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Before we start our work in Photoshop, I thought it would be helpful to step
back for a moment and talk through a few things that are important in regards
to retouching. Now one of tricks with retouching is this.
It's not just can you retouch, but it's when should you retouch, how should you
retouch, why should you retouch? Now let's compare photographic retouching
to literature for a moment. Now if you are a writer and you are writing within
the context or genre of journalism, you will write a certain way. On the other
hand, let's say you are writing a poem and you are writing within the context
or genre of poetry, well in those situations you'll take what's called poetic
license. So you are writing in a way that's appropriate for the context.
Now the same thing is incredibly true with retouching. Here you can see this
photograph we have this makeup artist getting this fashion model ready for this
real high-end fashion shoot. Now in this case, she's going to apply the makeup
in a certain way. There will be a certain type of wardrobe, a certain type of
lighting, and then a certain specific type of retouching. Now fashion
retouching will be very different than retouching that we can perform on a
portrait like this of this expectant couple. So one of the things that we want to start
to do is to begin to think about, well, what type of retouching are we going
to apply, what is this going to look like? Well, here we have a little bit of a fashion
photograph, pretty straightforward photograph. We are just going
to start to clean it up and correct it's color and tone and we have a
little bit of that color and tone and just correction, then perhaps we are going
to enhance it a little bit, push it a little bit further, but again we are trying
to stay appropriate to the type of image that we are working on.
Now another thing that's incredibly important in regards to retouching is that
what we are trying to do is to reduce and simplify. We are interested in details.
We're saying, okay, here we have this interesting photo. We're thinking
about its genre or its context, how can we improve this, we are starting to
focus in on these small details. Now there are a number of different details
that would help to improve with this photo, but let's say we just want to get
rid of that strap. Well that's going to really improve the photograph, and then
a little bit of cleanup on the face and the tone as well. Here's our before and
then our after, and then maybe we want to make it a little bit more of an
expressive image and then we can go even further with this, but really what
we are going to start to do is focus in on the details.
Now the type of details that we focus in on are going to vary based on what we
are trying to accomplish with the image. Sometimes we have photographs where we
are just trying to illustrate a concept. So here's our before and then our
after. So, again, it really depends on what is our intent with a particular
photograph. In other situations, we focus in on the details and we say you know what?
I would love to take the edge off these wrinkles, but I want to do this
in a simple, yet significant way. So all that we are going to do is this.
Here is our after and again, here is the before and then the after. Subtle, simple,
yet significant retouching. So as we dig into this, we are also learning
to begin to notice things in our photographs, even in snapshots. This is just
a snapshot, yet the pole at the top of the image is distracting. So we are
going to take look at well how can we remove some of these elements in order
to simply and subtly improve our photographs. Other times what we will want
to do is maybe clean up an image in order to create more impact, like with this
particular portrait. Here's our before and then after. Now there are so many
different things that we are going to start to focus in on.
A lot of times, it's interesting as you make your way through your retouching
workflow to look at your original image. Here's the before and then compare it
side-by-side to the after, or perhaps even do a little bit more of a direct
comparison. Here's our before and then after on the left-hand side, once again,
that before and then after. One of the things that we want to do as we compare
where the image was and where we have taken it is just to begin to think
about, are we improving this image, because sometimes what can happen is we can
do something just because we can, "Oh wow! The Healing Brush, this is so amazing."
"I'll do this because I can," not necessarily because I should do that,
or because it fits the genre of the photography or because it fits the intent
of the photograph. Now as we dig into all of these details, one
of the things that is also really important is to step back and to say you know
what? This is about improving photographs of people. We want to enjoy the
journey. We want to enjoy people and so as we focus in on these little tiny
details, every once in a while we have to step back and say, you know what,
a lot of times it's about the expression, it's about the person and
retouching has a lot of that give and take, where you focus in on small details and then
you step back and enjoy the whole photograph.
So you make your way through your own retouching workflow and throughout this
training, keep in mind we need a little bit of a check and balance system. Now
what I mean by that is this. Here is Russell Brown, the Senior Creative
Director at Adobe and Russell is a creative, crazy, off-the-wall guy and
I love this side of Russell, really playful, really creative, yet there is another
side too. He's very serious. He's a real deep thinker, very intelligent person.
And one of things that's really interesting about Russell is those two sides.
And as we approach our own retouching, we kind to need have these checks and
balances where we have a lot of fun, we do some amazing things, but then we
also step back and say okay, well, what was the logic? Was that a good
improvement that I made to the photograph? And then finally, we have to ask
ourself this question, is this photograph finished? Because you know what?
You could retouch and retouch and retouch and retouch some more and never be
finished. You can almost always find more and more things to retouch.
So as we progress throughout this training, we also are going to have to ask
ourselves, okay, you know what this image is looking good and that's enough.
We have to know when to say when. All right, well, I hope that this little movie
is helpful just in beginning to get you to think about some things to consider
as you begin to retouch your own photographs.