Alright. Let’s face it. Everyone desires to put their best face forward and look good.  With the invention of Adobe Photoshop, looking good in print has never been so easy. But, finding the information on how to obtain those picture perfect looks can be a bit tricky.

One day, while feeling particularly resourceful, I scoured the web for sites discussing tips, techniques and brandishing how to articles about beauty retouching. Some of them sucked. Other hints, I’ve made a part of my beauty touch up regiment.

So, what are the top tips that I’ve learned for beauty retouching?

1. A Wacom tablet comes in extremely handy: Get one. I got mine on sale, drastically reduced on MacMall.com because WACOM was coming out with a newer model. I haven’t regretted my decision since. When I need to apply certain brush strokes or paint color into images – it’s been an amazing asset.
2. The Best Idea Ever (AKA: Why Lee Varis Is Amazing): Duplicating your main image, Applying Surface Blur, Applying a Layer Mask, and then Painting the modified layer back unto the original image via masking.  More information and a step by step tutorial is at Lee Varis’ website: http://www.varis.com/Navigation/Steps.html under Beauty Retouching and a free chapter of his awesome book, Skin, can be downloaded as a pdf, here: Chapter 6: Retouching.
3. When painting on make up and face coloring, don’t forget to dial down the opacity and use different layers for different aspects.
4. Experiment.  Just because it’s a photograph doesn’t mean that it has to stay true to form. Work with color pallets, use different types of brushes for various effects, and have fun. You can always create a new layer and paint back different steps of the process using the Art History brush if you don’t like it.

Sometimes, it's the subtle differences that make a photograph better. - click for larger view-

Kick Ass Beauty Retouching Resources:

1. 70 Beauty Retouching Photoshop Tutorials:
   A great overall list. The majority of the list is decent, with only a small amount of tips being over the top and hokey.
   http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/07/15/70-beauty-retouching-photoshop-tutorials/
2. Graphic Design Magazine – Marija Matijasec’s Beauty Retouching Steps:
   http://www.graphic-design.com/Photoshop/beauty_retouching.html
3. Beauty Retouching in Photoshop by Suzette Troche-Stapp:
   Has a great checklist for real life retouching.
   http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=101733
4. Lee Varis’ online tutorial workthroughs
   http://www.varis.com/Navigation/Steps.html

Working with Adobe Photoshop is incredibly fun. However, just be careful that your work doesn’t end up here:

1. Photoshop Disasters
   http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/
2. Photoshop Gone Bad – Designious Times
   http://www.designioustimes.com/designers-break/photoshop-gone-bad.html