Professional Ret. Techniques in commercials

[pure]

sometimes i wonder how professional retouchers got their jobs done so good, due to the limited time there usually is in this stressful business.

is it just years of experience which makes them so fast or is there something left i dont know, wonder-applications, crazy techniques, new filters, and so on, which help them to improve the picture carefully with a perfect look but still in a very short period of time. for myself, i am working as retoucher since 8 month, 6 month in a fashion photographers’s studio and 2 month in my homeoffice.

i am referring especially to the skin problem. you cant click point-per-point with dodge and burn or healing brush if you have 10 or 20 nearly nude or bikini-images with a time limit of 5 days or so, in my opinion. (using Photoshop CS)

i am struggling a bit as i am currently working on commercial jobs and the time limit is exceeded. when i hurry up more i produce more mistakes or leave something which doesnt look so good.

using filters/blurs/and other techniques which cover whole areas of the skin/image isnt satisfying for some pictures and it just looks too soft. the problem is, that the photographers, shooting the popular billboard campaigns have very demanding and high expectations regarding a perfect skin without anything on it than decent visible but very sharp pors. they demand the original texture of the skin, which shouldnt look soft at all, only pores and shades, but no stains, spots, blurs, bruises, freckles and so on...

the question is, if its only possible to produce a high quality retouched picture having a certain amount of time or not? is it really hard work, with examining every little mini-inch of an image or are there hidden techniques which i am not aware of – still delivering high quality for commercial use?

[emarts]

Well, I don't do much skin work, but I do a lot of product images and cars. With the cars I will typically have about 100+ images that need to be retouched in about 2 weeks. It's really not that bad. You do so many of them you find ways to be more efficient. I don't use filters too much (except sometimes I'll add noise to match the film grain) but almost every image is like the one prior and you just get used to it.

For product shots you kinda get into a rythm. And then you're amazed how quickly you can get it done. This is why I don't like to get paid on an hourly basis. I tend to get penalized for being fast. Instead, I usually will charge a per image fee.

I suppose for models (skin) it's not too different. You just get better as you do more of them.

[Akbar Tahir]

Hello everyone
I just want all of you to look at my work and please have a close eye on skin texture and sharpness of the photograph..and important thing each of these photos have taken not more then 5 minutes.. i have quickest and best tools
please reply if anybody's interested

[pure]

Originally Posted by Akbar Tahir

Hello everyone
I just want all of you to look at my work and please have a close eye on skin texture and sharpness of the photograph..and important thing each of these photos have taken not more then 5 minutes.. i have quickest and best tools
please reply if anybody's interested

indeed very good. how so fast? this result would take me at least 5h in Photoshop. i am mostly beginning with the healing-brush. this takes me at least 1 h for a whole bikini body to remove the biggest errors in the skin and so on....

[Akbar Tahir]

wats you openion about this one ,,in my photgraphs photos are high quality retouched and they look like plastic doll coz i always love to preserve pros on faces that is why my photographs are well detailed there is no cloning,no healing ...please checkout my other threads...

[NancyJ]

Originally Posted by Akbar Tahir

Hello everyone
I just want all of you to look at my work and please have a close eye on skin texture and sharpness of the photograph..and important thing each of these photos have taken not more then 5 minutes.. i have quickest and best tools
please reply if anybody's interested

WAY overdone, IMO. Her skin looks like an orange peel - this is not attractive. Large deep pores are ugly, if an image is close and detailed enough to show individual pores (and 95% arent) they should be shallow and tight, not like giant crators

This took about 4 minutes, degrunged the skin - byRo has a tutorial on how to do this in the tuts section, then 50% opacity surface blur of original to soften the deeper pores and finished off with a colour adjustment layer.

[OnAir]

I would suggest writing actions, especially if you have shots with similar characteristic to work on. Certainly, less mouse/menu, more keyboard shortcuts. There is some time a psychological trap, when you are trying to get a perfect result, but you don't know how…trying more, loosing time. I often catch myself in this trap, and for me it means, that I overdid already! I go back for 20%, and it is OK.

[ronchy]

Hei Akbar

just saw ur before and after photos

im blown away!

how did you do the skin?

[PatrickB]

Pure,

there is a big border between cheap and expensive. Fashion magazines like Vogue etc. have good images, true. But they are not SO really good. They are very small and will be viewed one or two times, then the paper goes to the trashcan so there is no need to be super-accurate.

But the big deals, Alice as an example here (as a german you should know her ) is printed on 12 foot walls so those pictures are indeed done pixel by pixel.

After all, this is why they are a slight bit more expensive than a 20 Cent print in the photo-store

[i.ilievski]

Originally Posted by Akbar Tahir

Hello everyone
I just want all of you to look at my work and please have a close eye on skin texture and sharpness of the photograph..and important thing each of these photos have taken not more then 5 minutes.. i have quickest and best tools
please reply if anybody's interested

For quick facial or body retouch please try Kodak Digital_GEM_Air_Pro ...

[pure]

tried it.
they overuse it in the TV-newspapers and some ads.
it looks artificial. maybe using it and decreasing the kodak-layer to 20% ?

[girish_lotus]

Originally Posted by Akbar Tahir

Hello everyone
I just want all of you to look at my work and please have a close eye on skin texture and sharpness of the photograph..and important thing each of these photos have taken not more then 5 minutes.. i have quickest and best tools
please reply if anybody's interested

hai

nothing can beat clone stamp i did in only 3 minutes to for this results

[shellby]

Tahir...

I see that you are using an image from my site.

Also come clean... you are not using Photoshop but another piece of software - why the big secret??

[stevek]

Tahir,

I think Shelby has made an interesting observation; I'd very much like to know what tools you are using to get a result like that in just 5 minutes (if you're not using PS and Ro's de-grunge technique, or something very similar).

I'm also curious as to why you haven't revealed your technique in any of your posts. I guess if you wanna keep it a secret that's fine, but I'm pretty sure there are a lot of members who would be very interested to know what the process is.

P.S. Shelby - I can't get to your website - I just get re-directed to Pipex - thought you might want to know.

[shellby]

yip, I need to sort out my hosting - Thanks anyway

Tahir... why be shy about it?

[cricket1961]

Well Tahir

I am glad that you have admitted that it is supposed to look plastic like. You have succeeded remarkably well. Whether you used a seperate piece of software as Shelby has suggested is your secret, although it is definetly achievable as you have said without cloning etc. in Photoshop. Scriptable even.
As many of you have seen from previous posts I do everything pixel by pixel. But I don't eliminate the need for cloning or healing.

Back to Pure's original frustration, you need to take the time that is needed to get the job done right. On my fashion and Beauty retouching I typically take at least 3 hours for skin work. My site www.christarantino.com is still in the works but should be up next week with some great examples of before and after.

Deadlines do need to be met. Understood. But you need to let the client, whether a photographer or a studio, know what a realistic time is truly going to be for the quality they are expecting. I have found that if you stick to that deadline and deliver the results then you have found a returning client.

Regards and good luck!

Chris

[crex]

Whether you used a seperate piece of software as Shelby has suggested is your secret

What software is this ?

Originally Posted by cricket1961

Well Tahir

I am glad that you have admitted that it is supposed to look plastic like. You have succeeded remarkably well. Whether you used a seperate piece of software as Shelby has suggested is your secret, although it is definetly achievable as you have said without cloning etc. in Photoshop. Scriptable even.
As many of you have seen from previous posts I do everything pixel by pixel. But I don't eliminate the need for cloning or healing.

Back to Pure's original frustration, you need to take the time that is needed to get the job done right. On my fashion and Beauty retouching I typically take at least 3 hours for skin work. My site www.christarantino.com is still in the works but should be up next week with some great examples of before and after.

Deadlines do need to be met. Understood. But you need to let the client, whether a photographer or a studio, know what a realistic time is truly going to be for the quality they are expecting. I have found that if you stick to that deadline and deliver the results then you have found a returning client.

Regards and good luck!

Chris

[shellby]

It is not actually what high end clients would want anyways. I did get PM regarding this software but i really dont think anything can over take Photoshop. Perhaps for the low end stuff it would be ok. It is something they have developed in Asia.

[pure]

hi chris

i sent you some mail (laperlanegra)

regards

peter

[rnbluvva]

I'd like to know what this new software is also.

You can PM me if you are willing to reveal the secret!

[bullys1974]

Tahirs work is really impressive ... done in 5 min ?
i´d love to see what you use tahir... pls share... would be great...

regards and have all a great season
mario

[phillip6653]

Why all the PM's can't we all know???

[Smokie]

Please let us all know how you to it in 5 mins

[noega]

Originally Posted by Akbar Tahir

Hello everyone
I just want all of you to look at my work and please have a close eye on skin texture and sharpness of the photograph..and important thing each of these photos have taken not more then 5 minutes.. i have quickest and best tools
please reply if anybody's interested

Hi;

I suposse there is a Photoshop Plugin, isn´t it?

If you want to say the tecnique, please mail me: vitagarcia@gmail.com

[stockriderman]

I don't get it. Why are you guys keeping it a secret. Why come here then? I thought we are here to share and learn.

Pathetic

[Nicky3]

The software is called CPAC

[Smokie]

thank you for letting everyone know what software you used. can you please tell me the price of this software.

[Nicky3]

It wasn't me who said about the software. I'm new here and read the posts and know that this looks like CPAC software. Its created in Thailand I believe. I do everything through photoshop. If you google it, I'm sure it will come up. Its fairly popular in Asia as photo studios in shopping malls need a quick but decent one button skin fix.

[chillin]

It is 3 steps program (not 10): select-generate, light opacity & dark opacity.
In between could be done some brushing, stamping & some more I didn't try yet.
Not much fun.

[shellby]

CPAC yes that was it

http://www.cpac.be/en/Products/Softw...C_imaging_pro/