How to Retouch a Portrait

[@chuckdavis3944]

I've watched you evolve for years and your teachings have inspired me. The story behind Navajo: Portrait of a Nation should be required reading. Strobing a Saguaro, Priceless when you find the right one, the light is perfect, the background and sky are complimentary, and all your equipment gets out of the way. To quote you "its not easy!" Make it a great day Joel

[@joelgrimes]

Wow, Chuck! Thank you so much for the kind words. It means the world to me!

[@tommynikon2283]

Since the 80's....I've been a Grimes disciple. BETTER than ever.

[@brianbrockhoff]

Nice simple edit. I agree that less is much more sometimes. Great work and wonderful shot!

[@joelgrimes]

Thanks, Brian!!

[@alibanava]

Excellent work as usual, Joel! I have been using your technique for a while now and I am very grateful. Thank you!

[@joelgrimes]

Awesome stuff Ali! I’d love to see your work!

[@joelgrimes]

Thanks Ali

[@keithaguilar9790]

Great Video: Useful information on a side note , we have met a couple of times at the Adobe Max conference and I always appreciate you taking the time to talk and give pointers. Keith D. Aguilar

[@nozomu4561]

Hello Joel, thank you so much for sharing your experience with us. You are amazing and a real inspiration. Wishing you the best.

[@joelgrimes]

Thank you so much!

[@johnleighdesigns]

Its really cool you shared your approaches - over the years Ive picked up many and it was great to go back to something more simple and for a dude

[@joelgrimes]

Thanks a lot John!

[@LeonKolenda]

Joel, I purchased your Still-Life Masterclass, What a game changer for me! I have created 10 images, with the Cross Light technique, Wow! I also got your Masterclass, have not started that, as I keep replaying the still life class, Lol. Great stuff!

[@joelgrimes]

That’s amazing Leon!! I had a great time getting the Still Life course ready. Really happy to hear you’re enjoying it!

[@joelgrimes]

So glad to hear!

[@lagazettedesfrancais8155]

Welcome back

[@joelgrimes]

Thanks!!

[@nigelroberson8911]

Great tutorial. The human face is such a delicate place for retouching and knowing when to stop is so important. I would want to make the door frame vertical. Maybe thats a shooting thing and not for pp.

[@joelgrimes]

Nice! Thanks for the feedback

[@anoopchaudhary8732]

Really love the way the portrait was retouched and found why 45mp sensor is good, we can zoom in really close to edit the skin so it blends well and looks perfect. I am.lacking this kind of zooming flexibility with my canon eos r6.

[@joelgrimes]

Totally agree!

[@stephanierez8333]

Great tutorial!!! Thank you for sharing ❤️

[@joelgrimes]

Thanks stephanie

[@nelsono4315]

another very educational video. Thanks!

[@joelgrimes]

Thanks, Nelson!!

[@mattorrz759]

Thanks Joel! You are a legend 👍

[@joelgrimes]

No, thank you for watching Matthew!

[@lazvaldes2857]

have you looked at Davinci Resolve for color adj and color grading? It's designed for video but you can drop TIFF files into it and the color page has no equal when it comes to adjustments (has an HDR set of controls)

[@omarcabezasparedes]

Que genialidad. Es todo un experto.

[@conservovirtus5796]

May I ask what flash you recommend, that would be good enough for both indoor, and outdoor shooting?

[@oluobasanu4299]

Sir what was your settings bringing it to Photoshop Adobe sRGB 16bits?

[@kurtozan251]

Good stuff Joel

[@joelgrimes]

Thanks, Kurt!

[@joennick1]

Just to clarify your dodge and burn....you are burning the highlights and dodging the shadows?? Thanks.

[@Issetys]

Hi Joel! It's great, thank you very much. I have a question for the degraded tool. Does it work for me only on a flat layer or on the original, but not on a level layer ?! How do you do? I must have missed something!

[@joelgrimes]

I’m bot sure I understand the question, sorry 😬😬

[@olehkobyleckyj8418]

So I'm new to lightroom and trying to learn it....and now I see this....why is everyone using both when it seems you can do most on one or the other.....what am I missing here....

[@joelgrimes]

It’s a common question Oleg, and really it comes down to workflow. When it comes to retouching, Photoshop has always been my go to. Working with multiple layers and blending modes is a must for me. Whatever works for you, helps you work quickly, and stay inspired when your editing is all that matters! Then you can spend more time shooting! 📸

[@d4zzlinghana]

Hi Joel I am your big fan from Thailand I just purchased the one light master class on Facebook but I don’t receive any email to access the lesson Could you please help me? I not sure that I wrote the wrong Email or not 😢😢😢

[@joelgrimes]

Sorry to hear that. Email my support team at [e-mail] and they’ll look after you!

[@nikolozchogovadze]

Awesome! Love your style for years, got inspired from your work!

[@joelgrimes]

That’s amazing Nikoloz! Keep up the good work!

[@nikolozchogovadze]

@@joelgrimes will do! Thank you for the reply, now I feel more motivated!😆

[@nicolaaloisio2474]

Started out good, but lost me at the "bodge and burn" section. Moving too fast and too much flipping through layers and masks and not explaining.

[@joelgrimes]

thanks for the feedback!

[@kevinjack5184]

I just don't understand the whole "make people look different than they do". I could see taking a pimple out, or something that would be gone in a few days anyways.

[@joelgrimes]

My purpose is to teach techniques, not tell you what needs to be taken away or added. Sometimes I do edits that are pretty harsh with the goal of teaching the most technically. What you do with that info is up to you as the artist! Enjoy!

[@carlosenriquez2092]

OK so I'm seriously mildly intoxicated/drunk but isn't the model and the guy smelling me a photohop training curse dammit now icant find the add

[@unexist2006]

I did it to the 14 minute mark but couldn't go any further. Sorry, as you removed the scar off his face I had to stop. I was once told that when a photographer is removing scars or anything else that's still in the face after two weeks (mostly anything but pimpels), one should immediately stop working with him. These scars / freckels / moles make the person individual and tell a story. Sorry, this is a no-go.

[@joelgrimes]

Thanks for the feedback Rosa. The purpose is to teach, not to tell you how to transmit your artistic vision or the ethics of retouching

[@pgwarth]

This video is not a tutorial about how to retouch a portrait but simply watching someone quickly touch up their photo with no instruction as to why, where and how you can use the dodge and burn tool. Also it's not much help unless you are already very proficient in PS. Disappointing. I expected more from Joel Grimes Photography.

[@joelgrimes]

Hey Phil! I’ll try and do some more deep dive videos if that’s what’s wanted. Thanks for watching, and thanks for the feedback!

[@JoseGabriel-dd2up]

If you want why, where, and how, go ahead and buy his tutorials where you can find what you are demanding here in a free to watch channel. If for some reason you don't want to buy his tutorials, keep clicking and searching on KZbin, but remember that you are not paying for anything here, so don't be too hard on others if you don't like what they posted..

[@ranfuchs3592]

This is excellent tutorial thank you. One question, how do you work on dodge and burn on an empty layer. I manage to do it only on the actual layer. thank you

[@joelgrimes]

Thanks ran! If you add a layer of 50% gray above, in Overlay you should be able to use the dodge and burn tools just like this. Let me know how you get on!

[@ranfuchs3592]

@@joelgrimes that worked perfectly. Thank you

[@simonlacon]

Amazing tutorial Joel! I really enjoyed this one.

[@joelgrimes]

Thanks, Simon!

[@KWArtist]

Hey Joel. Been a fan and follower of yours for as long as youve been around. Curious though, on your retouching, healing brush, do you normally keep on Normal mode or do you at all use Lighten Darken modes. I find on skin, not all, that as you know im sure it heals only the needed pixels for each click. In many cases it might not matter but I just after many years of doing that its become a habit regardless. And thank you again for raising my image game so many years ago.

[@rolandrick]

Please post also the link to the shooting in the description, thanks!

[@Mr.HarryPotter]

I need to skip your KZbin ad which appears on almost 40% of photography channels. I said why does Joel makes ads when himself posts a video only a few times a year? Please post at least 3 times a month.

[@joelgrimes]

I’ll try and post more regularly. I love making these videos for you guys!