularly interested in the skin-retouching techniques, and I'm really pleased with the results I'm getting. Kelby offers multiple techniques for skin, depending on how much time you have, how professional you want the results to be, and how you want the portrait to look. Finished portraits look professional but not plastic, and skin retains texture.The book hits all the high points of professional retouching, including repairing teeth, slimming the body, making eyes more dynamic, and sculpting the face. Since he's written the book for photographers, Kelby never assumes you are a Photoshop expert, so he walks you through each step in a friendly, detailed way. You can use the techniques in any order, though he does offer possible workflows in the back of the book.My only complaint about this book is that I wish it were spiral-bound, because I know I'm going to end up breaking the spine (probably right off) with as much as I expect to use it!

Scott Kelby's books are awesome. This is the 4th book of his I have purchased.This book is not going to get into the details of every little capability in Adobe Photoshop. This book will give you the ability to retouch the portraits you take with your digital camera - it cuts right to the chase. You can make an untouched photo look presentable in 10-15 minutes using the techniques in this book.If you want to know how to soften skin, whiten teeth, remove blemishes, add sparkle and life to eyes, add digital "make-up," remove stubble, sculpt eyebrows, etc., this is the book to get. Simply scan through the table of contents to find the retouch topic you need, fire up Photoshop, open your digital photo, and follow the step-by-step instructions. There are tons of pictures and Mr. Kelby's writing style is easy to follow - he manages to make things easy without talking down to his readers.Scott Kelby makes it super-easy to make your portraits look great. I used Mr. Kelby's books for Photoshop Elements, and when I stepped up to the full-blown Photoshop, there was no doubt that I would be turning to him for assistance with my photos. I have NEVER been stumped by any of his instructions.Using Mr. Kelby's books I have: whitened teeth, enlarged eyes, adjusted the whites of eyes, removed blemishes, cleaned up eyebrows, changed eye colors, added lip color, softened skin, learned how to add vignette to portraits, added sparkle to eyes, etc. For a bumbling amateur such as myself, Mr. Kelby's books are must-haves, to be sure!As a bonus, Mr. Kelby's website has all the photos used in the book so his readers can download the photos and follow along in the book while learning all the techniques by actually using Photoshop. This is an awesome feature!