I need a short starter lesson on how to PP

I have Elements 6. I always want to fix close-ups of people. I recently took a photo of my 15 year old niece. I think she is very pretty and have wanted to take a nice shot of her. I took a picture of her at a recent birthday party. I'd like some pointers on how to doctor the picture just a little.

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I didn't mean to make the photo so small.

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Doctor it? How so? Please be more specific.

Good edit.

Haha, just do what everyone on deviant art does, add fake bokeh, and a few other random touch ups. Note: I'm not really serious about adding fake bokeh, also I did a really hasty job of adding it.

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I appreciate the efforts. I did mean, specifically, how do you fix the skin imperfections. Fixing the photographers issues is something I hadn't thought to ask. I have Elements, but I don't know how to smooth the skin as you folks did. I was hoping there were some general tips you could share. You both have shown examples of what I would love to be able to do.

Andrea, you mentioned the plethora of issues. If I can "fix" my photos to look that good, I'm OK with issues. I am learning all the time. One of the things I'm doing (not necessarily learning) is using the 580 ex speedlite. It has been my general opinion of myself that I struggle with indoor photography. I'm bouncing my flash off of the ceiling and adjusting my shutter speed and aperture until I think I have a good exposure. Sometimes based on the tint, I play with the white balance (change from awb to temp). So yes I know I have issues. I want to learn how to pp.

I linked the .PSD file, but now that you've mentioned you have Elements, I guess that doesn't help. Processing is VERY important, but it's never going to be as easy battle when the original image is plagued by things you can't fix in post processing. I'm not trying to discourage you, I was just making sure you knew why the image won't ever be perfect.

The best thing you can do for yourself is work mostly on making an image that makes you think spending 30 minutes in Photoshop is really worth the effort. Eliminating distracting background elements, getting interaction with your subjects, minimizing the flashy look if at all possible, filling the frame with your subject, getting correct exposure and white balance, etc. The processing on those kinds of images is a much easier place to start.

After you've processed great images for a while, fixing bad ones isn't such a daunting task.

I appreciate all the points you made. I didn't submit this picture because I was trying to showcase the composition or the way the girl was dressed, whether or not her grandmother was in the picture, the dishes were cleared or anything else. With the nifty 50 I could have leaned across the table and filled the frame better; I could have cropped the picture in about 5 seconds before posting up the picture. I just put that picture up here as an example of a very pretty girl that I am uneducated as to how to smooth her pimples. If I learned how to do that I might suggest to her I would like to take some shots of her. At that time I certainly would put more effort into composition and lighting. As it is that was a snap shot from across the table and behind the chair that my sister-in law was sitting in.

I really appreciate the time you put into the edits. I did click on your link. Elements opened and my photo came up in it's edited version. I saw the different layers that were listed to the right. I don't know that there is a way for me to figure out the steps you did. I apologize for my ignorance as it relates to photoshop anything. Since I bought my camera in February I used almost exclusively Digital Photo Professional. I always shoot Raw. I can generally "do a few random things" like Richard suggested above and make most of the pictures look pretty good.

I don't know how to smooth the skin. There is a good bit that I don't know; that is the one thing I thought I would try to tackle next.

I don't know Elements so excuse me if I misdirect you.
Start by doing the best you can with white balance.
Make a duplicate layer.
Next...use the cloning tool set on normal with an opacity of about 77%. Make sure the brush is as soft as possible. Clone out the pimples carefully by cloning areas near them and applying these areas over the pimple. I hope you have a cloning tool!
Make another layer.
Now selectively blur the areas of the face that look blotchy. Experiment with the blurring tool to see what looks best to you. Avoid the eyes, lips, hair and jewelry.
I would use more sophisticated methods in photoshop but the above should help you.

Thanks, I'll give that a try.

I'll have to get started to figue out what it all means. But, that's a start.

poloman wrote in post #6860287
I don't know Elements so excuse me if I misdirect you.
Start by doing the best you can with white balance.
Make a duplicate layer.
Next...use the cloning tool set on normal with an opacity of about 77%. Make sure the brush is as soft as possible. Clone out the pimples carefully by cloning areas near them and applying these areas over the pimple. I hope you have a cloning tool!
Make another layer.
Now selectively blur the areas of the face that look blotchy. Experiment with the blurring tool to see what looks best to you. Avoid the eyes, lips, hair and jewelry.
I would use more sophisticated methods in photoshop but the above should help you.

dcsmith,

If 50 buck is manageable for you I would recommend a one-year subscription to www.photoshopelementsu​ser.com. That's how I learned to use Elements. They have a video library that shows you how to work all of the tools in Elements. There's lots on retouching. If that's not practical right now, PM me your mailing address and I will mail you my DVD copy of Photoshop Elements for Digital photographers. When you're done with it you can pass it along to someone else. It has a section on retouching. It's based on version 3 but the tools they work with still exist in newer versions and it will get you going.

Have you tried looking up video tutorials on skin smoothing on Youtube?

I haven't done that search on youtube. Good idea. Since Poloman gave me the pointers I have been playing around with another photo. It seemed easy at first. Then I found out I'm no good at it at all. I discovered the spot healing brush and found it more forgiving for me being that all I did is click on the blemishes. I literally didn't know where to start.

dcsmith40D wrote in post #6854562
I have Elements 6. I always want to fix close-ups of people. I recently took a photo of my 15 year old niece. I think she is very pretty and have wanted to take a nice shot of her. I took a picture of her at a recent birthday party. I'd like some pointers on how to doctor the picture just a little.

The key (or so I think) is to learn to envision what sorts of changes would make the image better. Then figure out the techniques to make those changes. If you start off thinking about tools and techniques, you'll lose sight of the result you're driving for.

In this case, here are some of the things I was aiming for:

• touching out skin blemishes (clone stamp in Elements)
  
• adjusting color and brightness (levels or curves)
  
• reducing saturation a little (hue/saturation)
  
• smooth creases in throat (clone stamp)
  
• brightening irises of the eyes (paint on a blank layer in soft light mode)
  
• enhance catchlights (paint with white on a blank layer)
  
• darken the bright background (curves adjustment layer)
  
• smooth skin (I used Imagenomic Portraiture)
  
• add a little blush to cheeks (photo filter)
  
• vignette to pull attention into the face (hue/sat adjustment layer)