An Introduction to Retouching

Friday, December 23, 2011
2 Days to Christmas or Day # 3 of Hanukkah

An Introduction to Retouching

     The Digital camera and the software that was created simultaneously with the camera allowed photographers, graphic artists, to do things that Leonardo Da Vinci would have marvelled at. Keep in mind also, that when you hire a photographer, he or she will be including their retouching skills as well.

I'm sure that when a commercial for a product is made for television and print (magazine) they have that specially-made $ 5,000.00 one-of-a-kind model, that has to look perfect, and have a colour that photographs perfectly as well.  However, for most photographers, the client will bring or send merchandise that will have the occasional "imperfection" or dust on it. As such, the photographer will be providing "retouched" images, among other services. That's why you're paying the professional what he or she was asking. Their "professional;ism" in their skill of photography has also entered the 21st century.

      I'm going to introduce this topic in "small steps". I've always found any book on Photoshop to be much too complicated for the average student who buys books. I also did the same when I taught pro photography. So, let's get started.

A Hubley Kiddie Toy # 458, Circa Late 1950's

It's a Chrysler Windsor COnvertible

Before

After 

  Far from  perfect.

It look "great" because it's small.

However, there certainly is a huge change.

 As a mentioned, we'll start off with "baby steps"

The first tool that I'll introduce is the "rubber stamp"

It's found on the left-side of Photoshop's working window.

Don;t forget that you can download "GIMP" for free, and it does many of the functions as it's cousin "Photoshop"

The top menu or menu bar

This shows you the many different controls for the "rubber stamp".

What the rubber stamp does is take a sample, then apply it to an area needing "repairs".

sHere is a more elaborate window showing you the many different functions that the rubber stamp or a brush can be altered to work with.

This is the"basic" top menu for the rubber stamp or a brush

The Top Menu

Just like an artist created 3D (3 dimensions) to a painting, so the photographer does so with lighting. 

Different highlights and shadows create 3D in a photo, and the 3D in a painting is done with different intensities and shades of the same colour (e.g. pink to crimson or deep red). 

This is a nice Manoil 1950's Car.

I'll research it later. 

It's the photo  that I took in my tiny studio, so it will need the basic improvements before I start to retouch it.

Here are the basic improvements:

1. Automatic colour improvement

2. Highlights/shadows improvement

3. Brightness/Contrast improvement

When I retouch, I like to work at a big magnification.

The idea here is to work at the high magnification, so that if you repair a small area and cannot see the old problems, then under a smaller magnification, you won't see the problems for sure ; just like the blue Hubley above.

sI like to have a duplicate image of what I

'm working with.

this allows me to see compare the before and after effects.

Here is a section of the Manoil that I would be working with.

sYou need to take a "sample" when working with the rubber stamp or brush.

You do this on a Mac by pressing the Alt" or "option" key on your keyboard.

sI looked for a clean area, and then took my sample

That's the sample area.

You then move the icon with your mouse to an area needing "retouching", and you simply press the or "click"  the mouse. THe rubber stamp then deposits the sample over a scratched or rusted, or flaked-off area.

sHere is that more complicated menu.

I usually don;lt need it for "everyday" retouching.

You can have the duplicate image side-by-side

or you can make it smaller and place it beside the working retouching image.

You can show the source and application are or you can have the source invisible.

Don't worry about making mistakes.

If you do, you have 2 options.

Option 1:

At the top horizontal menu

go Edit >>Undo

Option 2:

Open the history menu by

Window >> History

The history menu will appear, and you simply hold down the mouse, and drag on the last entry and 

place it in the garbage.

I'll start out with a small-sized rubber stamp. This allows me to work on small areas

and to clean them up. Once I have a larger enough cleaned up are, I can then increase the size of the rubber stamp, and clean up larger areas faster.

The small-sized rubber stamp when I start out.

The larger-sized rubber stamp after I've cleaned up an area  having used the smaller  rubber stamp..

A finished portion of the car.

     

      Why would I retouch a whole car?  I'd like to write a few books and it would be nice to illustrate the toys as they first appeared on the market. I'd probably keep some "beat-ups" to show people samples of what they'd find in the marketplace. 

      Don't worry about being perfect. Any new skill will take time. So start out on small projects, and then graduate to larger ones. As the expression goes - "Rome wasn't built in a day".

The Before Image

The After Image

I managed to figure out that the car did not have a steering wheel.

So I borrowed one from the Net, played around with it, and placed it in the photo.

I think it's a bit small proportionally to the size of the car.

So as always thanks for dropping by, and I bid you

a good morning, a good afternoon,and a good evening wherever you may be.