Retouching images is an inevitable part with photoshoppers. In this tutorial I will show you some common techniques and take you through the entire process, simple to understand!
Step 1: Take a picture you want, a portrait may be the best. If you feel lazy, you can use the picture below:
Step 2: Duplicate your image (hit Ctrl-J) and go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Fill in 6.1 for the radius and hit OK. By blurring this layer, we can make her skin smoother and brighter
Step 3: Go to Image>Adjustments>Desaturate to turn this layer into a black-and-white image, this will greatly increase the contrast on the lady. Change the blending mode of this layer to Overlay. The Overlay mode just leaves bright and dark colors get through, so the colors are greatly enhanced.
Step 4: Hit Ctrl-Alt-Shift-E to create a new flatten layer, which is the result of all visible layers below. On this new layer, apply a gradient map on it
Set your settings as following:
Step 5: Once you finished, change the blending mode of this gradient map to Soft Light. Your photo now become brighter and "softer"
Step 6: If you see your photo a bit too bright then reduce the Opacity of this map to 50%
It looks better, doesn't it?
Step 7: We just have to make some subtle changes on her lips. Press Ctrl-Shift-Alt-E again to make another flatten layer. Create a new layer and go to Edit>Fill and fill it with 50% gray option. Change the blending mode to Overlay. As you see, this layer seems transparent because Overlay does not let gray get through. Why do we do it? Because we can retouch on this separate layer without destroying the original one!
Use the Burn tool to trace along her lips. As you see, they are now pinker. Remember you should work with a small, soft brush
Step 8: Repeat step 7 with her eyebrows. Reduce the Exposure parameter of the Burn tool to make it look realistic. You can see my result below:
(for the text, I just used Outer Glow)