Essentials of Retouching Your Subject
Class Description
In this class you will learn the basics of photo retouching for skin, eyes, teeth, hair, and other issues, and also preparing an image for retouching by correcting in-camera issues. The goal is for students to be able to process and optimize their own images.All demonstrations and classwork will be done using Photoshop, so working knowledge of Photoshop is essential.Saturday morning we briefly discuss the past, present and future of retouching, followed by hands-on demonstrations and step-by-step instruction. We discuss image assessment and best-practices workflow for the most efficient and successful retouch. Tools of the trade: the Wacom tablet, and different softwares are introduced.
We break for a lunch provided by the Photo Center, and then work in depth with cloning and healing tools, customizing brushes, using layers and adjustment layers, masking, blending modes, and many more retouching methods. Our goal is to determine which tools and techniques can give us the most natural-looking results under a variety of circumstances, learning more tips and tricks, and evaluating the final result.
At the end of the day, students try out the techniques at home on their own images and return with the results for discussion on Sunday. Stock images to use are available for anyone who prefers not to share their own images in class.
Being able to critique one’s own work is a crucial part of good retouching, so throughout the course we will evaluate examples of successful or unsuccessful retouching work in the public domain.
Although many techniques covered can be done using Lightroom or other image processing programs with fine results, due to our two-day class time constraint all demonstrations and classwork will be done using Photoshop.
Topics Covered:
- Retouching a raw image versus a jpg image - why raw is preferred
- How to assess an image, including which standards to use
- Vision - how far to go?
- Basic techniques
- Color and exposure correction
- Removing color casts
- Contrast
- Skin: Removing unwanted blemishes, reducing wrinkles and dark circles, skin smoothing
- Eyes: adding contrast, removing eye veins, darkening eyelashes, shaping eyebrows
- Whitening teeth
- Contouring: dodging and burning
- Slenderizing the subject
- Hair: Adding highlights, repairing dark roots
- Different retouches for men and women
- How to use a basic Wacom tablet
- How to evaluate a retouch and developing your ‘eye’
Class Requirements
Class Requirements:
1) Experience with Photoshop CS5 or higher. We will only briefly review the how-to’s of layers, actions, cloning, healing, and blending modes in class.
2) Wacom tablet (if you do not have one, you may borrow one of ours for the class.)
3) Small flash drive (aka “jump drive”, “thumb drive”)
Because so many restorative techniques require layers, masking, drawing and other precise adjustments, this class uses Photoshop and Adobe Camera Raw only.
A Photoshop class is recommended if you have no working knowledge of the application. We offer Part 2 of our two-day Photoshop Workshop that teaches valuable layers and layer adjustment techniques. See class list for more information.
Class Schedule
Date |
Start Time |
End Time |
Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday, March 11th, 2015 | 10:00 AM | 4:00 PM | Digital Learning Center |
Additional Class Information
Class Images:
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About the Instructor
Corinne (CJ) Standish:
CJ studied drawing and photography at Art Institute Minnesota and photography and digital imaging at MCTC colleges. She has been retouching using Photoshop since 2005 and has fashion and portrait retouching clients in the US, Europe and Russia. She continually participates in retouching workshops to stay abreast of the latest techniques and software developments. CJ is also a portrait, event, and performance photographer.
Register for this Class
The cost of the "Essentials of Retouching Your Subject" class is: $165.00
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