Portrait Photography Mistakes: Common Fails To Avoid
November 22
15 min. to read
Taking a portrait photo is just one part of portrait photography, and although it’s an essential step, the process doesn’t end there. Retouching is the next phase, and it plays a crucial role in elevating the portrait to a professional standard. Even with perfect lighting, a well-planned outfit, and flawless hair and makeup, poor retouching can quickly undermine all of your hard work.
Sitting down at the computer and making mistakes during post-processing can undo the quality of your shoot. To help you avoid these pitfalls, we’ll walk you through some of the most common retouching mistakes and how to steer clear of them. By mastering these, you’ll ensure that clients are satisfied with your work, reducing the likelihood of revision requests. This leaves you free to move on to your next project and focus on what you do best: capturing beautiful portraits.
Why Retouching is Important
Retouching is not just about removing blemishes, it plays a vital role in enhancing your work and meeting industry standards, reinforcing your professionalism as a photographer. Let’s explore why the retouching phase is essential.
Enhancing Natural Beauty
Retouching isn’t about altering someone’s appearance; it’s about enhancing what’s already there. Subtle skin smoothing, colour corrections, and accentuating key facial features help the model look their best while still appearing authentic.
Correcting Technical Imperfections
Even with the most attentive eye, some imperfections slip through during a shoot. Stray hairs, wrinkles in clothing, or distracting elements in the background are often noticed only during editing. Retouching ensures these distractions are removed, resulting in a polished final image.
Meeting Client Expectations
Delivering work that meets client expectations from the outset is crucial. High-quality retouching aligns your photos with industry standards, reducing the need for revisions or, worse, reshoots. Satisfied clients are more likely to return and recommend your services.
Establishing a Signature Look
While retouching may seem like a routine part of photography, it offers opportunities to develop a unique style. The way you smooth skin, adjust colours, or highlight certain features can become part of your signature look. Over time, your creative approach can attract clients seeking your specific style, helping you stand out and command higher fees.
Balancing Realism and Artistry
Effective retouching balances creativity with naturalism. Even if heavy retouching is part of your signature style, it should still make sense within the context of the image. Be mindful that overly artificial edits can detract from the final result, so approach your process thoughtfully.
Retouching allows photographers to complete their creative vision, refining both the subject's natural beauty and the overall composition. It also helps catch and correct unnoticed imperfections, ensuring the final image meets professional standards. Ultimately, retouching minimises the chance of reshoots by delivering high-quality results that satisfy clients.
Now that we've discussed the importance of retouching, let’s explore the most common mistakes photographers make during the process. After reviewing these bad portrait photography examples, we'll offer solutions to help you avoid the pitfalls.
7 Common Mistakes in Portrait Retouching
When you sit down to edit portrait photos, make sure it gets the care and attention it deserves. Avoid these common mistakes to prevent client revisions and ensure your images stand out.
1. Over-smoothing the Skin
The mistake:
It’s easy to go overboard with wrinkles remover, resulting in unnatural, plastic-like skin that loses important textures and realism.
How to avoid it:
Make subtle adjustments and maintain natural textures like pores for a realistic look.
Use selective edits with brushes rather than global adjustments to target only areas that need smoothing while keeping the skin’s integrity intact.
2. Ignoring Skin Tone Consistency
The mistake:
Inconsistent use of dodge, burn, or colour correction tools can result in uneven skin tones, creating unnatural patches across the face and body.
How to avoid it:
Pay close attention to tone consistency, especially between the forehead, cheeks, and neck, ensuring they match seamlessly.
Use masks when applying colour corrections to affect tones in a natural, balanced way.
3. Over-whitening the Eyes and Teeth
The mistake:
Brightening eyes and teeth can attract attention, but overdoing it makes the subject look artificial and unrealistic.
How to avoid it:
Focus on reducing discolouration rather than excessively brightening.
Apply adjustments subtly, step away from the photo, and revisit it. If the eyes or teeth dominate the image, tone down the changes for a more balanced result.
4. Neglecting Hair Retouching
The mistake:
Focusing too much on skin retouching can lead to neglecting stray hairs, which lowers the overall quality of the image.
How to avoid it:
Use brush tools to carefully remove stray hairs, particularly those around the face.
Ensure the hair retains a natural look without appearing overly manipulated.
5. Over-applying Colour Grading
The mistake:
Colour grading is an excellent way to establish a signature style, but going too far can create unnatural tones that distract from the subject.
How to avoid it:
Opt for subtle colour grades that complement the subject and enhance the image’s mood.
Study colour theory. Some colours naturally draw more attention than others, so if dominant colours are applied outside the subject, they could shift the viewer’s focus away from the model.
6. Inconsistent Edits Across a Project
The mistake:
Inconsistent editing across multiple images in a project can confuse clients and lead to revision requests, as they may prefer certain portrait photography styles over others.
How to avoid it:
Use presets and templates to maintain consistency across edits and streamline your workflow.
Display previous edits on your screen while working to ensure you remain on the right track with your adjustments.
7. Losing Focus on the Subject
The mistake:
This doesn’t refer to the model being out of focus but rather that excessive editing can shift attention away from the subject, diminishing the portrait's impact.
How to avoid it:
Ensure that your edits enhance the subject rather than overshadow them.
Avoid heavy retouching or excessive colour grading that could result in unnatural appearances.
Prioritise the subject’s natural expression and features, ensuring they remain the focal point of the image.
These mistakes are common when first starting out with portrait retouching, but over time, photographers learn to balance their edits and deliver a polished, natural look. By refining your technique, you can develop your own artistic style while maintaining professionalism. This approach ensures clients are satisfied with your work, reducing the need for revisions or reshoots. Ultimately, retouching should always enhance the subject, not distract from them, allowing their natural beauty to shine through.
Finding the Right Balance: Retouching with Authenticity
One of the greatest challenges photographers face during the retouching phase is balancing their artistic style with the authenticity of the subject. While it’s natural to want to leave your signature touch on the image, going too far can compromise its integrity. Use the following tips to maintain authenticity while still enhancing your portrait:
Tip#1: Retouch Without Altering Identity
Photographers need to tread carefully to avoid over-editing their subjects to the point of making them unrecognisable. While removing blemishes and using a skinny face filter is standard practice, the goal should be to retain the subject’s core identity. The retouching process should enhance their natural beauty without altering key characteristics.
Tip#2: Discuss Expectations with Clients
Clear communication with clients can help prevent revisions or even reshoots. While photographers often discuss the shoot at length, it’s equally important to talk about the retouching process and final product. Ask questions like:
How much retouching would you prefer?
Do you have any preferences for stylistic changes?
Are there edits you would specifically like to avoid?
By setting clear expectations, both you and your client can align on the final result. Sharing examples of your previous work can help clients visualise the edits and build trust in your process, especially if they are unfamiliar with the intricacies of retouching.
Tip#3: Know When to Stop
It’s easy to get caught in the endless cycle of tweaks and adjustments, just a little more…, maybe I’ll try this tool, and so on. However, over-editing can diminish the impact of your image. Remember, less is more. Subtle adjustments are often more powerful than overly elaborate edits that can distract from the subject.
Tip#4: Take Breaks to Maintain Quality
One of the most effective ways to improve your retouching process is to take breaks. After completing your initial edits, step away from the project for a while, even until the next day. When you revisit your work with fresh eyes, you’ll likely notice things you missed before, such as details you love or potential mistakes that need correcting. Working continuously for too long can lead to tunnel vision, where the quality of your work begins to slip.
Taking short breaks during your editing process, followed by a longer pause between finishing the work and making your final revisions, will help you catch mistakes and maintain a high level of quality.
The Bottom Line
The photoshoot is just one part of your portrait project. It’s essential to begin with a clear discussion with your client, not just about the shoot itself, but also about the retouching process. Many clients may not fully understand what goes into this phase, so setting expectations early can help you avoid revisions. Share examples of your previous work, explain the techniques you used, and clarify the kinds of adjustments they can expect for their project.
Throughout the editing process, avoid getting carried away with excessive adjustments. With an overwhelming number of tools available today, it’s easy to lose sight of subtlety. Instead, remember that less is more. Focus on enhancing rather than distracting, your edits should draw attention to your subject without overpowering them. Maintain the natural essence of your model, ensuring that colour grading complements rather than competes with their presence.
Don’t shy away from experimenting with your editing techniques, as this is where you can discover a unique style that attracts higher-paying clients and sets you apart in the field of portrait photography. Mistakes are part of the journey, but learning from them and applying those lessons thoughtfully will ensure you avoid them when it matters most.
