Glossy Beauty Highlight Control

Beauty retouching

A glossy beauty portrait framed by wet green leaves keeps its shine, with the blown highlights on the forehead and nose recovered and placed by hand.

Highlight control
Skin
Foliage

Service: Beauty Retouching

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Retouched portrait with the shine kept, highlight detail recovered on the forehead and nose, and the skin texture intact — Drag anywhere on the image, or focus the handle and use the arrow keys, to compare before and after.

Unedited glossy beauty portrait between wet green leaves, with blown highlights on the forehead and nose — Drag anywhere on the image, or focus the handle and use the arrow keys, to compare before and after.

Project overview

The gloss is the look, and removing the highlights would remove the picture. As shot, though, they blow out on the forehead and the bridge of the nose and take the detail with them.

Transformation details

The blown areas were recovered first, then relit by hand so the shine sits where it was intended rather than where the light happened to land.
Beneath the gloss, frequency separation evened the skin and kept the texture that makes the shine look like wet skin rather than plastic.
The deep green leaves were pushed away from the skin's warmth so the two do not share a hue.
Eye and lip detail was sharpened selectively at the end.