If you look at a lot of children’s portraiture, you’ll probably notice a popular look that is the signature of quite a few photographers, namely natural light, shallow depth of field,  and an airy, soft, and vibrant retouch. This awesome and comprehensive tutorial will show you how to replicate that look in your own work.

Coming to you from Unmesh Dinda of PiXimperfect, this video will show you how to retouch a children’s portrait from start to finish to achieve the popular soft and vibrant look. The first thing to note is that these images are typically shot with a longer lens at a very wide aperture (the 200mm f/2.0 is a surprisingly popular choice), and while you don’t need to go to those extremes, having an 85mm or 135mm lens with a wide maximum aperture will help a lot in getting the right initial photo to head to the editing stage with. Beyond that, it’s a great tutorial to try out, as you’ll exercise a ton of essential fundamental Photoshop retouching skills, including dodging and burning, skin retouching, color fills, and much more. So, grab your kid, find a nice field, and make it a weekend project!