Sparkling eyes and Shaping Lips in Hollywood

[Donamai Member Find all posts View Profile Close Donamai]

Hello to all of you!!!

I am so glad I am a member because I have gained great
amount of knowledge and found solutions to problems
I could not even thought of.


For the last 3 years , I have worked for a restaurant where I have
met actors and performers of different types here in Hollywood

Four months ago, I mentioned to one of the waiters that
I use photoshop to retouch pictures in my spare time and
he asked me if I could retouch a portrait of his. He said he
did not like his lips in that picture and if I could even them out.
He game the picture and I worked on it. I have become a
little better at playing with PS 7 so a gave it a shot.


To make a long story short, I fixed the lips and eyes
on it---It took me a long time but I succeded. I did
not think I did a great job on it but I gave it back to
him on a cd.

I was rewarding when he said that he liked it a lot
and as a result he recomended me to his acting class.
I only charged him $ 5.00 dollars since I did not know
how much to charge for it and because I did not even printed.

Next thing, I had twenty more pictures to fix from
his acting class. (I think they all decided to send me
their pictures because I charged five bucks for the job.)
Of course I would not charge the same price
after that small masive amount of pictures.

The problem I had was how to get them printed.
I have never used a photolab to print digital photos
so I printed them on a borrowed printer.
Don't ask me how good they were! At least
I got "thank you, they look great"

To this day, I still get actors through this little job I did.
I have thought about doing some extra money with this
as a hobby for a while until I get enough work to open
a "maybe small bussiness" here in Hollywood.

Here in Hollywood pictures are used a lot even on
the web to show the actors face. Do you think
I could make some extra money here in retouching
lips and eyes for actors? This could be a good market.

I want to know if you guys can recommend a
good way to make money on this kind of retouching.
Simple eyes or lips and skin maybe
Could this be posible?
.

I worked on my brother's computer and I want to have
the right tools for it.

*What kind of computer would you recommend? PC or Mac?
*Would it be better to just play with a late version
of photoshop? PS 7, PS 6?
*Would you recomend a good scanner?

I don't know anything about printing pix so how can
I make the most out of photo lab?

Anyway, I only want to do this as a hobby for a while.
I know it would not be a full time money earning job but
it would help.



I will also try to expand this buzz of a bussiness to the spanish
market since I deal with them a lot.
I have read the "how to open a bussiness" threads and they sure
helped a lot.!!

I would apreciate any info on this matter.

Thank you and keep retouching

[Legacy~Art Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Legacy~Art]

My pennies worth....

Hi Don...

I am by now means an expert, but like you i want to develop my hobby into a small business, that will only give me a job out of it, no biggy here, but your in the BEST place for the job, so my advice would be "Go for it" i sure do believe you can do it, and do you need the best equipment, well some will say yes, but i say you can do it if you have the right technique, if you have photoshop that is a great start, don't matter if you have pc or mac, don't matter if you have a graphix tablet and pen to a mouse, aslong as you got the technique.

Recently i grabbed every single action i could find on the net, then i went and bought Trimoon cd, and i found i don't need those actions, theyre just fancy toys, a good result is the time you take on the portrait your working on, go over it, take each stroke like your using a paint brush on a canvas. Use art paper or canvas, why i say this is this, last night i went to walmart asda supermarket they have a photolab there takes pictures from the digital camera media card, and the quality i got to say is carp from photo paper.

I got an old scanner, its not top notch but it does just what i want from it, i don't have a printer and don't have a clue how to get the best one, as i am not in full time employment, so money is abit tight for luxuries.

This is what i learnt from college, people who were graduating, going into fancy jobs with high qualifications on paper but no experience, and little common sense, usually fall on their faces, what counts hun is experience, your subjects given you compliments, if they hated it they would have took your picture, paid but you would never have got the 20 or more extra pieces to work on.

So pat yourself on the back and realise your good at what you do, so go and do it, give yourself that chance its a dream only a step away. Think of it this way in 5 years time you could not go with the dream and see someone in Hollywood doing the same idea as you have here and right now you got the reputation, so what the heckers you waiting for???

Good Luck if you need any other advice i am sure they will come along and give you more pennies worth...

Elle

Ps your welcome to email me or drop me a note on here.

[Donamai Member Find all posts View Profile Close Donamai]

Thank you!!

I have actually started doing some research on how to buy some good equitment to use this coming summer.

I will improve my skills and see what happens.

Thanks to those actors I mentioned before I am able to get constant work.
This would be a great way to start saving money to buy new equitment and software.

I will do it.

ok, thank you again for your info.

[Juliana Ross Member Find all posts View Profile Close Juliana Ross]

[QUOTE=Legacy~Art]Hi Don...


Use art paper or canvas, why i say this is this, last night i went to walmart asda supermarket they have a photolab there takes pictures from the digital camera media card, and the quality i got to say is carp from photo paper[QUOTE]

Your prints are only going to be as good as your lab technician. I have been working in photofinishing for about 15 years now (damn that made me feel old).....and I can tell you that a "machine jockey" usually does not have the experience to determine proper corrections and will not produce a good print.

Also, (just in my experience it may different elsewhere) Walmart tends to use the lighter weight paper, it is cheaper and you get more prints to the roll., but the texture is terrible. The paper we use where I work is twice the thickness of the paper stock I see from the big W

[Donamai Member Find all posts View Profile Close Donamai]

Thank you Jualiana

I am taking that into consideration.


I been looking around to see if I can find a good lab.
These days it is hard to find one that really puts "the mark"
on your pictures.


I will be comparing places for uncoming jobs. I have one lab
now the does my pix. I could tell you they do a fair job but
until I compare I will definetely see what's out there.

again thank you..

[Juliana Ross Member Find all posts View Profile Close Juliana Ross]

no problem Don

if you want to weed them out quicker, call around first.

Ask them if they correct the work or just print it out, that will tell you a great deal right there.
Ask how much and what type of experience the lab techs have.
Save you some time and money before you have them test prints done.

Call some agents too and ask them what thier usual format is. Know what kind of work they expect to see, it should keep the redo's down.
Most of the companies out here require 8x10 glossy prints with border and text of the actor's name.
Some others want bio information done on the back of the prints, for this type you may need to have a look at some print shops (different animal from the photo lab) that can do double sided printing for you at a reasonable cost.

Good luck with your venture

[Donamai Member Find all posts View Profile Close Donamai]

Thank you again Juliana

I will do that..

For future reference, I will post something about how it went.

See you later!!!

Thank you...