Editing Newborn Skin

Oh, those flakes!

Every baby has little bits of flaky skin, sometimes even for months after birth. but most especially in the first few weeks. Seriously, every baby. We, as humans (and more so if you’re a mom or dad) just look at the overall face, for the most part. We don’t even really notice most of the flakiness, because our eyes and brains just don’t analyze the minutia, at that zoomed in level. However, when it comes to photography, specifically editing photos, everything is obvious. That’s because, while editing, we typically zoom in to 200-300% size, so we can see everything we need to edit. That means every crease, every wrinkle, every pore, every hair and, yes, every flake of skin will show.

The fix.

Once we see the “problem”, it’s time to dig right in. With the powerful editing tools on the market today, it’s easy to address everything like never before. Back in the day, we called it “air brushing”. Regardless, editing skin of any age is a step-by-step process, involving many tools and many layers. In my own editing style, I like to address lumps, bumps, wrinkles, flakes, scratches and all those surface issues first. Then, once the skin is pretty smooth and uniform in appearance, I can move on to the other steps.

For the long haul.

Once we get that done, which often takes 30-45 minutes, then it’s time to move on to adjusting eyes, skin tones and discolorations, and then all the rest of the edits. For this blog, though, I just wanted to concentrate on the skin on the face of a newborn. That way you can see a little behind-the-scenes peek into the journey to the final image.

See video HERE