Professional photographers are not the only ones who do or need photo retouching. In fact, any person may find the need to do a little photo retouching here and there at one point or another. If they want to add something to a photo or remove something from a photo or perhaps enhance the photo or tidy it up a bit and make it more pleasing to the eye, they can always do photo retouching. Yes, photo retouching is like putting magic on a photo. This article will discuss what photo retouching really is and will also share some tips and tricks on photo retouching or image manipulation that you can easily do even in the comfort of your own home.

So what is photo retouching? It is, quite simply, the process of altering images. This does not mean that photo retouching can only be done on digital photos, however. Photo retouching or image manipulation or image editing can also be done on traditional analog photographs, illustrations, vector images, raster graphics and other types of images. Traditional analog image retouching is also basically known as photo retouching. Here, you can employ tools such as airbrush tools in order to enhance photos. For digital photographs, you can use graphic software programs (e.g. Adobe Photoshop, Corel Draw, Paintbrush). These programs can allow you to transform the images, take some elements away from a photo or even add something new to a photo. These software programs can also allow you to manipulate an image and you can even actually create a whole new image from scratch using these computer programs.

If you’re wondering why a lot of people, and not just professional photographers, like doing photo retouching or consider it important, necessary or in demand, here are some simple reasons. First of all, you would not want to present a resume with an out of focus photo of yourself, right? What would your prospective employer say if he or she sees a super oily face, red eyes and really bad lighting on your photo? Do you think you’ll get hired if your background takes up much more space than needed? That would not exactly strike a good impression. Hence, photo retouching is in order. Using photo retouching methods, your hair can be “tidied up,” your face can be smoothened out and the tone of the photo can even be made better! Secondly, there are times when an already good photo needs a little bit of tweaking in order to make it spectacular and truly eye candy. This is especially useful for photos that will be used or submitted to photo contests. While basic and proper photography methods should be done in order to get a good photo, more often than not, the photo can even be better if photo retouching is done. Using software programs and tools such as Gaussian blur, exposures and adjustment layers and other methods can do the trick. Thirdly, there really are times when a “photo bomb” can occur. A photo bomb is where an unnecessary or unwanted thing or person gets included in the shot and it somehow ruins the mood or the look of the photo. Of course, you’d want to edit those undesired things out. You can do that using photo retouching methods. Yes, folks, we’re talking about crops and blurs.

Speaking of photo retouching methods, here are a few tips and tricks you can do to your photos right within the comfort of your own home. Of course, you’d need a good computer software program that will allow you to manipulate your digital images. For purposes of these simple tutorials, let’s use Adobe Photoshop.

For simple skin tone manipulation, click on New Adjustment Layer then Hue/Saturation. Click on the miniature mask. After that, press control (or command for Mac users) + I to invert the chosen mask. You can then use the white color and a soft brush to paint over the skin areas of your subject or subjects. If you want darker hues, switch to red. Pale hues call for yellows. Remember to not overdo the paint-overs!

Another trick has something to do with sunrises and sunsets. Have you witnessed a really nice sunset lately but the photo you took just did not capture the real beauty? Using your photo manipulation program, click on New Fill or Adjustment Layer then select Gradient Map. Click on gradient and choose gradient editor. Below that you can change the color to red. Set the color patch to yellow then click OK. You can then smoothen the photo out by choosing “soft light” and reducing the opacity to about 50 percent. The end result will be one very lovely sunset.

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