I decided to show an example of the retouching I do.  The following slideshow has one photo straight out of the camera and then that same photo after its been edited, the last photo is a crop.  I usually upload low resolution files which is great if you don’t want your images to be targeted for theft but it sucks for detail.  Another result is that skin texture will appear smoother which depending on how you look at it can be good or bad.

Lighting: 1 Beauty Dish right above the camera.

Makeup: Tamie Reinhold

Follow up:  Just to answer a couple questions that were sent by email.  No I don’t apply a blur/softening layer to my images.  I used those methods when I first started retouching photos but was never completely satisfied with the results.  Now I mostly  use a dodge and burn technique along with extensive healing brush.

Tip: When you retouch make sure you zoom in.  For example when I am healing or cloning away spots the smallest zoom I view the image at is 100% I mostly work at 250%-300%  and  sometimes my brush size is as low as 1 or 2 pixels.

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