Retouching technique -- portraits and skin

[carlo1990]

Does anyone know how to duplicate the retouching techniques that are done here:

http://www.houseofphotography.com

He seems to do a good job with keeping detail with the right amount of saturation to make it look pleasant. Any help would be appreciated.

[PatrickB]

Hi Carlo and welcome to RP!

Could you point us to which photo we are talking about here?

Patrick

[carlo1990]

Here are 5 samples from his forum I'd like to replicate.... #5 is one where he manipulated a "guest" user's picture to match his own style of retouching.

(NOTE! Clicking on the link doesn't work... you have to RIGHT-CLICK > COPY SHORTCUT manually and PASTE to your browser.)

1. http://www.portranet.com/images/2003...77a%5B1%5D.htm

2. http://www.portranet.com/images/2003...abe%5B1%5D.htm

3. http://www.portranet.com/images/2003...-sm%5B1%5D.htm

4. http://www.portranet.com/images/2003...-sm%5B1%5D.htm

5. http://www.portranet.com/cgi-bin/yab...num=1111080864


Of course you need a great picture first, but let's say I can get passed that.

-Carlo

[carlo1990]

I didn't have examples from my previous post, so here it is again w/ examples:

...
Does anyone know how to duplicate the retouching techniques that are done here:

http://www.houseofphotography.com

He seems to do a good job with keeping detail with the right amount of saturation to make it look pleasant. It also seems likes he does something with the eyes. Any help would be appreciated.

Examples below:

Here are 5 samples from his forum I'd like to replicate.... #5 is one where he manipulated a "guest" user's picture to match his own style of retouching.

(NOTE! Clicking on the link doesn't work... you have to RIGHT-CLICK > COPY SHORTCUT manually and PASTE to your browser.)

1. http://www.portranet.com/images/2003...77a%5B1%5D.htm

2. http://www.portranet.com/images/2003...abe%5B1%5D.htm

3. http://www.portranet.com/images/2003...-sm%5B1%5D.htm

4. http://www.portranet.com/images/2003...-sm%5B1%5D.htm

5. http://www.portranet.com/cgi-bin/yab...num=1111080864

Of course you need a great picture first, but let's say I can get passed that.

-Carlo

[PatrickB]

Hi Carlo,

I had a look and his pictures are really great! As you said, you need a great picture to start with. My former boss said "You can't turn shit to candies", and that's exactly what's applied to retouching.

Those are highest-quality studio portraits, no cheapo 2Megapixel snapshots. Look at http://www.mensdivision.de . The pic on the first page was my latest job for a magazine cover. Now compare this one to other pictures you want to retouch, see the difference?

The other stuff is just usual beauty-retouching, nothing special. I'm sure some people here can teach you those things easily

[Ken Fournelle]

Dear Carlo,

My guess is there are many who are RP members and visitors who can replicate and exceed the quality of the images you listed. They can do that because they have done three things: Studied, practiced and experimented. And maybe a fourth, they're talented.

I don't mean to be flip, but there isn't any plug-in, action or magic work flow that will immediately get you there. Perhaps of the four qualities I have mentioned, practice may be the most important. I practice on images every day. Many of them I get here at RP and other retouch sites on the internet. This site, I think, is superior because those who have years of practice and experience will often list their work flow for viewers to replicate on images of their own. They also are unselfish with their talent and methods. When my image doesn't look as good as Flora's, Duv's, Gary orVikki's, I'll put it aside and go back to it weeks later. And, surprise, surprise, I've found I have improved. I am a better retoucher and restorer today than I was yesterday. Practice

There are many great books, seminars and sites like this to tap into; but you will have to spend the time.

You will find, over time, that a work style and look all your own will develop. You will be more successful and more satisfied when you have achieved that level.

I don't mean to lecture. I am far from being the guru many here are.

I'm off my soapbox now; fire away.

k

[Flora]

Hi Carlo,

Welcome to RP!

I'm merging your two Threads since they are on the same topic...

[carlo1990]

Hi All,

I understand that practice is necessary. I just need a place to start. Like for #5, it may be easier, because there is an image I could start with and I know somewhat the final product -- and here's what I basically did -- at least for the face:

1. mask the eyes and teeth, use curves to brighten them up (the teeth I need to work on more to make it whiter)
2. mask the front part of the face, feathered the mask, brighten that area via curves

Attached is the psd. I had to reduce the image size because of the file size limit.

I am curious to see how his other ones could be done -- how skin tone is chosen (maybe through a raw image) and then going through and fixing and lighting the image to make it excellent.

We're all here to learn aren't we?

[fat0n3s]

I am no pro, but I recommend this.

Read the book "Photoshop Restoration and Retouching" by Katrin Eismann.

If photography was a religion, this would be its bible.

I bought it from my local Barns and Nobels book store.

You ask for a place to start, and this is it.

The book gives you info that you must learn before getting into high end photography like what you are after. The book also goes into some of the techniques that you are looking for.


Someone correct me if I'm wrong here, but Tone, Contrast, Exposure, and Color is the core to any photo. You must learn how to correct all of these before moving on to professional retouching.


One other piece of advice is practice. I know it is overstated, but that is because it is the biggest key to success in retouching. Alot of times when I am learning something new, I think that I will never get good enough at it. Then after lots of practice, something will click, and I am able to do what I was trying to do. (Like making realistic restoration with the clone tool. )

[Flora]

Hi again Carlo,

you got great tips already, and I couldn't agree more with fat0n3s about Katrin Eismann's book(s)!

If I understood you right, you would like to see an example of what can be done to get to those results ... and a starting point/workflow to follow ...

Since I actually toned down contrast and colours, my end-result here might not be what you had in mind ... but mine wasn't meant to be a complete retouch as the finishing touches are simply a matter of personal taste .... I just wanted to show the method I used to get an enhanced but still natural look ...

1. As you can see from my workflow, (Attachment 2), my first steps where to balance shadows/highlights ... and decrease the Saturation a bit.
   
   
2. Next came the skin ... the Model doesn't have a very smooth skin ... so, I tried 'soften' it without removing all the texture ... An oversmoothed skin tends to look like 'plastic' and very unnatural ... and is a dead giveaway for manipulation ... I used the Median Filter in a similar way as described by MBChamberlain in this Thread..
   
   
3. I used the Patch Tool to remove small blemishes and the mole on her left cheek.
   
   
4. The rest was enhancing eyes mouth etc.

Hope this is what you were asking ...

[Ron Kramer]

Carlo - why not ask the guy you want to replicate? =)
I found this thread while doing a search for PortraNET.com comments.

I am honored that you used my work as examples... The reply you received was correct. You can't make crap into candies...

I've been asked about my retouching and "how do you"... for the past 20 years... LONG before the days of digital and photoshop. That in itself says... "it's not photoshop". Photographers asked the same about my film work.

You see PWC (people with cameras) who aren't skilled in fine portraiture feel they can be pro's because the know their way around the camera and can take good pictures. I meet them all the time as they enter my studio looking for a job or intern position. I ask them their level of knowledge regarding fine portraiture and they talk a bit about fstops and shutter speeds and my reply is... no what do you know about fine portraiture... the camera is only a tool that we use to record our work. Like a surgeon uses a x-ray machine or a electrocardiogram to record his work. Using those machines is moot... without their knowledge. Just like saying I can swing a hammer doesn't make one a skilled carpenter. In my 28 years in operating a studio, I have never once had anyone contact me about work or internship who has any skills or knowledge in fine portraiture.

The camera is so little of what fine portrait photographers do, that I don't even consider myself a photographer. That is only the medium that I use to record my work so that I might sell prints of my work.

Retouching or print enhancement is an important part of our work as well, but like it was stated, garbage in... garbage out. Before digital, photographers would email me asking my "scan tricks" to make our film images look so good on the web. (most of my images on my VERY OUTDATED WEBSITE are from my film days). I would tell them - start with a EXCELLENT PRINT and you'll get a good scan. Start with a poor print and you'll get a LOUSY scan. We'll always loose some quality... so the best thing is to start with the best quality possible to begin with. And that means SHOOT IT RIGHT.

Other info to note is - while we can fix things with retouching, retouching takes time... and time is money! If we can shoot it right in camera and not do any post processing work - we've just made a lot more money. If we need to spend 30+ minutes per session tweaking the proofs - we might as well be in another line of work. We make money creating images, not retouching.

I created a place where I teach what I do and how I do it - it's called PortraNET.com If you check it out you'll see all my students learn my ways (one with the force Luke) = ) very quickly. If you really want to learn to produce great work - start with lighting, posing and composition. Then you can enhance with retouching briefly.. rather than spending lots of time trying to fix problems not done properly at time of exposure.

My goal on PortraNET is to make all my students far better than I could ever be. And many of them have done just that. Flora (post above mine) is a perfect example of what not to do.... all those steps and masks and processes are mind boggling! I don't teach any of that... because I don't do any of that.