10 Image Retouching Tricks All Experts Recommend

Photo retouching is one of the essential skills you need to master to make your photo editing perfect and get the touch of a professional. You may think that retouching is difficult to master and get a good result, but with some techniques, the journey can become much easier. Here are the top 10 photo retouching tricks for you that can give you the accuracy of an expert.

1. Open the image you’re working on in two windows. It can be on the same application or different ones. Keep both Images open side-by-side so that you can check the before and after effects whenever you feel confused.
2. Keep the horizon straight. If the horizon of your landscape is tilted or not aligned, it can make the image less beautiful as it does not create any synchronization in your eyes. So, the horizon line should be parallel to your frame. If there is no artistic value or specific reason for tilting the horizon line, then keep it as straight as possible.
3. Make the maximum utilization of cropping. You can use the ‘crop image’ option to determine where your subject should be and extract a smaller frame from the whole image.
4. Color correction is another crucial factor. You can use curves and levels to apply the appropriate color for highlighting your image features. You can adjust your image’s saturation, brightness, and sharpness from the curve.
5. Noise reduction can make your image more highlighting and brighter with just a few clicks. The ‘reduce noise’ option from ‘filters’ will help to remove unnecessary grains from your image.
6. You can use the healing brush tool for spot removal to make the image smoother. Choose the healing brush tool and click on the spot. The spot will disappear, and the area will be filled with the surrounding color.
7. Removing unwanted objects and distractions is also a massive part of photo retouching. You can eliminate any distraction from your frame using the patch tool. You can also use the clone stamp tool to copy a particular area and paste it on the object you want to remove.
8. When you are capturing an image in a dark area, it is common to have red eyes, making the image quite scary. With the red-eye tool, you can eliminate this problem with just one click. Select the tool and click on the eye color that you want to fix after adjusting the brush size.
9. If you want to make any specific area lighter or brighter, you can use the dodge tool. That area will get a little brighter wherever you click after selecting the dodge tool. By clicking multiple times, you can create a stronger effect.
10. The burn tool works exactly the opposite of a dodge tool. If you want to create a darker shade or shadow, you can use the burn tool and create a more saturated color.

Conclusion

There are many more photo retouching techniques that you can learn by practicing. But these tips will help you to kick-start your retouching journey and progress faster.