Pascal Baetens. Nude Photography. The Art and The Craft. 2007

3

1

2

142 postproduction

creative retouching

the decisions you make about retouching a photograph

are very much a personal choice, but in general it’s best

to avoid extensive retouching that results in a model who

is so perfect that he or she no longer looks real. there are

some retouching steps that will invariably make an image

look better, but beyond those i try to keep a natural look

and only remove real flaws that detract from the image.

2 the fence was distracting, so i removed it using a combination of stamp tool, patch tool, and

healing brush. i tend to look for big areas to copy with the patch tool, then try to restore a natural

look by removing or blending any obviously retouched parts.

1 sandra’s left eye was partly closed, so i copied

it into a new layer and used the transform tool in

warp mode to widen it slightly. i then fitted the new

eye over the originai, and flattened it with the previous

layer. the spot healing tool was used to remove

skin blemishes.

Minor and major

adjustments

i burned in the shadows

and brightened sandra’s

hair, to emphasize her

face and used the free

transform and warp tools

to slim her waist slightly.

the main tasks were to

open her left eye and

even out skin tones, and

to remove the fence,

belly jewelry, and scar.

3 i removed the piercing by using another model’s

belly button. With a bit of free transform and

rotation it fit over the area. in a new working layer, i

used the healing brush to retouch, and also

removed the scar.