Fashion retouching

[cjcastan]

Hi All,

Long time lurker 1st post. I'm, trying to get more of that edgy commercial look that Dave Hill / Gary Land / Joey Lawerence etc have.

These pictures were taken by my partner in the studio Walter Malabehar. And I did all the post work.

I don't have the layered PSDs on me at the moment but if someone wants to talk workflow with me I'll be more than happy to break them down.

I would like some constructive comments about how I can get closer to that type of look. And any general ways I can improve my retouching.

Thanks in advance

Before 1

After 1

Before 2

After 2

[pixeltek]

my only critique would be that this is definitely not "fashion" retouching...glamor, perhaps, but NO WAY is it fashion.

just my 2 cents

[cjcastan]

Cool thanks for the words,

Curious what really defines fashion retouching then? My background is working in a wedding portrait lab and this stuff I'm trying, is my first real attempt to flex some creative muscle. Much more fun than getting rid of zits and trash cans.

[camilla_k]

Originally Posted by cjcastan

Cool thanks for the words,

Curious what really defines fashion retouching then? My background is working in a wedding portrait lab and this stuff I'm trying, is my first real attempt to flex some creative muscle. Much more fun than getting rid of zits and trash cans.

well... you gotta think about WHAT you are retouching!
this is not fashion. this is glamour photography.

fashion is about the clothes or make up or whatever you are selling. so if its a bikini, its about the bikini. if its glam its usually about the girl in the bikini. do you see the difference?

maxim, fhm type thing vs. vogue to be extreme.

[Kevin Connery]

Originally Posted by camilla_k

fashion is about the clothes or make up or whatever you are selling. so if its a bikini, its about the bikini. if its glam its usually about the girl in the bikini. do you see the difference?

Catalog is about the bikini.
Fashion is about the lifestyle you'll have if you buy the bikini.
Glamour is about the person wearing the bikini.

Commercial, catalog and fashion retouching is almost invariably designed to be invisible. Yes, the results should be better, but there shouldn't be signs that it was actually retouched. Glamour (and portraiture) tends to be much more lenient in that regard, where visible techniques (skin blur, artistic filtering, etc.) are more acceptable.

Those aren't absolutes--they entirely ignore photo-illustrations, for example--but they're a reasonable jumping off point.

[Kr4nkEd]

Look what You did with leg on second picture. Looks like a stick!
Watch about shadows next time.

[0lBaldy]

LOL.. I totally missed the leg without a foot looking like a stick!!
Guess I didn't look that far down!