Workflow

Retouch Faster, Shoot More: What Scott Kelby's Portrait System Taught Me About Working Smarter
Video Tutorials

Retouch Faster, Shoot More: What Scott Kelby's Portrait System Taught Me About Working Smarter

There’s a specific kind of dread that sets in when you’re staring at a folder of 400 wedding portraits at 11pm, knowing every single one needs skin work before the client preview tomorrow. I lived that dread for years before I finally made the shift from shooting to retouching full-time. What I wish someone had handed me back then was a system - not a collection of tricks, but an actual repeatable framework with a clock attached to it.

Lightroom's New Masking Tools Changed How I Edit - Here's My Full Walkthrough
Video Tutorials

Lightroom's New Masking Tools Changed How I Edit - Here's My Full Walkthrough

For years, my go-to move when a background needed serious work was to drag the file into Photoshop, do my thing, save a layered PSD, and then hop back to Lightroom to finish the rest of the edit. It worked, but it was slow, and honestly, it broke my creative flow at exactly the wrong moment. Somewhere between the export and the round-trip, I’d lose momentum. I’d close the file and tell myself I’d finish it later.

What Landscape Photographers Know About Light That We Should Steal for Beauty Work
Video Tutorials

What Landscape Photographers Know About Light That We Should Steal for Beauty Work

There is a particular kind of frustration I know well: you have a subject in front of you, the light is almost right, and you are burning through time waiting for the moment to either arrive or not. I felt that frustration constantly in my wedding days, and I still feel a version of it now when I am trying to coax a beauty edit into looking natural rather than constructed.

The One Lightroom Masking Mode Most People Never Switch On
Video Tutorials

The One Lightroom Masking Mode Most People Never Switch On

There’s a specific frustration I run into constantly when editing beauty and product work: the background needs its own treatment, completely separate from the subject. Sometimes it’s a seamless sweep that needs to pop. Sometimes it’s a reflective floor that should feel glossier, or a wall that’s pulling attention away from the face I’ve spent an hour perfecting. The subject selection tools in Lightroom are genuinely impressive now, but they’re built around the assumption that the subject is the thing you want to adjust.

Speed Retouching: Professional Results in Under 5 Minutes
Workflow

Speed Retouching: Professional Results in Under 5 Minutes

Not every portrait gets 90 minutes of retouching. Event photographers might deliver 200 images from a single shoot. Corporate headshot sessions might produce 30 portraits in an afternoon. You need a fast workflow that still looks professional. Here’s my 5-minute retouching process, broken into steps that I time myself on. Minute 1: Healing Pass Open the image and immediately create a new blank layer. Select the Healing Brush, set to “Sample All Layers,” and quickly remove:

Retouching Workflow: From RAW to Final Image
Techniques

Retouching Workflow: From RAW to Final Image

A consistent workflow isn’t just about efficiency — it’s about never forgetting a step and delivering consistent quality across every image. Here’s the exact workflow I use for every portrait retouching job, from opening the RAW file to exporting the final image. Phase 1: RAW Processing (Camera Raw / Lightroom) Before Photoshop even opens, I handle: White balance — get this right first, everything else depends on it Exposure and contrast — basic tonal corrections Highlight and shadow recovery — pull back blown highlights, open up shadows Lens corrections — profile corrections, chromatic aberration removal Noise reduction — if needed, especially for high-ISO images Basic crop — rough composition, I’ll fine-tune later I do NOT do color grading in RAW.