[Swampy]

Nobody's bashing you, Enkay. You are right, some folks like McDonalds.

[Alison]

Originally Posted by Amy.Read

Of course its not about making me feel better! It makes me angry that they are pretending to offer a service that they clearly cannot provide, theres a name for that, false advertising. It had nothing to do with my work, no body learns anything by compairing yourself to people below you, you help people that aren't as good as yourself and you aspire to the people above you otherwise you get no where.
And anyway they are actively taking business away from other people otherwise they wouldn't have a website still up, as it would be a financial burden. Not everybody knows what good retouching is so picture this:
Someone needing a retoucher could go through every crap, wannabe out there and never get round to you when you know you could do a great job and start a career from it. Its not mucking around its people's livelyhoods

Hi Amy,

They are offering a service, and if people are happy with that service .....

Not all folks want to pay out bundles of money to get their images fixed, not everyone wants a masterpiece as an end result.

Besides, if the not so goods didn't exist, then nobody would know what good was

[Amy.Read]

I think you hit the nail on the head with McDonalds.

It doesn't always come down to marketing, obviously its very important but there are always people that will get the cheapest deal out there...for example my Dad's a builder and when people ask several builders for quotes he's never the cheapest because he doesn't cut corners, but then something goes wrong when they hire the cheap builder and they ring my dad back and ask for help. And of course he helps, but they've spent twice as much as they would have in the first place.

[Amy.Read]

oops didn't mean to send that twice

[Alison]

Originally Posted by Amy.Read

I think you hit the nail on the head with McDonalds.

It doesn't always come down to marketing, obviously its very important but there are always people that will get the cheapest deal out there...for example my Dad's a builder and when people ask several builders for quotes he's never the cheapest because he doesn't cut corners, but then something goes wrong when they hire the cheap builder and they ring my dad back and ask for help. And of course he helps, but they've spent twice as much as they would have in the first place.

I understand where you are coming from Amy, but some people are more than satisfied with 'fixed' - as opposed to 'FIXED' .... if you know what I mean.

Enkay's points about promotion are worth a listen. If you're keen to get your name in every circle going, try doing some restoration/retouching work for a non profit organisation ... good way for many people to see your name in lights because you can say that as part of your 'free' service your name is added to the blurb.

Think about getting some istock images and producing your own calendar to promote your own work ...... I must do this next year with some photographs I have been saying I'm going to do it with for about the last 3 years

Think of ways that you can promote yourself.

[KR1156]

Amy, you want to become a great retoucher, practice ALL aspects of retouching, become great at masking and compositions. forget about skin, anyone can do it.....study and master color. all that only comes with major practice.

and def move past this thread!

[Sanda]

I'm not going to comment on the standard of his work but I do object to thestealing of the work of others.

[Amy.Read]

I'm not worried about advertising, I've had some exhibtions and my works going to be in Advanced Photoshop in January, I've got my site and I wouldn't want to promote too early on as I'm still learning. Using channels like Advanced Photoshop means that I can be in the magazine later, or on their site. I've just finished doing a work placement with McFaul and made some good contacts there.

As far as marketing goes I think you just need a business head on and its just a question of getting it done, on my course we've sort of been thrown into that stuff already, I dont mind marketing at all and its great to see results from it.

[Amy.Read]

Originally Posted by KR1156

Amy, you want to become a great retoucher, practice ALL aspects of retouching, become great at masking and compositions. forget about skin, anyone can do it.....study and master color. all that only comes with major practice.

and def move past this thread!

Thats some comical timing there, you're so right.

[KR1156]

only tip i can offer you at this point is when working on a file, that normally takes hours....take a 15 min break at the end, walk away from your screen....then come back and see all the mistakes you made. fine tune it. go in really deep, and search for any sign or trace of your retouching (smudged pixels, sloppy cloning, slightly off masks, etc.). that will make a huge difference in the quality of your professional work. those little things are huge.

ok, now get off this thread!

[Enkay]

Originally Posted by Amy.Read

I'm not worried about advertising, I've had some exhibtions and my works going to be in Advanced Photoshop in January, I've got my site and I wouldn't want to promote too early on as I'm still learning. Using channels like Advanced Photoshop means that I can be in the magazine later, or on their site. I've just finished doing a work placement with McFaul and made some good contacts there.

As far as marketing goes I think you just need a business head on and its just a question of getting it done, on my course we've sort of been thrown into that stuff already, I dont mind marketing at all and its great to see results from it.

Then you shouldnt worry about amateurs out there as you're obviously quite awesome at retouching and on a whole other playing field with a top notch marketing strategy.

[Amy.Read]

Oh please, as i said i'm still learning and in no way do i think i have it sussed.
Now who's bashing other people.

[BillFrey]

Geez, Enkay,

I just went to your website and now I know why you're so defensive.
One of the photos you used as an example is not yours to use.

[Enkay]

Originally Posted by BillFrey

Geez, Enkay,

I just went to your website and now I know why you're so defensive.
One of the photos you used as an example is not yours to use.

I know which one you're talking about. Third one in Basic Airbrushing.

That picture has been used in a tutorial to show how to smooth skin. I actually did that retouch myself and it's not the one from the tutorial. If you look closely you'll see I used a different technique and also fixed the eyebrow.

My website is not yet "launched" and all the pictures on it are gonna go soon anyway. It's all just place holders while I try some designs. Notice how half of the sections don't even work...

But thanks for accusing me of using other people's work!

[BillFrey]

I didn't accuse you of using some else's retouching work.
I said that photo is not yours to use.