Portrait Editing

The Art of Making People Look Better Than They Actually Are
Retouching

The Art of Making People Look Better Than They Actually Are

Look, I’m going to level with you: photo manipulation has a bad reputation. People think it’s about creating fake reality and catfishing on dating apps. But honestly? Most of what we do is just helping people look like the best version of themselves. It’s like Spanx for photographs. I’ve been retouching portraits for years, and I’ve learned that the difference between “wow, that’s me?” and “why do I look like a plastic doll?

The Dark Art of Photo Manipulation: Making People Look Better Than They Have Any Right To
Photo Editing

The Dark Art of Photo Manipulation: Making People Look Better Than They Have Any Right To

The Dark Art of Photo Manipulation: Making People Look Better Than They Have Any Right To Look, I’m not going to pretend that photo manipulation is some noble pursuit. It’s basically digital lying. But it’s fun lying, and honestly, everyone’s doing it. Your Instagram influencer crush? Manipulated. That family photo where everyone actually looks happy? Manipulated. That picture of your breakfast that got 47 likes? Okay, probably not manipulated, but it should have been.

Stop Nuking Eye Color: A Better Way to Change Eyes in Photoshop
Video Tutorials

Stop Nuking Eye Color: A Better Way to Change Eyes in Photoshop

Look, I’ve seen a lot of eye color changes in my time, and most of them look like someone dumped a bucket of paint on a portrait. Flat. Lifeless. Like the person’s eyes got replaced by a couple of angry M&Ms. The problem? Everyone reaches for the Hue/Saturation slider and calls it a day. Sure, it changes the color. But it also obliterates all the subtle variations, the specular highlights, and the natural depth that makes eyes, well, eyes.