In my last piece about how to become a photo retoucher, I talked about some of the motivations behind choosing to make a career change to photo retouching. I shared some real-world stories about others who made the jump from photography and dispelled some myths about a life spent in Photoshop sprucing up images all day.
You were probably left thinking, "Real cool Sef, but can you tell me what the hell I need to actually do to make it happen?!"
I hear you, that's what this article is all about.
One of the questions I get asked the most by people is, "I know there's tons of high-quality education that you've made, but how do I actually become a working photo retoucher, and put it all to use?" Well, pat yourself on the back if you're asking that question, because most photographers and novice retouchers trying to start a career in retouching either assume they already know the answer or just don't even address it.
Understanding how to become a photo retoucher is almost as important as how to do photo retouching itself. In this article, I'm going to begin to unpack for you all of the concepts, strategies, and myths behind a career as a full-time retoucher.
Yep, you heard me.
There is a wonderful flexibility in the CMYK color space that one just does not experience while working in RGB. It's like having that single extra channel frees up our color adjustment layers to work as the programmers intended. It makes RGB feel like a theater of blunt instruments.
By a complete stroke of luck I was able meet and get to know a little bit about the keen eye behind the high end boutique retouching studio Solstice Retouch, Pratik Naik. Now you can too - he was cool enough to spend some time to answer some questions for Retouchist.org about his work, life, theory, and practice. He’s not only a really talented artist, but a teacher too. You can find his training content on RGG EDU.
Clipping. Cut Outs. Knock Out. Outlining. Pathing. It’s called a lot of different things but if you’ve spent any time working in Commercial Retouching - at any level - you know that it’s pretty much job one. That’s because Clipping is the absolute foundation of any real high res retouching job.
Has a client you’ve been working with suddenly asked you to send over your full working PSD? Yeah? Did you do it? It’s ok. But you probably got screwed.
There are so many modal settings in Photoshop that it can seem like a virtual mine field of things to accidentally click that will screw up your day. When you're in the flow of work it can be a painful productivity hit when you get thrown off by something that is just not working. Here are 7 of the most common hangups that I've found bring me to a standstill. Check it out and join in the discussion if you've got some of your own.
99% of retouched files are going to have a grain layer sitting right at the top. It ties the elements together and provides a unified surface. If you’re doing a little slap-dash compositing, it can really help to hide any soft spots that may have been left behind. The Camera Raw Filter provides much more flexibility with the look of the grain, and you can go back to adjust it later with ease. Here’s how.
Getting the most control over your warps can be a puzzle if you haven’t figured out a good system to use every time. The good news is there is one, and it involves embedded smart objects so your warps are editable. The key to ultimate flexibility that many people miss though is the alignment step. I’ll show you how.
By default, new Layer Group folders are set to Pass Through blend mode. If you've never thought to ask what that's all about, you're not alone.
Here’s an alternative that will become a really useful tool in your high res workflow.
One of the painful steps in doing image extensions - aside from extending the picture - is redoing all of the masks after the canvas size changes. Masks are usually going to contain gradients, and they're almost to impossible extend seamlessly without putting in a lot of time. Let Content Aware Fill help.
Layer Effects are a really powerful set of tools for creating quick effects applied to pixel information. Most people think of them in terms of typographic or design-y uses, but they're an absolutely essential component of a high-res photo realistic retouching workflow. Follow this trick to free them from your layer stack and add endless flexibility.
