Can anyone recommend books, blogs or on-line tutorials on architectural retouching? I know virtually nothing about it & would like to enhance my work. I'll be retouching interior as well as exterior shots.

i've yet to see a book on the subject, never heard of the term till i got to this site..i've retouched interior and exterior shots in the past but never knew it was a specialized niche...

I think knowing the basics of retouching still apply so probably a book by Katrin Eismann
would be very useful,also probably something like How to cheat inphotoshop I think would be pretty useful
hope this helps

Guess, I could suggest you some interior techniques. But I am worried, if an architectural retouching is a thing a bit different, related to 3d rendering.

Thanks, everyone. I'm new to this so I hope I'm asking the right questions in the right way. What I'm trying to accomplish is something similar (I know it would take years to achieve an identical result) to the retouching done on the Attic Fire website:

http://www.atticfirearchitecture.com/main.htm

Whoever does this work is a genius!

Although I prefer to shoot fashion & beauty I seem to be getting hired more & more to shoot architecture. I know very little about the field but have a few books that have helped with the basics.

As for Katrin Eismann I have all her books & some of my work appears in Photoshop Restoration & Retouching 3rd Edition. I'll look in the books & see if there's something about architectural retouching.

nice work on that site..photoflex has some lessons about using their lighting for indoor use, that might be a good starting point for you...

The 'before' and 'after' images on this 'attic fire'-site are 'nt real 'before' and 'after' images.

It depends of course on how you depict 'before' and 'after'.

In a lot of cases I'd say the 'after' image is not totally derived from the 'before' image. The after image is another shot with a different lighting/setting. And photoshop of course.
Well, maybe I am just getting blind.

Some of that looks like good old fashioned painting with light to me. Very heavy handed and uneven in places. I have not done any PWL for a very long time. I bet its MUCH easier in digital with PS. It was always so hard with film, keeping the light source pointed away from the lens and not getting caught between the two and creating a corona. You'd work for hours on an object only to process the film and find your ghost.

I'll have to pull that trick out and see if I can shine it.

TPM

The 'before' and 'after' images on this 'attic fire'-site are 'nt real 'before' and 'after' images.

It depends of course on how you depict 'before' and 'after'.

In a lot of cases I'd say the 'after' image is not totally derived from the 'before' image. The after image is another shot with a different lighting/setting. And photoshop of course.
Well, maybe I am just getting blind.

i noticed that as well, they probably shot the before image with the built in flash on the camera...

About the site: http://www.atticfirearchitecture.com/main.htm I think the idea to present the "before" and the after" in architecture pictures is very impressive; I agree with ThePicMan207 that most of that job is a very good skill in lighting indeed.

Mark, got a tour in your galleries, very good job too.

About this thread, I don' t know about books on photoshop & architecture but my experience is in multiple layers with different light conditions, masks and blending. If you find anything about, let we know. Thanks to share that site.

P.S. Im new to the list but I think I don' t have to present in this thread, I' ll attempt to do in " salon"


Roberto

Mark is right. The before is before is extensive lighting. He would set a few lights (hot lights), and take a shot. Then he would move the lights and take another shot. He used black cloth on the windows for the daytime shots. It's a lot of lighting and then a lot of photoshop. His files would be in the gigs. A buddy of mine works for one of the companies the Attic Fire photographer has done work for.

Keith

i have some stock photos of interior shots, if you guys want a image to practice on just let me know...

I finally found the technique I was looking for. Here's a photo I took yesterday before & after. THIS is what I've been looking for!

http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/dynoGallDetail.asp?photoID=5715147

Thanks,

Skyy

http://www.atticfirearchitecture.com/main.htm
what you really be careful about those pictures is, that they dont go in photoshop with the "before" shot and come out with the "after" one. these are composits of so mayn different shots. especially, when doing night stuff, they use like at least 5 different shots of the same scene with different light setups and different time of day. (well #4 looks like completely one-shotted
I finally found the technique I was looking for. Here's a photo I took yesterday before & after. THIS is what I've been looking for!
http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/dynoGallDetail.asp?photoID=5715147

just looks like those color flodding ugly flickr-hdr shots...sorry bro :)

well hdr is the best approach for the startup, but don't over do the whole color-thingy. stick to a way in between pitched colors and a "real" look, compose every piece of the image seperately and try to color manually

I'm with Subxaero. BLECH.

Not that the http://www.atticfirearchitecture.com/main.htm looks particularly good either.

KB, lighting the shot even if you have to light areas and put them together like Atticfire does is better than just throwing up a light or two for your shot and trying to make it better in post (like the betterphoto.com shot). I don't know if your using strobes or hot lights but if you PM me, I can give you some hints on lighting. I don't want to clutter a retouching board with lighting talk.

I just recently came across (I believe in Feb Adobe mag) a link of George Gruel's work and website. The article can be seen at www.oddstick.com/pdf/George_Gruel.pdf
beautiful architectural lighting work both in this article about turning day to night but also on his site www.oddstick.com are some interior and exteriors posted. It seems he knows a lot about lighting interiors and exteriors as well as ps post work. Looks like he gives workshops and has some articles published, not sure if any books. I thought it would be worth a deeper look for those interested in this area.

A recently had a landscaper come to my house to give me some ideas. He had a program that allowed him put plants, trees, flowers etc all around my yard once from a photo he shot of my house. The program was very impressive. Any one familar with such a program?

The title of the thread "Architectural Retouching" - actually covers different areas. Its a very large field and there are many people earning very good livings doing this alone. Some knowledge of 3D is becoming more needed in this area, but KittyBuddha if its an interest of yours there is a living to be made.

As Ant has again correctly pointed out the samples onhere (http://http://www.atticfirearchitecture.com/main.htm) are not that great, they are more interiors than Architectural retouching. In fact IMHO most of the befores look better than the afters. They are oversharpened and oversaturated. It doesn't help that the jpegs on his website are massively overcompressed. But even though crude gradated dodge and burn, and overuse of local contrast has turned these reasonable starting shots into what honestly look like 3D renderings (more Max than Maya). Thats just my opinion.

Most professional architectural retouching works in conjunction with 3D sotware such as Rhino. The software can generate wireframes or or alpha channels as well as 3d renderings. The retoucher then uses the images provided to him and then "pimps it up" in Photoshop in a way that makes the architects client go "oh yeah - Ill buy that £300 million worth of glass and sandstone".