G'day from Australia, I have grown to love using Photoshop and being dissatisfied with my current employment I have begun to question could I be a pro retoucher? Living in a small country town I guess I would be looking at the freelance market. Can anybody give me their opinion as to what essential skills I should have mastered in Photoshop before I even think about trying to submit some of my work to an agency? What things should I be able to do and at what level should I be operating? Any tips on the sort of images that I should submit?

G'day from Australia, I have grown to love using Photoshop and being dissatisfied with my current employment I have begun to question could I be a pro retoucher? Living in a small country town I guess I would be looking at the freelance market. Can anybody give me their opinion as to what essential skills I should have mastered in Photoshop before I even think about trying to submit some of my work to an agency? What things should I be able to do and at what level should I be operating? Any tips on the sort of images that I should submit?Benny:

Although I'm not a "pro," here are some things that came to mind when I read your post:

* It would be helpful to know more about your Photoshop experience. How are you using it today (in terms of types of projects you work on)?

* Post a link to a gallery if you have one that includes "before" and "after" examples of your work.

* Retouching is a pretty broad term. What sort of retouching work do you envision doing?

Additional information of this nature would help others provide more targeted advice and suggestions.

~Danny~

Thanks Danny, I have been a keen photographer for a long time so my retouching experience is with altering digital photos. By altering I mean anything from basic color corrections, blemish removals, e.t.c to taking planned multiple images and then combining them to get the finished image that I previsualised. I have a good understanding of layers, making selections, use of filters, e.t.c. No I dont have an on-line gallery, forgive my ignorance but what are the different fields that come under "retouching"?

Thanks Danny, I have been a keen photographer for a long time so my retouching experience is with altering digital photos. By altering I mean anything from basic color corrections, blemish removals, e.t.c to taking planned multiple images and then combining them to get the finished image that I previsualised. I have a good understanding of layers, making selections, use of filters, e.t.c. No I dont have an on-line gallery, forgive my ignorance but what are the different fields that come under "retouching"?
re: "Retouching is a pretty broad term. What sort of retouching work do you envision doing?"
I should have been more clear.

I meant whom do you envision as your customers and what types of services would you offer? For example retouching images of hi-end fashion models (advertising), families or individuals who want photos touched up / enhanced / color corrected / red-eye repaired, etc., will you offer restoration services (fixing really old, damaged images), transform images to look like paintings, etc.? Although there is overlap in basic skills for any of these, each has its own unique skill set.

A book I can highly recommend is Katrin Eismann's Photoshop Restoration and Retouching. If you understand and/or have mastered the skills/techniques she presents, you'll be good to go regardless which direction you decide to go.

i think a pro retoucher is a person that can make a picture look great without compromising the picture itself.

a good retouch is a picture that doesnt look like its been retouched at all.

thats my take on it ..

Thanks guys, I will order that book for sure.

Benny one thing you might do is take a marketing course although its not directly related to doing the actual work its just as or even more important
since 50% of your time wil probably be doing marketing

just a thought zganie

My view toward both retouching and restoration was and is to remain true to the original photo. Anyone can make an artistic rendering, for example, color changes, adding or removing elements, etc, but I feel that the true skill is in rendering the finished product as if it were the original which had never been damaged or changed by natural aging conditions. Thank you.
...Pierre.