Retouching...

I have always hated retouching, until this past week I have watched my intern edit many images and payed close attention to how she retouches. Whenever I cloned it was always harsh and obvious.

in this image I am going to remove acne and a few things on the background that bother me. (yes the wrinkles in his shirt bothers me too but Im going to reshoot later...)

I use the Clone tool... make sure to change the opacity... I use around 20-30 I would rather click on a particular area twice than a higher opacity looking a little funny. Keep the clone source point close to your clone tool to keep the color and textures blended.  With such a small opacity you can lighten up under eyes and blend bags or lines.