Portraits fundamentals

[rickp1]

Hey guys and gals,
I took a bunch of pictures of my girlfriend this weekend and some came out pretty nice.

Now I need to start the PP part so I'm wondering if you have any recommendations on PP fundamentals for portraits. I would also like to know about any other techniques you guys would recommend doing to portraits. I know that's a bit of a loaded question but I'm just looking for some ideas.


Thanks in advance.

[OsmosisStudios]

When you're doing portraits, always have your model wear more makeup than usual, especially if youre using flash. I'm not advocating looking like a clown, but more foundation and cover up usually does the trick.

When it comes to PP, there are several schools of thought. Some will tell you not to do anything. Some will tell you the exact opposite. I know of some fashion photographers that spend 10x more time editing a single photo than they ever did shooting, and thats wrong. I do some minor stuff (hiding blemishes, some skin smoothing, colour enhancement, sharpening) but thats because I try to get as much right out of the camera.

[zona5101]

Originally Posted by rickp1

Hey guys and gals,
I took a bunch of pictures of my girlfriend this weekend and some came out pretty nice.

Now I need to start the PP part so I'm wondering if you have any recommendations on PP fundamentals for portraits. I would also like to know about any other techniques you guys would recommend doing to portraits. I know that's a bit of a loaded question but I'm just looking for some ideas.

It will depend on the image, the model and your preferences.
For me...i will start with the skin tone/color then work the eyes, brighten the iris, desaturate the whites. I'll usually sharpen using an unsharp mask. Then if necessary work on smoothing the skin using a smoothing blur or high pass filter and "fix" blemishies with a spot healing or clone stamp. I'll also look at the background and if needed add a lens blur with a layer mask. Maybe a light vingette or edge darkening if it fits the mood.