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IT ISN’T JUST REMOVING SPOTS AND MAKING PEOPLE THINNER. RETOUCHING
HAS BECOME A PROFESSION WITH SPECIALITIES AND AN ARTISTICENDEAVOUR IN ITS OWN RIGHT
FOR PROS
RETOUCHING TIPS
“Commercial beauty and fashion retouchers have
quite a streamlined set of tools,” says retoucher
Daniel Meadows (www.dmd-digital-retouching.
com). “The foundations are Clone/Heal, Dodge and
Burn with filters, paint brushes and masks, but the
majority of the time you’ll find yourself hitting J, S
and O (Healing Brush, Clone Stamp and Dodge/Burn
respectively), although most retouchers, including
myself, have their own dodge and burn system.
“A great way to give yourself a little extra control is
to create two Curves adjustment layers, one with the
midpoint lowered to burn, and the other raised to
dodge. Black mask these out and paint on the mask
with white to bring in the effect as locally as you’d
like. This gives you the opportunity to tweak the
curve at any point in your workflow and to work
completely non-destructively... quick fixes won’t
work until you’ve got the basics covered.“So much of being a good retoucher is having exceptional
communication skills, and being honest and reliable,” says Ashlee
Gray (www.ashleegrayretouch.com). “It may sound silly, but over the
years I’ve learned that clear communication is key. Retouchers are
hired to interpret and execute other people’s visions on a daily basis;
however, I believe it’s just as important for retouchers to have a vision
of their own and bring more than what’s expected to the table.
“First, I like to find out as much as I can about the client and their
brand by researching previous work to get a feel for what they like.
Often times they pass along inspiration or detailed retouching notes
that help me to understand how far to go with the images. Some
clients come to me with very specific retouching notes to make sure
things don’t get overlooked for any reason. Retouching notes are a
great starting point, especially when there are tight deadlines. On the
other hand, there are some people who hire me based on my work
and trust that I can bring my vision to the table. If this is the case, we
have some sort of creative conversation where I ask a lot of
questions and send samples to make sure I’m on the right track and
not wasting time.”- KNOW YOUR TOOLS
02. BE COMMUNICATIVE AND CREATIVE
“There are a number of plug-ins or techniques
around that blast somewhere around the middle
radius of a shot and make them appear smooth
while retaining texture. This sounds great in theory
and they’re extremely tempting to overuse because
the results are dramatic, but it’s an obvious and
unrealistic approach avoided by the majority of the
clients you’ll be hoping to work with.
“Once you’ve got the foundations of dodge and
burn (I cover this on my blog), you can start to
implement a few of these quick fixes, such as
Frequency Separation and inverted High Pass to
complement your workflow. It’s all about learning
how to work correctly before fighting dirty! It’s also
hugely important to regularly look through fashion
magazines; they’re full of the kind of ads you’ll be
hoping to work with, and trends in post-processing
do change.” © Adam Browning Hill© Franklin ThompsonPHOTO EDITING