High-end digital retoucher in NYC

[heyrad]

Originally Posted by skydog

My girl friend had the August 2006 issue of Glamour and there is a spead of photo's by Robert Erdmann. I wonder what required more time/work: the shooting of the pics or the retouching of the photos. I noticed the skin texture in the shots as often discussed in RetouchPro. I also thought the lights in the eyes had a nice touch and wondered if "retouchers" have their own signature for certain effects? Based on what I see in this spread, I would think the retoucher significantly contributed to the quality of the photo...but then again, maybe Mr. Erdmann did it all.

Actually, I've had the pleasure of working with Robert Erdmann on many stories in the past. The last story I did for him was shot in Spain at the fancy new modern hotel. He has also been known to so elaborate shoots in far off places like Fiji. So the shooting did take a great deal of time to produce, but the retouching/finishing is where the shots were probably made. He's a dedicated shooter and never retouches his own work. Sometimes the photos need very little, but often times, they need a great deal... depends on the images, the art director, the weather and the alignment of the moon and stars

conrad

[PatrickB]

Originally Posted by skydog

Patrick...not looking for an "instant button"...I want to understand the method taken (steps) to get the "look". From there one can expand one's understanding in other directions.

Don't consider my words as a rant, neither am I laughing about you or something. It was more of a little hint where to go

Another example: There are hundreds of tutorials out there asking for a technique to get smooth skin. Gaussian Blur, Surface Blur, Median, High-Pass Filters, Diffuse Glow and so on and so on. And because this skin might look too flat because it just blows away every detail people add adjustment layers, overlays, noise, bevel and emboss and so on and so on and so on.

Does the result look like a magazine cover? No.

You want to know the pro's technique to get smooth skin? I tell you: Patience. Grab your pen and painstakely remove every little tiny blemish manually, edit each and every pixel. There is no "woomp there it is"-adjustment layer, no "make it perfect"-filter, just manual work. Sounds too cumbersome for a million pixels to edit? Well do this with a 12-million hi-res file and we can talk...

And that's what's the deal: It's not some default filter or something to make it look as it looks, it's painstakely doing everything yourself, finding the right settings, painting shadows manually, etc. Unless someone find's that filter or button you can't say "this technique don't work" because it doesn't matter what kind of tool you use, the artwork is all up to you!



P.

[skydog]

Heyrad,

Based on your last note and all the previous ones, I agree, the Retoucher should be recognized, since they do much of the work and creating. One of the comments in this thread was that why worry about the credit..you get a pay check...well so does the photographer...he doesn't do it free and on top of that he/she gets all the credit. As Patrick mentioned, you may have worked thousands of hours to get to where you are!

Patrick...thanks for the guidance ...I think. You've made it quite clear in many of your previous posts that once one is worthy you are willing to talk. Trust me...I do practice. Thanks again...sky

[Calvinhollywood]

@Snook
Nancy cant see it cause she isent a fan of this style.
I know what you mean and i read 100 discussions about that... and nobody know how does it work.
Just a few know a part of this style.
I hope one day a pro retoucher will beat this secret:-)))))))))))

lg Calvin

[sskelsey]

how come i cant see the before images