The “Before” retouching image is on the left, the “After” retouching image is on the right.

Since I used my 8 Megapixle Canon XT camera to take this image, I had to reduce the image somewhat to fit on this web-page for you to see. It is still large enough to show what I was trying to show, so no harm / no foul. The original image was much larger than this though, and as a rule, the bigger the better when doing any kind of retouching! When you use your own image though, do not re-size it!

When shooting under the powerful studio lights, every flaw on your subject’s skin, (no matter how minor), will be starkly and clearly revealed. Enlarge the image area visible by using the slide bar on the top right hand to “zoom in” on the first part of your subject to be cleaned up.

Here I zoomed in on Dylan’s face and using the “Healing Brush Tool” on the top left of the tool bar, I carefully removed all the blemishes that became visible under the bright harsh lights. (This tool looks like a “band aid” on the icon.) I also used the Healing Brush Tool to get rid of the little hole in her pierced ear. I performed slight dental work by covering the slight gap in her tooth-line by using the “Clone Stamp Tool” by carefully cloning the tooth directly to the left. (The “Clone Stamp Tool” looks like a rubber stamp just below the “band aid” “Healing Brush Tool”.) I used the “Healing Brush Tool” to smooth out the harsh lines left by the tooth replacement. All of these tools can be resized as large or as small as you wish by using the “ [ “ and the “ ] “ (bracket keys) on your keyboard.

I then went to “Filter” tab at the very top of the program and choose the “Liquify” filter. This will take the entire image and load it into a separate page. Use the “Zoom Tool” at the lower left of the tool bar, (it looks like a magnifying glass), and zoom in on her ear. Choose the top tool called “Forward Warp Tool”, (it looks like a pointing finger) and using the left mouse button, click and hold the tool as you “push and warp” the ear into an appropriate Faery shape.

When you’re satisfied with the way your new Faery ear looks, click on the “OK” button at the top right of the page. This will take you back to the original image.