Photo Retouching How To - Part 1

At FixUpPix.com, we retouch a lot of photos each day. Many of our jobs are minor corrections; fixing red eye, reducing acne, taking out your weird cousin Billy Bob from your sister's wedding photo, etc. Some of our jobs are more difficult, though. We specialize in photo restoration so we're able to reconstruct that old photo that was ripped in half. We can also reduce or eliminate mold, stains, and sun damage from your old family photos.

Our clients are amazed at the process so we often hear "Wow, how did you do it?" Rather than answer each customer individually with the specifics of their photo, we decided to put together a series of tutorials that will give insight into the professional process of photo retouching and photo restoration. If you have a copy of Photoshop, you're invited to follow along and apply the same techniques to you photos. The same stuff can be done in the Gimp or Paint Shop Pro. Remember, if you still need help with your photos, you can always send your photos to us.

Removing wrinkles and age spots

It seems as though everyone tends to be a little self conscious when their photo is taken. "My hair wasn't quite right" or "Let me turn so that you see my better side." We've all heard (or said) similar remarks. One of the common repairs that we do at FixUpPix.com is minimizing or removing wrinkles and age spots. Follow along below to see how this is accomplished in just a few easy steps.

Step 1 - Determine what NEEDS to be fixed

Whoa Tex! Holsdter that rifle, er, I meant clone tool. That's one powerful weapon you're gonna want to practice with before you go taking out someone's eye. When the clone tool is over-used on a photo it becomes glaringly obvious. The solution is to plan and be deliberate in your clicking.

Step 2 - Selecting your tool

For this type of photo repair, you will want to use a combination of the Clone Stamp Tool and the Spot Healing Brush Tool. The Healing Brush Tool is excellent for removing wrinkles and age spots and blending areas together, but becomes problematic when used on areas that have high-contrast, i.e. a light area of skin next to very dark hair. To combat this problem, you’ll want to use the Clone Stamp Tool. Begin by selecting the stamping source area. To do this, select the Clone Stamp Tool. Next hold down the Alt key and click on a neutral area of skin. Release the Alt key and begin cloning away the problem areas in the photo. Make sure that you resample source material often so patterns don’t become evident in your work.

Step 3 - Fix!

Now you’re ready to begin. Start by using the Healing Brush Tool. Make sure your brush size is large enough for the area that you’re working on. Ideally, you only want to click once or twice to make a repair. If you use a small brush, clicking repeatedly, your photo will look patchy when you’re through. Change your brush with the left and right bracket keys [ and ] (located to the right of the “p” key).

Click on the problem area to replace the content with the source that you selected in step 2. If you are working against a dark edge and you begin to see the darker colors in your stamping, you may want to switch to the Clone Stamp Tool. Experiment with setting the opacity less than 100% to achieve a natural look.

Step 4 - Celebrate! You're done!

That wasn’t too bad, huh? As with anything, practice makes perfect. Make sure to save your original files just in case you aren’t happy with your results and remember to be patient- don’t expect to get it perfect your first time. Below, you can see the before and after photo. Check back for Part 2 of this tutorial, where we will be showing you how to replace missing backgrounds.