Ways to speed up a retouch job

[Renato Gonçalve]

Guys, i'm about to land a job retouching some lookbook photos (about 40) and there's plenty of work to be done. Mostly is a dirty seamless background and skin.
Since I want to make a fine job -- not something that anyone charging half of the price could do -- I'd like to know if you guys have any good ideas that would speed things up. Something like workflow tips or specific ways to mask things out.
Basically, the skin is fairly done and the (white) background got really dirty over the course of the shoot.

Any ideas?

Also, any ideas on how to clean up sunglasses when cloning is by far not an option?

[skoobey]

Re: Ways to speed up a retouch job

If the silhouette is similar, and camera is static I would make a single clean backdrop, and just replace as much as I could between the shots.

Same goes for replacing texture on legs and arms, clean one image, and copy paste when they are in the same position(texture only, and same limb poses only).

Painting + noise for blank backgrounds works great for plain backdrops.

Doing a frequency split and painting in between the layers is great for reducing larger bumps and wrinkles in skin.

[AKMac]

Re: Ways to speed up a retouch job

The following approach works for me, but I know others have different MO's and what makes sense 'on paper' doesn't always feel good in practice.

With a large number of similar images try to bring the them all up to a finish in stages. So, for example, you might clean up all the BG's, then do all the rough spotting and cloning, then take mottling out of legs, then move on to clothing issues etc. etc. Not necessarily in that order, it depends on the nature of the images and your workflow. You may also find it useful at the start, to pick a random image, preferably not the first in the series, and work it to a finish, without being too perfectionistic, to give yourself an idea of how long the whole project is likely to take.
The main advantages in working in this way are 1/ You keep a fairly fresh eye and don't get 'bogged down' in any one image. 2/ You get 'onto a roll' with each particular part of the workflow. 3/ You produce a body of images that hold together in terms of treatment. 4/You have a better overview of how the whole project is progressing.

[skoobey]

Re: Ways to speed up a retouch job

@AKMac

Agreed!