Photo Retouching
Post-processing work on photographs to improve their appearance by removing blemishes, adjusting colors, and eliminating unwanted elements.
Photo retouching encompasses all post-capture editing aimed at improving a photograph's visual quality. Common tasks include removing skin blemishes, eliminating distracting objects like power lines or passersby, fine-tuning color balance, and reducing under-eye shadows.
Essential retouching tools include the clone stamp (copying nearby texture over unwanted areas), healing brush (automatically blending corrections with surroundings), and dodge/burn (selectively lightening or darkening areas). Professional retouchers combine these tools to achieve natural-looking results.
For basic retouching, the background removal tool can eliminate distracting backgrounds, while brightness adjustments can improve overall tone with minimal effort. The key principle is restraint: subtle corrections that preserve the photograph's natural character always produce better results than heavy-handed editing.