You may be surprised to learn that many top models aren’t blessed with a perfect complexion. As a result, some of the gorgeous images you see owe their impact to both good shooting skills and a knowledge of basic skin-retouching techniques for their flattering and natural looking effect.

This tutorial from the In Your Fayes YouTube channel addresses the latter concern with several editing tips that anyone can master, as evidenced by the fact that they take barely four minutes to explain. You’ll want to pay close attention, even if portraiture isn’t a top priority, because sooner or later you’ll asked to shoot people pictures, so why not make them as eye-catching as possible?

Instructor Faye, the namesake of the channel, is a portrait pro who’s also worked as a model since she was 16 years old. As a result, she’s very experienced on both sides of the camera and very adept at processing her images. Her advice is particularly valuable for amateur photographers, those new to portraiture, and others who lack access to an experienced makeup artist.

Faye’s workflow may be basic, but what you’ll learn are the techniques she employs to enhance her stunning professional-quality portraits. She describes her post-capture approach like this: “it’s the cherry on the top because it makes my photos look very clean with minimal distractions.”

Today’s sample image was captured on a “magical” beach  in New Zealand, and her beautiful model Natalie has pretty good skin, but there’s a bit of work to do. This can easily be accomplished with Faye’s presets (there’s a link beneath the video), but you’ll learn how get the job done manually with minimum fuss.

Faye begins with a quick demonstration of how to use Photoshop’s Healing tool to eliminate flaws in Natalie’s complexion. Along the way she takes a quick detour to illustrate how a simple crop improves the overall impact in the shot.

With the blemishes repaired the next step is gently softening the skin while retaining sufficient detail for a realistic look. She employs the Soften Skin Lite preset, but by observing the sliders in the adjustment panel you’ll see how they can be moved to create the same effect. She also demonstrates how simple modifications to Texture and Clarity provide an appealing soft look to the skin.

Another trick at this point is using selective masking to make certain adjustments to one part of the face, and other enhancements to different areas that need work. Faye is what you might call a perfectionist, so there are a few more steps to complete the subtle but impressive transformation.

Be sure to visit the In Your Fayes YouTube channel where you’ll find many more tips for shooting and editing portrait photos. And on a related topic, don’t miss the tutorial we posted recently from another expert, with a basic guide to using off-camera flash to improve portrait photographs captured outdoors in challenging light. It’s much easier than you think.

It’ a shame that many Photoshop users ignore the Eyedropper tool when editing their images to achieve precise colors with a natural look. After all, accurate tones are a critical element in  just about every photo whether it’s captured indoors or put.

This instructional video comes from the folks at Adobe Photoshop Tutorials, a new YouTube channel  dedicated to providing expert-guided tutorials for photographers and other creators interested in elevating their imaging skills. And the channel promises to deliver effective solutions that are accessible to beginners and experienced users alike.

This episode is devoted to Photoshop’s Eyedropper tool that, despite it’s power, takes less than two minutes to explain. In basic terms it enables you to quickly sample a color from anywhere within an image and add it to your Swatches panel. Then you can customize the tool’s settings to achieve the exact effect that you want.

When using the Eyedropper tool, the color swatch in the panel immediately changes accordingly. For added versatility, it’s possible to sample two different colors, simply by holding down Shift on your keyboard.

Once you determine the specific color(s) you desire you’ll notice some magic occurring in Photoshop’s Info panel: As you click around the image the panel automatically expands to display the RGB (Red, Green, Blue) settings for each color swatch selected. Then the panel’s color section reflects your changes as you move the Eyedropper tool without releasing the mouse button.

There’s an alternative method to the keyboard shortcut you’ll learn that involves employing Photoshop’s Brush tool while holding down the Option key on a Mac or the Alt key on a PC. This saves time by letting you seamlessly access the Eyedropper without switching between tools.

Today’s unnamed instructor provides this explanation: “With the Brush tool active, holding down Option or Alt provides quick access to the Eyedropper tool; simply click on a new color swatch and then release without returning to the Brush tool.” In other words, this quick process delivers very efficient color sampling for the task at hand.

You’ll immediately recognize the benefits of the Eyedropper tool after giving this a try, and you’ll definitely want to add this easy and efficient technique to your Photoshop workflow. You’ll also want to explore the Adobe Photoshop Tutorials YouTube channel, where there are more straightforward tips and techniques.

We also recommend watching another informative tutorial we posted recently, demonstrating a better way to sharpen photographs by using Photoshop’s oft-ignored High Pass Filter.

There are several ways to sharpen soft images and some are more effective than others. The straightforward tutorial below demonstrates how to get the job done quickly and effectively by employing Photoshop’s easy-to-use High Pass Filter.

This lesson comes to us from the folks at LAYRS—a new instructional YouTube channel designed to make learning fun while exploring creative ideas. In case you’re unfamiliar with this helpful tool, today’s unnamed instructor describes it like this: “a High Pass filter pays attention to changes in brightness and texture in your image by finding the edges and highlighting them.”

By doing so it enables you to achieve a clean and realistic sharpening effect. This method works in a similar way to Photoshop’s more commonly used Unsharp Mask technique.  But with certain types of images Photoshop’s High Pass filter delivers preferable results.

The process begins by pulling up a layer and hitting Control J to make a copy. Then click on the Filter tab atop the workspace and select the Convert for Smart Filters option from the dropdown menu that appears. Then click on Filters again, choose Other and Select High Pass from the choices.

Now you’ll see a window with a slider that lets you proceed (by default, the slider is set to a value of 0). The trick is to slowly move the slider to the right until edges begin to appear, then simply hit OK. As you’ll see, a value of 2.6 seems to work best for the demonstration photo at hand.

Don’t be confused when you see nothing but gray, because now Photoshop’s Blend modes cone into play. The instructor explains why he selects the Linear Light blending mode for this particular task. Essentially, Linear Light is a Dodge or Burn that increases or decreases the brightness in a photo. Thus, “if your light source is more than 50% gray, Linear Light mode increases the brightness.”

Conversely, “if your colors are less than 50% gray, brightness will be decreased.” All this makes a bit more sense while watching the video because you’ll see examples a of how these simple adjustments affect the sharpness and visible details in the image. Paying attention to the subject’s hair and eyelashes makes it easier to evaluate the effects.

The key to this transformation is that the image is significantly improved but doesn’t look overdone. The same procedure is applied to a second portrait photo, this one in b&w, just to reinforce how this technique works.

There’s much more of interest on the LAYRS instructional YouTube channel, so be sure to pay a visit and explore what’s available. We also suggest watching the tutorial we posted recently from a post-processing expert who demonstrates how to use Lightroom’s simple Dehaze slider to find and eliminate dust spots in your photographs.