Each of them produces a distinct aesthetic and does wonders on skin tones. These presets blend and optimize light, tone, and color for different scenes and conditions. The wonderful thing is that it does not have to be as complicated as it sounds - all thanks to Lightroom presets that are specially designed for portraiture. I put this in to give an overall softening of shadows created with any kind of wrinkle or smile line.For instance, you need to consider a lot of factors whenever shooting or processing portraits.īe mindful of each attribute’s effect on facial features, expression, mood, and skin tone. If you make a mistake and go over any of the areas you want unaffected, just use the Alt key to turn the brush into an eraser and paint them away. Note that you can change the color of the Mask Overlay (Shift+O), but I just stick with green as it’s nice and easy to see. I take my brush over the entire face except for the eyes, eyebrows, and lips, so the face is fully Hulkified. Highlights +15 (to counteract the highlights being muddied by lowering clarity).This helps just to clear up pores and generally be forgiving of any blemishes. Okay, here are the adjustments I make (in this order too): #1 Soften Skin This is helpful just to clean up any minor mistakes you made while adding adjustments. Hold Alt to take away any mask you’ve put in (holding Alt while you use the paintbrush turns it into an eraser to paint away).Press Ctrl+Z (Windows) or Command+Z (Mac OS) to undo your adjustment history.(Shift+O will tile through the overlay colors: white, black, red, green). It also makes editing at a coffeeshop or plane pretty funny because whoever peeks over your shoulder thinks you’re turning all your subjects into the Incredible Hulk. This is helpful so you can see exactly what areas you’re affecting. Press O to hide or show a mask overlay of the Adjustment Brush tool effect, or use the Show Selected Mask Overlay option in the toolbar.This is helpful when the pin is in the way and you want it to disappear. Press H to hide or show the pin you’re using.These adjustments aren’t meant to turn anyone into an airbrushed masterpiece, just to give them a little nudge.īefore we dive in, let’s review some Local Adjustment Quick Keys to help you in the process. The best way to get some of these adjustments is to have the client get a great night’s rest and stay hydrated, but those are mostly out of our control. The local (in one area of the image only) adjustments I use are subtle. I’m happy with the way the White Balance is on this, but I’d like to take the exposure up slightly and take the overall highlights down slightly. I need to crop the reflector out of the frame for starters, apply a lens correction to get the side wall to line up. My first step is to adjust the Cropping, Exposure, and White Balance. Normally, I’d grab my 85mm for corporate work, but we were out of town and didn’t have our full complement of gear with us. You’ll notice I shot these with 50mm lens as well. I lit the subject with window light, an octabox, and a reflector. This particular company wanted to feature their employees in their native work environment, so the office became the background, which eliminated the need to bring a backdrop. Let’s start with the shot straight out of camera. Note: if you don’t yet have Lightroom check out this special deal Adobe currently have for dPS readers. I like to keep my post-processing efficient, effective, and easy, so I can get the photos off my desk and onto theirs as quickly as possible. Although soft light helps, our wonderfully designed cameras tend to be rather unforgiving of the under-slept.Īlthough most of my corporate headshot clients know that post-production doesn’t mean they’ll end up as Heidi Klum, they do appreciate just a smidge of help once the photos are loaded up.Ĭorporate touch-ups are about making the subject look as fresh as can be. Because we’re human, and that’s what happens. Dehydration, bags under the eyes, and coffee-stained teeth began to rear their ugly heads. After a week of deciding the future of their company, a lot of them looked a little, let’s say, less than fresh. All the head honchos were dead tired and this was the last thing on their to-do list. Take a booking I had recently, for example, it was scheduled on a Friday afternoon after a full week of the Annual Meeting. To begin, a lot of things on the day of the shoot will be out of your control. Although even lighting, and perfect exposure are your biggest allies when it comes to making people look their best in headshots, there are many small adjustments you can make in the editing process, that will make your shots (and your clients) look that much more professional.
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