I've been helping a little with the development of Athentech's new image perfection software-Perfectly Clear Complete version 3. The team has created a really useful plug-in for Photoshop and Lightroom that enhances proofs and really adds finishing touches to selects. I decided to work with one of my favorite models, Vanessa Guilemette, to show some PCCv3 magic. Clean face & clean face with Beautify + The left-hand photo is of Vanessa with her face freshly washed and her hair straight from the shower. She is lit with a beauty dish about … [Read more...] about Does Digital Makeup Work? Comparing Real World to Perfectly Clear Complete version 3
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Live: Mastering Photos for Mac Extensions with Mykii Liu and Richard Harrington
You gotta join us live for our next Live Webinar, totally free of charge. Not only will you learn terrific techniques, but if you tune in live, you can be entered to win excellent prizes to help you in your work. (Note: MUST BE TUNED IN LIVE TO WIN). We'll be giving away two copies of Athentech's new extensions for Photos for Mac. Plus you never know what else. We kick off Tuesday, September 20th at 1:00 pm Eastern, 12:00 pm Central, 11:00 am Mountain, and 10:00 am Pacific. 2:30 pm in Newfoundland. Check here and it'll show your local … [Read more...] about Live: Mastering Photos for Mac Extensions with Mykii Liu and Richard Harrington
Live: Mastering Photos for Mac Extensions with Mykii Liu and Richard Harrington
You gotta join us live for our next Live Webinar, totally free of charge. Not only will you learn terrific techniques, but if you tune in live, you can be entered to win excellent prizes to help you in your work. (Note: MUST BE TUNED IN LIVE TO WIN). We'll be giving away two copies of Athentech's new extensions for Photos for Mac. Plus you never know what else. We kick off Tuesday, September 20th at 1:00 pm Eastern, 12:00 pm Central, 11:00 am Mountain, and 10:00 am Pacific. 2:30 pm in Newfoundland. Check here and it'll show your local … [Read more...] about Live: Mastering Photos for Mac Extensions with Mykii Liu and Richard Harrington
Instant Replay: Getting Started with Perfectly Clear (with Rich Harrington)
Join us for a free webinar to learn more about the Perfectly Clear Plugin for Photoshop and Lightroom. This amazing tool offers one-click corrections to perfection to bring out the best in your photos. This webinar will walk you through all of the essentials from working with presets, to customizing adjustments, to batch-processing your own photos. If you're looking to save time, then don't miss this session. You'll learn why 30 million prints a day are processed with Perfectly Clear and how you can take your photos to perfection in no … [Read more...] about Instant Replay: Getting Started with Perfectly Clear (with Rich Harrington)
Instant Replay: Portrait Retouching with Perfectly Clear
I'm a full-time people photographer--my living depends on me making portraits of people that represent them in the best way possible. I study lighting and posing techniques to get the best results possible when I'm making the pictures, and I am always practicing seeking the best finishing techniques so my pictures will look their best when I show them to my clients. In this webinar, I'll be demonstrating how Perfectly Clear makes my workflow fast, and makes my pictures look better much faster than I can make them look better in Lightroom and … [Read more...] about Instant Replay: Portrait Retouching with Perfectly Clear
Lightroom Hangout: Powerful Portrait Retouching with Kristina Sherk
You gotta join us live for our next Google+ Hangout, totally free of charge. Not only will you learn terrific techniques, but if you tune in live, you can be entered to win excellent prizes to help you in your work. (Note: MUST BE TUNED IN LIVE TO WIN). We'll be giving away a copy of Perfectly Clear from Athentech. Plus you never know what else. We kick off Monday 1/18 at 2:00 pm Eastern, 1:00 pm Central, 12:00 pm Mountain, and 11:00 am Pacific. 3:30 pm in Newfoundland. RSVP here and it'll show your local time. This Month: Powerful Portrait … [Read more...] about Lightroom Hangout: Powerful Portrait Retouching with Kristina Sherk
Lightroom Hangout on Monday: Powerful Portrait Retouching
You gotta join us live for our next Google+ Hangout, totally free of charge. Not only will you learn terrific techniques, but if you tune in live, you can be entered to win excellent prizes to help you in your work. (Note: MUST BE TUNED IN LIVE TO WIN). We'll be giving away a copy of Perfectly Clear from Athentech. Plus you never know what else. We kick off Monday 1/18 at 2:00 pm Eastern, 1:00 pm Central, 12:00 pm Mountain, and 11:00 am Pacific. 3:30 pm in Newfoundland. RSVP here and it'll show your local time. This Month: Powerful Portrait … [Read more...] about Lightroom Hangout on Monday: Powerful Portrait Retouching
Photofocus Hangout: Portrait Retouching Like a Pro, with Kevin Ames
You gotta join us live for our next Google+ Hangout, totally free of charge. Not only will you learn terrific techniques, but if you tune in live, you can be entered to win excellent prizes to help you in your work. (Note: MUST BE TUNED IN LIVE TO WIN). We'll be giving away a copy of Perfectly Clear for Lightroom and Photoshop. We kick off Wednesday 12/30 at 1:00pm Eastern, 12:00pm Central, 11am Mountain, and 10:00am Pacific. 2:30pm in Newfoundland. RSVP here and it'll show your local time. Kevin will show some basic techniques as well as … [Read more...] about Photofocus Hangout: Portrait Retouching Like a Pro, with Kevin Ames
Free Portrait Retouching Webinar
I'm a full-time people photographer--my living depends on me making portraits of people that represent them in the best way possible. I study lighting and posing techniques to get the best results possible when I'm making the pictures, and I am always practicing seeking the best finishing techniques so my pictures will look their best when I show them to my clients. Here's the G+ page to RSVP. In this webinar, I'll be demonstrating how I use Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, and Perfectly Clear. I'll focus on how I've sped up my workflow while … [Read more...] about Free Portrait Retouching Webinar
Tips for Restoring Scanned Slides and Negatives
If you've had the pleasure of converting film slides of days gone by to the digital format, you may have experienced that bittersweet feeling of excitement mingled with a tinge of disappointment upon first viewing the dust, debris and tiny fibers accumulated by storage over the years in the scanned result. Building on a recent post, Digitally Converting Slides and Negatives with Jumbl, in this video tutorial we'll take a look at a few simple techniques to help reverse the ravages of time and bring new life back to these important keepsakes by … [Read more...] about Tips for Restoring Scanned Slides and Negatives
Fast Retouching in Photoshop with Wes Maggio from Wacom
Wes Maggio from Wacom joins us to share a quick tip on processing a portrait of Skylar he shot in the desert in Las Vegas during Photoshop World last month. Starting in Lightroom, Wes works through the develop module, but then jumps into Photoshop for a window replacement made easy by using a Wacom pen tablet. https://youtu.be/8jfBbRFjg6I Wes is a Senior Evangelist for Creative Products at Wacom Technology. He can be found on Twitter here or at the Wacom Community website here. … [Read more...] about Fast Retouching in Photoshop with Wes Maggio from Wacom
Apply the Right Amount of Retouching with Perfectly Clear
We have all seen beautiful portraits ruined by aggressive retouching. How can we tell if a portrait crosses the abusive retouching line? Its simple, if the persons own mother doesn't recognize them, youve gone too far. Thankfully there are many retouching programs that help us achieve pleasing results. My newest ally in the retouching battle is Perfectly Clear by Athentech. For years Photo labs and Photo Kiosks have been using Perfectly Clear (in fact 30 million prints a day on average). Its fast and does a great job at batch retouching. Most … [Read more...] about Apply the Right Amount of Retouching with Perfectly Clear
Perfectly Clear Skin Smoothing
Finally, a digital soft focus filter like Zeiss' Softar 2 I've been exploring Perfectly Clear 2.0 for proofing for a while now. It's great for doing a quick pass on a set of portraits to reduce blemishes, soften skin and generally enhance a take so clients could select their "hero" for final retouching. It occurred to me that some of the settings Perfectly Clear has for skin smoothing could be combined with standard Photoshop retouching techniques to achieve the effect of an old filter not used since days of shooting film... The … [Read more...] about Perfectly Clear Skin Smoothing
ParticleShop – First Look
When Corel, the people behind Corel Paint, announce that theyre releasing a Photoshop and Lightroom plugin it peaks ones interest, so I bought the Starter Pack and gave it a try. Starting image for this post comes from Fotolia Starter Pack As an online purchase the download was fast and the installation was quick and easy. The Starter Pack plugin comes with 11 different brushes and costs $49.99 (Appx 32.50 / 44.60). Full brush sets can be added for a 24.99 for me here in the UK, thats about $38, so I was in no rush to start filling my … [Read more...] about ParticleShop – First Look
Simple Portrait Processing in onOne’s Perfect Photo Suite
It's well-known that the Perfect Photo Suite is great for adding effects, replacing skies, and adding texture. But did you know that it is also a great place to process portraits? Here are a few methods you can use to process a portrait (or a group of portraits) in onOne's Perfect Photo Suite: Perfect Portrait One of the more obvious ways to edit a portrait is to use the Perfect Portrait module. Here's how it works: 1. First, open a photo into Perfect Portrait. You can do this through Lightroom (File > Plug-in Extras > Perfect … [Read more...] about Simple Portrait Processing in onOne’s Perfect Photo Suite
Perfect Skin Retouching with onOne’s Perfect Portrait
onOne's new Perfect Portrait 9 is such a versatile tool, it makes portrait retouching simple and easy. I created a short video demonstrating how I use the tool when retouching a model's portrait. This style of portrait tends to be more glamorous, using more skin smoothing and shaping than regular portraits. (Download the free demo here and try it out yourself). http://youtu.be/S55osPWYnpo Tips to Remember Select the Smart Photos option. Smart Photo are a special PSD format that allows you to save your settings and masks. Apply a heaver skin … [Read more...] about Perfect Skin Retouching with onOne’s Perfect Portrait
The Strain Photoshop Retouch
Learn how to create an effect similar to the "Strain" poster in Photoshop, using stock images, Puppet Warp, Layer Styles, Filters, and more! | IceflowStudios.com … [Read more...] about The Strain Photoshop Retouch
Remove Wrinkles in Photoshop
In this video, you'll learn how to quickly remove wrinkles from your images in Photoshop. Disclaimer: This is only one way to remove wrinkles in Photoshop. … [Read more...] about Remove Wrinkles in Photoshop
How Watching Makeup Tutorials Can Help Beauty Retouching
Over the weekend, I spent a lot of time with some very talented photographers and beauty retouchers. Beauty retouchers are the talented folks behind those makeup ads that make the skin, teeth, hair and coloring look real and perfect while still keeping the genuine lines and textures of the skin. In some of the interviews conducted, we asked the beauty retouchers specifically what type of educational resources they watch or read to inspire themselves to better their skills. And one of these talented artists gave advice that you may not have … [Read more...] about How Watching Makeup Tutorials Can Help Beauty Retouching
Replacing Bad Skies in Post
We all have tons of images that could be so much more compelling if it weren't for that blasted dull sky. You know that giant gray nothingness that seems to suck the power right out of your masterpiece. In my view, an awesome sky can totally change the mood, feel and drama of a landscape image. It is a huge component of the final composites I create for clients. I will be the first to admit that clipping skies can be a tedious drag. I have, to some degree, made peace with it taking the Zen approach, The journey is the adventure, enjoy every … [Read more...] about Replacing Bad Skies in Post
The Practice of Pre-Visualization
As far as I know the great Ansel Adams coined the idea of pre-visualization. In its basic form, it is the idea of visualizing the final image at the moment you are clicking the shutter. Ansel mastered this practice to epic levels. He is legendary for taking copious notes about the exposure and scene and then applying his complex development and printing techniques to achieve the image he carried around in his head. His mastering of the Zone System is the result of this practice. Today we have many tools available to us to create and tweak … [Read more...] about The Practice of Pre-Visualization
Glyn Dewis, Ron Pepper, Kevin Stohlmeyer | Photofocus Podcast 1/5/14
This week's show features three interviews with three experts in the photo industry. Melissa Niu catches up with photographer and retoucher Glyn Dewis. Then Rich Harrington welcomes back Ron Pepper to talk about changes to HDRSoft's Photomatix. Finally Kevin Stohlmeyer discusses strategies to learn new tools and techniques for post-processing and publishing. Here is the new podcast feed: feed://feeds.feedburner.com/photofocuspodcast Get the show here or get it on iTunes Don't forget to post a review on iTunes. Glyn Dewis Glyn Dewis is a … [Read more...] about Glyn Dewis, Ron Pepper, Kevin Stohlmeyer | Photofocus Podcast 1/5/14
Photofocus Podcast with Special Guest Katrin Eismann
NOTE NOTE NOTE NOTE NOTE: The Photofocus Podcast Feed HAS CHANGED! Here is the new feed: feed://feeds.feedburner.com/photofocuspodcast Get the show here or get it on iTunes PLEASE BE PATIENT - OUR SERVERS SEE LARGE LOADS ON PUBLISHING DAYS. THE DOWNLOADS MAY GO SLOWLY BUT THEY WILL FINISH. Join Rich and Scott as they discuss the "Reset Concept." Learn how to deal with a shoot with everything seems to be going wrong. Learn how to mentally reset as well as how to reset your gear so you can make a fresh start. The second half of the show … [Read more...] about Photofocus Podcast with Special Guest Katrin Eismann
Retouching & Post Production In The Days Before Photoshop
Most reading this have always had something like Photoshop to help them with their photographic retouching. But I came across this old job description for photographic process workers and thought I would post it. It gives both a historical look at the job and helps to put in context what we do today. How would you like this to be your daily routine? * Dry prints or negatives, using sponges and/or squeegees, mechanical air dryers, or drying cabinets. * Examine developed prints for defects such as broken lines, spots, and blurs. * Mix ink or … [Read more...] about Retouching & Post Production In The Days Before Photoshop
Make-Up & Retouching Make Better Portraits
Post & Photo by Note: The lighting and exposure for both of the above photographs are identical: Canon EOS 5D, EF 85mm f/1.8 lens, Gossen Luna Star F-2 flash/ambient light meter, Westcott Strobelite Plus monolight with, 45-inch Optical White Satin Umbrella with Removable Black Cover, and fill from a 32-inch Sunlight Westcott Illuminator One of the biggest challenges facing aspiring portrait photographers is retouching. Out here in the real world, few of us are perfect. In fact Cindy Crawford once famously said, even I don't look like … [Read more...] about Make-Up & Retouching Make Better Portraits
Retouching – The Little Things Matter
Here's a quick little look at retouching. The bride shot above shows two different pictures. They are very, very similar, but the one on the left has some problems I solved with the result being the shot on the right. The bride's right shoulder was a bit too close to the reflector so her shoulder is a bit hot. I simply used Photoshop's Burn Tool - selecting a soft brush, and burned down the shoulder. Likewise the veil. The bride's teeth were a bit dark so I whitened them by using the Dodge Tool - again selecting a soft brush, and at 50%, … [Read more...] about Retouching – The Little Things Matter
Portrait Retouching in Two Minutes or Less
How did I go from the before to the after picture here in less than two minutes? First let's discuss what's happened. I adjusted the exposure, vibrancy and definition in Aperture. Then I exported to Photoshop. There I removed all catchlights from the eyes except for one using the Clone Stamp. I darkened the pupils, and brought out her natural eye color using the Burn Tool and Saturation Tool. I removed blemishes (don't remove birth marks) with the Patch Tool and then used a remarkable new product called onOne Plug-in Suite 4 to do the … [Read more...] about Portrait Retouching in Two Minutes or Less
