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Retouching Career Options

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In this latest article for Retouching Academy I discuss the career paths available to budding retouching professionals, from remote-office workers to on-site staff.

If you’re seriously considering a future career in retouching, you’re undoubtedly aware of the huge range of potential options and specializations in the industry. From working fashion in-house, to remotely delivering an architectural interiors project, or assisting at a shoot as a digital operator, we get the option to experience a rewarding variety of work.

You can read the full article at retouchingacademy.com

~Daniel Meadows

Retouching Terminology, The Language of Post-Production

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In this article for Retouching Academy I discuss the language and terms you’re likely to encounter as a retoucher, particularly in an on-site, agency environment.

To anyone with years of working in commercial retouching the terminology comes naturally, but each of us remembers a time when the language of the industry wasn’t quite so clear. When speaking to an art director who is interested in hiring you it’s important to speak their language.

Clear communication and understanding between one another instills trust, helps you to deliver exactly what the client wants and gives that client the confidence that they are hiring the right talent.

Read the full article at retouchingacademy.com

~Daniel Meadows

Using a Wacom Tablet For Retouching

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Continuing my series of articles for Retouching Academy, I’ve looked into a common question from beginner retouchers, ‘how much do I actually need a graphics tablet?’

The computer mouse was invented over fifty years ago by inventor Douglas C Engelbart, and whilst ubiquitous at the modern workstation, it does have its limitations for fast and precise artistic work. Think how quickly and naturally you can sign your name on paper with a pen and imagine doing the same with a mouse in a paint application…

Read the full article here at retouchingacademy.com

~Daniel Meadows

‘Working For Free’ As a Retoucher

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I’ve recently had the pleasure of working closely with the fantastic Retouching Academy, where I’ll be regularly contributing to the blog and producing a number of video tutorials.

In this first article I’ve discussed one of the talking points in photography, retouching and the creative industries; ‘testing‘, ‘time for prints‘, ‘time for portfolio‘. Is it really free work?

In the creative industries right now, there’s been a surface of a long building outcry against the expectation from some quarters that we as professionals work for free, for the promise of future work, or for that old classic – ‘exposure’.

So when is the best time to take on testing projects? Read the full article at retouchingacademy.com

~Daniel Meadows

Industry Insider Article in Issue 3 of Retouched Magazine

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After a bit of a writing break I’m delighted to report that I seem to have fallen back into it. Keep an eye out for my article regarding the use of colour theory in advertising in Issue 3 of Retouched Magazine, where I explain relationships between hues, and why some classic palettes are used time and time again.

There’ll also be my top ten beauty and portrait retouching tips in a forthcoming issue of the UK’s fantastic Digital Photographer Magazine. Lots of of retouching tips!

I’ve been quite busy with a lot of very exciting projects recently, some of which I can’t wait to share, but I’m finding the time to write and teach good retouching practice again. Lots more to come, please follow my page over on Facebook to keep up to date.

Daniel

 

Inverted High Pass (IHP) Retouching Tutorial

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Using inverted high pass to smooth an area of skin (or anything including fabrics and seamless backdrops which we’ll also cover), is one of the most useful yet easy to overuse techniques in retouching.

It’s a fairly simple trick that smooths out a targeted radius in your image, allowing you to ‘blur out’ the shot while retaining a level of sharp texture that you control, then use masks to control the areas affected. [Read more…] about Inverted High Pass (IHP) Retouching Tutorial

Top 5 Photoshop Retouching Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

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Welcome to my top five list of Photoshop Retouching Mistakes. Aimed at the beginner retoucher (if you’ve been around a while you know all this) I’ve compiled five retouching crimes I see frequently.

I’m not going to go into massive depth with step by step tutorials, as I don’t believe in them. My apologies for quickly glossing over techniques I don’t have the space to go into in depth here, if as a beginner you’ve never used luminosity masking for example, consult Adobe’s help file, then use your imagination to play with your new selections, using various fills and adjustment layers. If any technique is new to you, go straight to that help file and then experiment before looking at any top ten Google tutorials. The single worst way to learn how to retouch is by looking through the millions of tutorials search engines throw up, because they’re simply saturated with ‘quick-fix’ ten step promises of perfection in under ten minutes. The truth is, perfection isn’t that simple, and neither is good retouching. So if you decided to add something to your Photoshop skill set today, make it what you take from this article. [Read more…] about Top 5 Photoshop Retouching Mistakes and How to Avoid Them