Field guide
Retouching a headshot without changing the person
A professional headshot needs consistency more than perfection. Temporary distractions can be reduced while permanent features and facial geometry remain recognisably the subject's.
01
Begin with global exposure and white balance, then remove only isolated temporary blemishes. Broad smoothing first makes every later judgement harder.
02
Keep pore texture visible at one-to-one scale. If cheeks become a uniform colour field, the edit has replaced skin rather than retouched it.
03
Whiten teeth and brighten eyes with constrained local strokes and modest strength. Neutral white pasted into either area ignores natural shadow and looks artificial.
04
Compare at normal display size and flip back to the untouched frame regularly. Slow cumulative changes are easier to notice in a before-and-after switch than while painting.