Retouching Portrait

[elsevier]

Hello!

I am so glad that I've discovered this wonderful community and want to start by saying hello and mentioning that I appreciate all the help you are giving here to the many users around the globe.

I am pretty much a beginner regarding photography and retouching, but I am eager to learn and want to better myself.

I have taken some photos outdoor, where there are shadows on the face, because of the sun. Is there a quick way to correct this?

Also: for the attached image? What would need to be done to get the most out of it? What would be the proper workflow. Even if the image is not good, what would one do, to get the very best results out of it?

Thank you for your time and help!

Regards,
Benjamin

[mistermonday]

Benjamin, welcome to RetouchPro. If you have Photoshop, the Image>Adjust>Shadows/Highlights command should be successful in greatly reducing the shadows. You can also open the image in Adobe Camera RAW and use the Fill slider.
To avoid the problem in the first place, always try to use fill flash when shooting people in high contrast lighting scenes.
Regards, Murray

[Cupcake]

I would do it like this.
Larger file if wanted.

[chillin]

Originally Posted by mistermonday

Benjamin, welcome to RetouchPro. ...
...
To avoid the problem in the first place, always try to use fill flash when shooting people in high contrast lighting scenes.
Regards, Murray

I could only add that if not, you would have to use some retouching techniques like frequency separation, curves adjustments, HSL adjustments and more.