I come from a background of film photography. though photo retouching has been around for a while, it used to be very expensive and not very practical if you're shooting 35 mm film. from years dabbling into painting I had learned about color theory. learning about photography lighting, consolidated that asset. when I started using photoshop as a graphic designer, the knowledge about color theory came in handy. some time around 2005 I realized that I needed to add makeup to my photography. but finding a good makeup artist who isn't a diva is the tricky part... I started showing real interest in photoshop touchup only about a year ago. but in the meantime, I had digested a few makeup books.
I'm proficient in all aspects of photo editing. I can do basic color correction to make skin tones more flesh-like, touch up to remove blemishes, remove objects that protrude on the main subject or remove the background. I do beauty retouching to smooth skin and even tone, remove wrinkles and smile lines and more advanced glamour retouching which goes beyond where the makeup artist leaves off by correcting some minor mistakes, adding eye shading, reshaping brows, whitening teeth etc...
