Retouching Academy My Library

Professional Beauty Retouching Course

Intermediate to advanced · go-pro level

This course is a hands-on guide for photographers and retouchers interested in learning beauty retouching at a professional level.

Created by Julia Kuzmenko McKim (professional beauty photographer and retoucher, Los Angeles) and Sarah Tucker (professional beauty retoucher with a decade of experience as an in-house senior retoucher, London). Every lesson distills decades of combined industry experience into the refined retouching methods we use in commercial work.

 

Who is this course for?

Photographers and retouchers who are already familiar with Adobe Photoshop and basic retouching, and are interested in mastering professional retouching for beauty, fashion, and portrait photography.

It is especially valuable for freelancers interested in working with top brands and creative agencies in beauty, wellness, fashion, and other industries.

We cover the essential areas of expertise expected from a retouching professional, including file handling, proper PSD file structure, business etiquette, and more, as well as the techniques and methods commonly used in a professional environment.

 

🌟 Check out our students' Testimonials!

 

Once internalized through deliberate practice, these skills open a range of paths:

  • offering retouching services to commercial clients;
  • pursuing senior in-house retouching roles;
  • or managing post-production workflows and interfacing with photography and retouching vendors on behalf of commercial clients.

Bonus: Downloadable custom actions, brushes, and practice images are included.

 

▶︎ This course is included in the All-in-One Beauty Retouch bundle: 4 courses, over 21 hours of video lessons, individual courses at $569, bundle price - $287.

 

 

📲 Continue learning anywhere via the Kajabi app on mobile devices.

By purchasing our products, you agree to our Terms & Conditions.

Pro Beauty Retouching

  1. Introduction & Downloads

    4 lessons
    1. Welcome to the Course
    2. Additional Materials & Downloads
    3. [Download] ▶︎ Brand Work Guide & Vocabulary
    4. Legal Notice

  2. Module 1: Starting Out & Organization

    7 lessons
    1. Professional Retouching: Clients & Mindset
    2. The Industry Metamorphosis & How We Can Respond
    3. Scaling Up Your Retouching Business
    4. Starting Out as a Retouching Professional (13:53)
    5. Handling Work Files (11:36)
    6. Processing Raw Files (6:59)
    7. Structuring Your Files Like a Pro (10:18)

  3. Module 2: Mastering Curves and Dodge & Burn

    3 lessons
    1. Mastering Curves (13:14)
    2. Mastering Dodge Burn - Part 1 (13:04)
    3. Mastering Dodge Burn - Part 2 (15:58)

  4. ✍️ Full Retouch: Natural Beauty Retouch for Female Portraits

    2 lessons
    1. Natural Beauty Retouch for Female Portrait - Part 1 (12:22)
    2. Natural Beauty Retouch for Female Portrait - Part 2 (24:13)

  5. Module 3: Professional Selections & Masking

    4 lessons
    1. Professional Selections & Masking methods (22:02)
    2. Advanced Masking methods (11:55)
    3. Luminosity Selection & Masking (8:19)
    4. Precise Masking with Select & Mask (10:21)

  6. Module 4: Working With Colors

    3 lessons
    1. Color Theory & Management In Practice (14:30)
    2. Recoloring Methods (7:25)
    3. Backgrounds and Banding (05:18)

  7. Module 5: Frequency Separation & More

    3 lessons
    1. Frequency Separation for pro use (11:04)
    2. Drawing in Hair, Lashes & Brows (19:53)
    3. Working with Smart Objects (9:23)

  8. ✍️ Full Retouch: Natural Beauty Retouching for Studio Beauty

    4 lessons
    1. Natural Beauty Retouch for Studio Beauty - Part 1 (17:21)
    2. Natural Beauty Retouch for Studio Beauty - Part 2 (9:18)
    3. Natural Beauty Retouch for Studio Beauty - Part 3 (14:47)
    4. Natural Beauty Retouch for Studio Beauty - Part 4 (17:58)

  9. 🧨 NEW! Your Retouching Business

    1 lesson
    1. Scaling Beyond Solo: Building a Thriving Retouching Business

  10. What's Next?

    4 lessons
    1. Code Of Ethics & Professional Practice
    2. Professional Development
    3. ♥️ Please Share Your Thoughts!
    4. ▶︎ Make 25-30% commission as an RA Affiliate

What you will find inside:

Theory & Practice

Over 5 hours of video lessons. 

We’ve distilled the most impactful information so that you can learn and apply your new retouching skills as efficiently as possible.

Practice Files

Beauty images, shot by the authors.

Each module includes practice beauty and other images, as well as bonus materials to help you quickly internalize what you are learning.

Real-World Pro Approach

Our custom Actions & Brushes.

A professional workflow perfected through a decade of commercial work by Julia Kuzmenko McKim and Michael Woloszynowicz.

Here's what our students are saying:

Ethan

Freelance Retoucher

“I bought all the courses from Retouching Academy, and they never disappointed me! I learned so much and improved my retouching skills from these courses over the last 2 years, and now I have my own clients, and I also work with some well-known brands such as ELLE, Gucci, LV, L'Officiel, etc. "

Valentina Duran

Freelance Retoucher

“Thanks to RA courses and RA panels, I was able to take my retouching skills to a new level and understand how to make it a business that prospers. I learned new approaches to the techniques that I already knew, and my workflow became much faster and leaner."

Margarita Ptitsyna

Freelance Retoucher

“Retouching Academy courses are really the best! They teach you the professional way of retouching: how to make your pictures look perfect, but still natural; how to speed up your workflow and how to organize your PSD files so you will always be able to make any corrections at any stage of your retouching process."

More Testimonials