When it comes to photo editing for portraits, Adobe is always the top name with its powerful tools for editing.
Adobe Photoshop is considered the gold standard for detailed editing and professional retouching. Its biggest benefit lies in its ability to work with layers, helping users make complex edits without affecting the original image.
Tools like Healing Brush, Clone Stamp, and Frequency Separation in Photoshop are indispensable for creating smooth, flawless skin while still retaining natural textures for portrait photos. This article DIGI-TEXX will delve into how to edit portraits in Photoshop. Try these steps in Photoshop if you’re looking to add some extra detail to your photos now!
Prepare and Import Your Portrait
First, right-click on the image and Open with Photoshop. Once the image opens in Photoshop, the first and most important step is to duplicate the background layer (with the shortcut Ctrl/Cmd + J). This ensures you always have an original to compare to and all edits are made on a separate layer, making the process safe and flexible.
Basic Adjustments for Overall Balance
If you need to make overall adjustments like exposure, contrast or color, use the Camera Raw Filter (Filter > Camera Raw Filter). This interface is almost identical to Lightroom’s Develop module, allowing users to quickly make familiar adjustments right in Photoshop before diving into detailed retouching tools.
Skin Retouching and Refinement
This is Photoshop’s greatest strength in portrait editing. The following tools will be an extremely effective assistant
- Spot Healing Brush: This tool is used to erase small blemishes, making the skin smoother
- Clone Stamp Tool: Used to handle more complex areas by copying a beautiful skin area to cover the bad or blemished skin area.
- Frequency Separation: This is an advanced technique that helps separate skin texture and color/tone into two separate layers. Helps the subject in the photo to smooth the skin and even the color without losing the natural pore texture, creating the most professional retouch results.
Enhance Facial Features
The Dodge and Burn technique is a classic Photoshop method for contouring and highlighting facial features. By creating a new layer filled with 50% gray and setting the blending mode to Overlay, you can use the Dodge and Burn tools with a low exposure to:
- Lighten the under-eye area, bridge of the nose, and forehead.
- Darken the underside of the cheekbones, temples to contour.
- Brighten and enhance the contrast of the eyes.
Creative Color Grading and Final Touches
Photoshop offers a wealth of tools for creating creative color through Adjustment Layers. Users can use Color Balance to add different shades of color to the highlights, midtones, and shadows. Gradient Map helps create unique color effects, while Selective Color helps to precisely fine-tune specific colors in a portrait photo.
Save and Export Professionally
Once finished, save your file as a .PSD to retain all layers and be able to edit it again in the future. To export your image for web or print, go to File > Export > Save for Web (Legacy) or Export As. Choose JPEG, high quality, and make sure the color space is sRGB for best display on most devices.
For those who want to master both tools, don’t miss our article on how to edit portraits in Lightroom. Lightroom is ideal for streamlining your workflow with presets, while Photoshop shines when it comes to fine-tuning every detail—together, they make a powerful duo for portrait editing.
Mastering how to edit portraits in Photoshop can take your photography to the next level, but handling the entire post-production process on your own can be overwhelming. That’s why many photographers, studios, and e-commerce businesses turn to professional image processing services like DIGI-TEXX for reliable support and high-quality results.
We provide portrait retouching, color correction, and post-production solutions for large quantities of images with high and consistent quality, helping you save time, optimize your process, and focus on your creative work. Contact DIGI-TEXX now so we can advise you on a professional portrait editing solution specifically for you.
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