Professional Retouching Secrets DVD by Karl Taylor

[rizkhanpsy]

This DVD is aimed at photographers who want to improve the impact and dynamism of their portrait, fashion, beauty or product images.


http://www.karltaylorphotography.co....graphy-DVD.htm

[flexmanta]

Good stuff for those who want to learn. I like that it includes product retouching and the price is very good (puts all those other videos in the 300-500 price range to shame).

[Calvinhollywood]

Come on...
You do not know if the dvd have the same level of the more expensiv stuff.
Its also a point if you have a company who produces the dvds or if you have to do that alone. There are so many things what makes the price.

But i think too thats the dvd looks interesting.
Fair price (i dont like to compare with others) and interesting trailer.

lg Calvin

[flexmanta]

The cost of producing a DVD? What's that, a good microphone, a computer, a screen capture software, a well written script, and some pre-made exercises? For something that you can learn at an academy that will cost you less and will give you a certificate with high chances of getting a full time job?

[Calvinhollywood]

Its not fair to discuss here the costs of a production. Thats not the topic

But i can tell you (after producing 3 by myself and 3 with a company) the costs are much more what you expect.
If you are interested in discussing that write me an email.
I think the topic here is the dvd of karl tayler

lg Calvin

[skydog]

Calvin...cost must be considered along with price. Who knows what's in the $300 DVD's until they are seen. And I have yet seen one at that price or even above $200 worth that price. If the DVD is good quality at a good price and it is marketed correctly the volume will more than exceed the cost.

This DVD is priced right. Now the question is the content. I'd rather risk a $79 investment in the unknown vs $350.

[Calvinhollywood]

@Skydog
Yes you are absoluty right.

lg Calvin

[mistermonday]

Rizkhanpsy, looks like a great deal! Thanks for sharing the link.
Regards, Murray

[KTG]

The DVD is 79£ not 79USD

[skydog]

For less than $300, I can buy this DVD, Calvins and Vitaly's...not a bad deal

[Caesium]

I think the main thing that attracts me to this DVD is the money back guarantee. That's some serious weight.

[Quantum3]

Seems very good!!!! Would love to see more because the trailer doesn't show nothing relevant, but beautiful pictures.

[Quantum3]

Originally Posted by Caesium

I think the main thing that attracts me to this DVD is the money back guarantee. That's some serious weight.

What!?!? And how is determined that a person buys it, copys it then send it back to the author with the excuse of "I don't like it"? Should be some regulation rules for this (maybe the small letter?)

[Quantum3]

This guy really knows how to sell his stuff... Check the other videos on his website, they're all amazing but don't show relevant stuff, but are so cool made that will make you want all his DVD's...

[gamedonechanged]

Originally Posted by Quantum3

What!?!? And how is determined that a person buys it, copys it then send it back to the author with the excuse of "I don't like it"? Should be some regulation rules for this (maybe the small letter?)

Maybe there is some small print when you order but all it says on the site is.

That’s right, there is absolutely no risk. If after 30 days you feel your photography has not benefited in any way from the training, simply send the DVD back and I will refund you straight away – no questions asked!

----------

This DVD looks nice but I think between Nicks and Natalias I should have enough to keep me busy practicing for a while. Id be keen to hear your thoughts though if anyone here decides to purchase it.

[Caesium]

Same as Game, I have recently dropped some cash in the department getting Calvin's, Natalia's, and Joel Grimes' vids. I will play with what I have for a while. =)

[Quantum3]

Originally Posted by Caesium

Same as Game, I have recently dropped some cash in the department getting Calvin's, Natalia's, and Joel Grimes' vids. I will play with what I have for a while. =)

Where did you find the oel Grimes' vids? Cannot find them in the website (amazing pics there! I saw all his pictures).

[bdeshazer]

Originally Posted by Quantum3

Where did you find the oel Grimes' vids? Cannot find them in the website (amazing pics there! I saw all his pictures).

Try his blog here:

http://web.me.com/joelgrimes/Joel_Gr...ial_Video.html

[skydog]

Good question Quantum3...I did and was wondering the same

[skydog]

Caesium..can you provide some feed back regarding the DVD's you bought. No need to tell me all the "woooo secrets" but who do you feel the DVD's are geared to? Novice? Someone with experience? And I assume you know the difference. Did a particular DVD take you to a new level and would you recommend it to your best of friends and tell them "damn right it is worth the money". I did notice that Joels DVD started out at $99...amazing. I know it is only one...but it does give one a choice to buy exactly want you want vs buying more of what you don't.

[Karl Taylor]

Hi Everyone,
I thought I would help clear a few things up here on this post. Our money back guarantee is exactly that and there is no small print! Our photography DVDs are our main thing and what we do best. For retouching Pros then our retouching DVD will be nothing new but for newcomers and intermediate level then it has some very useful stuff. We trust people not to abuse our guarantee and we offer higher level training downloads for free via our site to those customers that bought the DVD and don't return it and who want more knowledge from us. We also have a whole series of bonus photography videos for our customers that are completely free and are delivered by email every two weeks. My main skills are in capturing great photographs and that's what I teach best, in actual fact you won't find any better photography training on DVD, our Photoshop DVD is aimed primarily at photographers who want to improve their images but I would say is at mid level, the page on our site clearly describes what is covered on the DVD but as I mentioned we also offer a couple of more advanced bonus tutorials to customers via our site. Also as calvinhollywood said it is actually a lot more expensive to produce properly replicated DVDs than you might think, especially our photography ones, our fashion photography title was filmed in the studio, London and Paris - I'm sure you can start to imagine the production costs on this sort of project! Our price remains reasonable on the Photoshop one because in the costs of producing several titles this one wasn't too bad, as it is all filmed in my studio and there are no models to pay!!

Anyway I'm new to this forum so if you have any quesitons about our stuff you can email us through our website.

All the best
Karl.

[_jason_]

Originally Posted by flexmanta

The cost of producing a DVD? What's that, a good microphone, a computer, a screen capture software, a well written script, and some pre-made exercises? For something that you can learn at an academy that will cost you less and will give you a certificate with high chances of getting a full time job?

Well, with all respect. I do not believe that a "good" DVD production traces down to having average or even better multimedia devices and skills. Althought some people producing that style of learning DVDs (unfortunately) may (think us) believe that.

A just more big problem is, that some of such productions merely teach you the usage of the Adobe Photoshop "Healing Tool" and how to move sliders in the "Curves" panel. I mean, that is something you do not have to be teached for hours because it's usually intuitively enought to discover.

My opinion is, that there are much too less real power tricks and there are much too less essential basics of color and lighting theory and visagistic techniques, anatomics and more of such important things for successfully mastering a retouching.

Most of such learning sources unfortunately focus merely on the technical side of working with Adobe Photoshop (which by the way isn't exactly the most intuitive, most productive and most efficient software ever developed...). And that's really sad.

[Flashtones]

Originally Posted by Karl Taylor

Hi Everyone,
I thought I would help clear a few things up here on this post. Our money back guarantee is exactly that and there is no small print! Our photography DVDs are our main thing and what we do best. For retouching Pros then our retouching DVD will be nothing new but for newcomers and intermediate level then it has some very useful stuff. We trust people not to abuse our guarantee and we offer higher level training downloads for free via our site to those customers that bought the DVD and don't return it and who want more knowledge from us. We also have a whole series of bonus photography videos for our customers that are completely free and are delivered by email every two weeks. My main skills are in capturing great photographs and that's what I teach best, in actual fact you won't find any better photography training on DVD, our Photoshop DVD is aimed primarily at photographers who want to improve their images but I would say is at mid level, the page on our site clearly describes what is covered on the DVD but as I mentioned we also offer a couple of more advanced bonus tutorials to customers via our site. Also as calvinhollywood said it is actually a lot more expensive to produce properly replicated DVDs than you might think, especially our photography ones, our fashion photography title was filmed in the studio, London and Paris - I'm sure you can start to imagine the production costs on this sort of project! Our price remains reasonable on the Photoshop one because in the costs of producing several titles this one wasn't too bad, as it is all filmed in my studio and there are no models to pay!!

Anyway I'm new to this forum so if you have any quesitons about our stuff you can email us through our website.

All the best
Karl.

Classy, honest and forthright.

Welcome to RetouchPro, I hope you'll stick around.

[Quantum3]

Originally Posted by Karl Taylor

Anyway I'm new to this forum so if you have any quesitons about our stuff you can email us through our website.

All the best
Karl.

Hey Karl... Glad to have you here... You know that most famous photographers and retouchers are in retouchPro? Every single one! Hope you stay here too

[rizkhanpsy]

Anyone bought the DVD.

[Caesium]

Hey Sky, I would be happy to provide some feedback but I get long winded so it will have to be tomorrow. Promised the wife some move time. =)

[Caesium]

OK, here goes....

Before we get started, I will define some terminologies I will use. Novice to me is someone who is just learning photoshop. They know a few tools and are probably blurring to get soft skin. Intermediate users know their tools and are beginning to work with some of the cool features in photoshop such as layer masks, clipping masks, and blending modes. Advanced users know their tools and the cool stuff by heart. They are good but don't know it all just yet, however, they can easily use photoshop to earn a living. And finally, for the expert user, photoshop ceases to be a program and transcends to an artistic medium. They are usually specialized in their area of interest but there are some who truly "Know it all".

That said, all the videos I will speak of here are geared toward an intermediate to advanced user. Natalia, by all rights, is an absolute expert in Beauty retouching. I cannot speak to other areas because she only covers Beauty in her video. Calvin is a generalist, realist, and most certainly an expert. He is more on the compositing and edgy retouching side of things but also talks beauty, body sculpting, and basic manipulation. Lastly, Joel is much more like me than the last two presenters, as he is an expert in photography. As for photoshop, he is on the far upper end of advanced users (at least from what I can tell form the videos). I think it is very rare for a really good photographer to also be a really good retoucher. Both activities take up massive amounts of time and if they are the busy in the least, I can't imagine how they balance it out (Dave Hill is one of the few who comes to mind that is both. Heck, even Greenberg farms out some of her work). Now then, on to the videos...

First up, Beauty and Hair Retouching By Natalia Taffarel. If you want to learn HIGH QUALITY beauty retouching, I think this is the definitive video to buy. As best as I can tell, every trick and tool used today to get ad campaign quality retouches is explained in deep detail. That said, it is loooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggg! While I think everyone but near expert level users will get something from the video, watching it start to finish is a job unto itself. This is video is not about happy happy, joy joy fun times, it is a 400 level college course. You don't take it to be entertained, you take it to learn the top information in the field of study. Natalia, please don't be angry. You are very personable, however, I hope you would agree that this video's primary goal is to teach.

My final conclusion: If you are at all interested in high end beauty retouching, buy it! This is the definitive work on the current methods used in the industry.

Next up, Calvinize! by Calvin Hollywood. As I mentioned earlier, Calvin is a generalist in his teaching. You are going to get a ton of info on a wide range of subjects. In the end, however, Calvinize! is primarily concerned with extreme, edgy style retouching and compositing. The video is definitely geared toward the intermediate user but I would be amazed if even the highest advanced user didn't lean a new trick or two. One thing I really liked about the video was its chapters are really short. Most run about 5 minutes, are direct and to the point of the subject they are on, and get you in, out, and on your way. For me, Calvin is the most entertaining presenter of the 3 here (and probably the most entertaining of any video instruction I have ever seen). This guy is just fun. I want to host a workshop for him just so I can go have a beer with the guy.

My final conclusion: I don't think it is any secret that I loved Calvin's video. It is broad in areas covered yet has a focused look that it addresses. If you like Calvin's work in any way, you should buy this video. Heck, at under $100 you should buy it even if you don't like his work just in case you ever change your mind. I feel Calvinize! by far is the best value of the videos available today.

Lastly, Post Edgy Photoshop Techniques, HDR Backgrounds that Rock, and Take the Mystery Out of Lighting by Joel Grimes. With these video you get what you see, especially with the Post video which is what people seem to be most interested in. Just as he states, the Post video is a walk through of him editing an image of the rapper Mustafa and then dropping him into a background, and nothing more. Joel states this in the description but, as I well know, we all want to expect the world even when we are told we are not getting it. I have been asked if after watching the video if one could do the Nike style looks that he has in his port. I am sure they are a derivative of what you see in the Post Edge tutorial, however, as a commercial photographer, I am sure anything that was going to land on a Nike art director's desk had a lot more work put into it than you could get done in 24 minutes. Furthermore, you NEED to have the right images to start with to make this look shine. Just like Dave Hill or Jill Greenberg, if you don't have their style light to start you are never going to end up with an image that looks similar to their style. Joel covers this lighting style in his lighting video if you are the photographer/retoucher, as well as several other lighting scenarios (all utilizing strobe). I will say this, I think Joel has some bad habits with his lighting. Sure, he does a fine job shooting himself (and I am guilty of some of things he does), but as a college instructor of photography, I would never teach those habits to my students. I have neglected the HDR video for a while now, mostly because it just teaches you his approach to HDR. Again, it covers exactly what is says it covers and if you like his backgrounds, you will learn how to get similar results.

My final conclusion: These videos are very different than the first two. Rather than address a general area of retouching, they are laser focused on one specific subject. If you want to learn how to do exactly what is shown in the sample images (exception being the lighting video, which is a little more broad), they will give you exactly that. This is my harshest review of the three so I feel the need to say that I do like Joel's videos, am happy with my purchases, and would do so again with given the knowledge I have now. So, if you like Joel's work and like the examples he shows and want to learn his techniques to get those images, buy them!

Hopefully this will help some of you with your decisions. I will do my best to answer any additional questions anyone may have on any of the videos covered providing it does not require revealing specific information covered in the videos (I.E. I won't tell you what goes into the 2080 layer). Anything else, I am happy to help!

[dmeadows]

Hi Karl, greetings from oop north. Good to see a Brit doing well in the world's high level tutorial DVD circuit. I'm sure I'll pick it up, along with Natalia's (Ms. Taffarel's sample clips are in and of themselves extremely informative, and her voice is cute :3 ) at some point before summer.

[Quantum3]

The landscape series wasn't so good.

[skydog]

Quantum...always like feedback, but could you be more specific...thanks