Master Your Beauty Photography & Retouching
Hi, I’m Julia Kuzmenko McKim, a beauty photographer, retoucher, and the founder of Retouching Academy. For over a decade, I’ve shot and retouched campaigns and e-commerce imagery for brands like Urban Decay, Hourglass Cosmetics, Pat McGrath Labs, Lululemon, and many others.
Everything I write here comes from my production and post-production experience: planning, shooting, working with creative teams, retouching, and delivery.
Photography & retouching by Julia Kuzmenko McKim using RA Panels
Notes from the desk, documenting my workflows and frameworks
Makeup & Creative Team8 Signs of Your Ideal Makeup Artist
The path to building a strong creative team with whom you would like to work and grow together can be [...]
Business & CareerHow To Become a Beauty Photographer: Realization, Education and Career Roadmap
The “waiting time” will be different for everyone depending on how much and how well you will be [...]
Shooting & TechniqueLatest
How to shoot Macro Beauty for Makeup and Skincare Photography: Preparation & Camera Settings
Macro beauty is a very unforgiving type of photography. Everything should be resolved before the shots are taken - any makeup issues are corrected, lash and brow hairs are inspected, lipstick outline is next to perfect. Flawless makeup application with minimal product on the skin is the best approach for this type of imagery. Foundation and/or powder melted by the warmth of the skin gathers in the pores and fine lines [...]
Last Updated: 28 JUN 23Selected commercial clients photographed and retouched by Julia Kuzmenko McKim: Hourglass Cosmetics, Tatcha, Morphe, Urban Decay, Neutrogena, Melt Cosmetics, GlamGlow, Fusion PKG, Morphe 2, Pat McGrath Labs, Lululemon Selfcare.
Photo & retouching by Julia Kuzmenko McKim
Brand Work Guide & Vocabulary
A free guide and vocabulary for photographers and retouchers interested in working with commercial clients.
Understand the language commercial clients use when working with creative professionals like you. The “client universe” section will help you see more real opportunities for commercial work in beauty and wellness that already exist everywhere around you.
We respect your privacy. Unsubscribe anytime.
Check Out My Other Projects
They say that if you find a job you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.
Professional Beauty Retouching Tools
Photoshop plugins developed and refined over a decade of commercial beauty and wellness work, and the day-to-day production at our Avenue visual production studio. These are the tools we use.
Beauty Retouch Panel
4.9 / 5▶︎ 16,700+ users worldwideThe Beauty Retouch panel is a Photoshop plugin for photographers and retouchers who work with beauty, fashion, and portrait images, for both editorial and commercial purposes. Designed for creative professionals who want a faster retouching workflow, improved consistency of skin and tonal work, and a decluttered workspace.
MUA Retouch Panel
4.9 / 5▶︎ 3,400+ users worldwideThe MUA Retouch panel is a Photoshop plugin created for campaign-level makeup retouching. Its functionality mimics the effects of real makeup and color correctors, so it makes immediate sense to creatives in beauty and fashion. Designed to be used independently or paired with Beauty Retouch.
The Beauty & Makeup Retouching SuperPack
Beauty Retouch and MUA Retouch together. The complete toolkit for skin, color and makeup retouching in Photoshop. Everything you need to take a beauty, fashion or a female portrait shot from capture to a client-ready result, faster.
Use code SUPERPACK for $50+ off at checkout
Master Professional Beauty Retouching
The Retouching Academy courses I have co-created with seasoned creative professionals. We teach what we have learned the hard way in real-world commercial beauty and fashion work. The links will lead you to the RA store pages.
Best value
All-in-One Beauty Retouch Bundle
The full ladder, from beginner to commercial-work ready, in a single bundle. Distilled theory and hands-on practice.
$373$287Get this bundle →
Lifetime Access · 21+ hours · 15+ practice images
Beauty Retouch Bundle
This bundle is for you if you are already past the novice level. Industry-standard knowledge and practices, from intermediate to advanced.
$286$237Get this bundle →
Lifetime Access · 14+ hours · 12+ practice images
Beginner Retoucher Bundle
In-depth, practical courses to take you from a complete beginner to a capable beauty retoucher.
$174$99Get this bundle →
Lifetime Access · 14+ hours · 12+ practice images
Beauty Retouching for Beginners
Distilled, the most impactful course for beginners who want to learn professional retouching in beauty, fashion and portrait.
$87Get this course →
Lifetime · Practice · Custom Tools
Master Dodge & Burn Technique
A deep dive into one of the most important techniques in professional retouching, known as dodging and burning.
$149Get this course →
Lifetime · Practice · Custom Tools
Best-seller
Professional Skin Retouching
Over 7 hours of video lessons, theory, and hands-on practice to bring your skin retouching work to a professional level.
$169Get this course →
Lifetime · Practice · Custom Tools
Professional Beauty Retouching
Full commercial-level beauty retouching workflow, from start to finish. File handling the way commercial clients expect it.
$199Get this course →
Lifetime · Practice · Custom ToolsTools I use to shoot Beauty Photography
A dependable, deliberately small kit. Everything below is what I have been relying on for my commercial work and personal shoots.
My cameras
For about 8 years I shot most of my commercial and macro beauty work on a Canon 5Ds. Now, I am getting used to doing it with the Canon R5 C. The large sensor size is not a luxury feature for a working photographer, it’s a necessity. It also allowed for 7-foot-tall sharp prints for a couple of VIP clients. They didn’t plan for print initially, but loved the images so much they had to ask, and I was able to deliver.
For high-quality product and beauty motion, I use a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro.
My lenses
The vast majority of my studio beauty and product work is shot on the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro.
I also keep a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS for large cosmetics productions, where stills are secondary, and I have to shoot from behind the video camera’s position.
My lighting
I light almost everything with Broncolor. My workhorse is a Broncolor Siros 800 into a Para 88, a combination that gives beauty and macro work brilliant, controllable, wraparound light with crisp specular highlights.
When contrastier shots are needed, I use my Beauty Dish.
A deliberately simple and highly reliable lighting kit keeps me fast on set and consistent from shoot to shoot.
