New beauty retouching book online

grygarness · #1 03-28-2008, 06:45 AM

Hi all
I'm Gry Garness – based in London UK as a Retoucher and Photoshop trainer since 2002. I worked as a fashion, music and advertising photographer from 1994 until a few years ago, when the retouching side took over. I've also been a hair stylist and makeup artist for 14 years, and I've dabbled in journalism for a few years. These skills have given me the background for writing a book on fashion/beauty/portrait retouching. I have listened to your concerns about Lee Varis Skin book. I won't comment on it, but I will say that the e-book I have just released should give you a very good alternative, and couldn't be more different. It was originally commissioned by a major publisher. The deal didn't work out, but I went ahead and developed it anyway, as a labour of love I suppose.

It's called DIGITAL RETOUCHING FOR FASHION, BEAUTY AND PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY and it does exactly what it says on the tin. It's all about retouching, and is full of high-end published images... as fashion stories in magazines, covers, advertising, cosmetics campaigns, CD covers. This is the stuff I do for a living. At the moment I mostly do retouching for beauty, celebrity and music. I also train many of my peers, and this has taught me how to communicate the material. My training clients are generally professional photographers, operators, retouchers and art directors.

The book is primarily aimed towards photographic professionals. It’s targeted at those who either focus entirely on the retouching aspect, or photographers who do their own post-production. I think of it as a tool for photographers, assistants, digital operators, retouchers, and anyone who is charged with producing high-quality people-shots that need to stand up to close scrutiny and large output sizes. Based on my experience as a Photoshop trainer, the tutorials should be suitable for all levels. Beginners will have to grow slowly with the book, and I should say that retouching takes a lot of manual and visual practice – as I'm sure you all know.

I won't be contributing loads on this forum – simply because I'm too busy serving my clients, and also because I've said what I have to say in my books. Forgot to mention that I've also written a book on Color Management and on Color Optimization. All the books can be seen on:
http://www.grygarness.com/downloads.htm and my work can of course be seen on www.grygarness.com

I don't know if I've broken any forum rules by posting this here. But I think that this book can be a valuable resource and a great tool for those of you on the forum who retouch people, and especially those who want to learn to retouch in a more editorial, natural-looking way. I've already had an overwhelming amount of sales, and fabulous responses from various people in the business in the 10 days it's been out, but I also want to hear your views. The only negative response I've had (several times) is that it's not out in print. Well I thought you'd like save some money, save some trees, and zoom in on the images. How about that?

allthebest

Gry

yangez · #2 03-28-2008, 08:28 AM

Been looking for something like this. Thanks, I'll check it out.

Mucker · #3 03-28-2008, 09:39 AM

Looks good at first glance. Is there a table of contents available?

dkcoats · #4 03-28-2008, 10:17 AM

I was going to buy the book but when I clicked on the "Buy" button McAfee Site Advisor gave me this:
http://www.siteadvisor.com/phishing....pe=FF&aff_id=0

So I think I'll pass.

hataproof818 · #5 03-28-2008, 10:33 AM

hey...this looks great...i think i will purchase it

hataproof818 · #6 03-28-2008, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dkcoats

I was going to buy the book but when I clicked on the "Buy" button McAfee Site Advisor gave me this:
http://www.siteadvisor.com/phishing....pe=FF&aff_id=0

So I think I'll pass.

DAYUM ARE U SERIOUS??? YEAH I BETTER PASS TOO..what a shame

yangez · #7 03-28-2008, 10:47 AM

Hmmm, I don't know. I searched it in Google and it looks legit.

When I was ordering it redirected me to payloadz.com which automatically immediately redirected me to paypal. I verified it was indeed https://www.paypal.com/*** before buying... so... maybe I should change my paypal password anyways just to be safe?

Read up some more on payloadz, seems that this happened before but they're a legit payment company. Although it seems that their customer service is horrible so you might want to find another one

Read it at http://www.jonathancoulton.com/2007/...e-vs-payloadz/ in the comments

ALSO: http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/...Off0297615.htm

yangez · #8 03-28-2008, 10:48 AM

by the way, the book looks pretty good at first glance. I'll be reading it more in-depth later and I'll write my thoughts

grygarness · #9 03-28-2008, 11:40 AM

Hi all

No phishing. I can guarantee that. Full contents listing can be seen when you click on the frontpage image on the website, as well as a small slide show of the images. There's also a short description of the book.

Actually I've been testing and using my payment and downloads system for quite a while now and it works pretty much 100%. The only thing that can be quite annoying with PayPal is when people haven't renewed their expired credit card information, and are not aware of it themselves. This means that the payment is by ECheque which takes over a week to clear, before they get the product. This usually happens when people don't use their PayPal account much... but that's another matter. Still – I have been impressed by how well it works, and if there's any glitch I am of course available for support.

allthebest

Gry

Hendrik · #10 03-30-2008, 01:29 PM

I can also state this is legit. I updated my CC before paying with Paypal, so thanks for the warning.

First impression is positive. It looks very well made. I still need the time to really read it, so I can't give a final verdict yet. (I really miss my full color ePaper reader now

)

It seems there are pros who aren't afraid loosing their jobs when they give some help.

charlotte · #11 03-30-2008, 10:09 PM

Hi
I bought it. I think that a lot of work went into this book. A lot of HARD work. The images and quality are great. The before and afters are helpful. This book covers so much and all that it does cover I am interested in. I haven't been here in a while and glad I popped in and saw this posting. I can say I highly recommend it and would buy it again.
Charlotte
Yeah I too wish it was a book I could hold because I would be bringing it with me but glad to save the trees.

rodsavant · #12 03-30-2008, 11:24 PM

This looks like a good book.. After going to the web site and checking out the table of contents, I had one question though. Perhaps I looked at it too fast.. but does the author talk about dodge and burning techniques? I would like to hear from those who purchased the book.. Thanks..

grygarness · #13 03-31-2008, 01:18 PM

Dodging and burning is covered in a couple of different ways, in the Shading tutorial, in one of the two methods for Reduction of Pores, and there's a tutorial about using brushes. But there are alternatives to dodging and burning, such as the Color Adjustment for Smoother Skin. Won't got further into it here, but thought I'd let you know. --- Gry G

DanBrown · #14 03-31-2008, 03:40 PM

May I suggest that it would be useful to have an example chapter or portion of a chapter to download. The preview pages (done in a slide show) are mostly for show and don't really allow one to assess the quality of the content.

rodsavant · #15 03-31-2008, 03:43 PM

I purchased the book. I expected a different kind of discussion regarding dodging and burning.. I am in and out of the retouching industry here in New York as I am a musician (many musicians work in retouching houses in NYC).. I'm always looking to keep my skills up and apply new techniques. In one studio I worked at, I had the pleasure to work alongside a senior high end retoucher who's work finds its way onto many of the top fashion magazines. When it comes to skin, I can honestly say that most of our time was spent dodging and burning and I find that true in many retouching studios across New York.

I was just surprised that type of retouching was barely touched in your book..

That said, your book is freaking awesome. I am constantly amazed at seeing how a guru like yourself approaches their work flow. Even concepts and techniques that I am fully aware of, I love to read from your perspective on your approach.. as often I find that I can learn from others little things that I may over look or just some things I have not considered..

Great job on a wonderful book.. Good luck..