Retouching Hermit
I can’t believe it’s been a month since my last post! How could I have let so much time pass by? We’ve been getting busy around the studio again, and while Bill has been shooting nearly every day of every work week, I’ve been busy with some back-to-back retouching jobs. After a small break over the winter, we began working again with a client that Bill has been shooting for, for nearly 20 years. They’re among the leading manufacturers of dance and gymnastics costumes in America. Starting in February Bill shoots for them roughly 2-3 weeks per month up to December, though there are several breaks scattered throughout this time. Each photo shoot is a large job with multiple sets and many people involved to keep it running smoothly. They output roughly 5 main catalogs, some twice a year, and various other supplements and publications. The first to be printed this year is their line of leotards for gymnasts. They have two different catalogs for this; one is a higher-end series for performance and the other is a little more light and fun.The following images first show the raw image developed without any adjustments. The following paired images afterwards show the raw developed WITH adjustments followed by the final retouched photo. You’ll notice that through tweaking the RAW file, more contrast and better flesh tone were achieved, giving me an advantage before even developing the file.
In order to give the skin tones pop while editing RAWs, I use the Color Editor feature in Capture One PRO to make a selection of the skin tone, then boost the saturation and/or lightness depending upon the lighting conditions. Afterwards, I just save the ICC profile and am able to use it again for other images. I have created several of these, all dependent upon the lighting of the image, the skin tone of the model, and various other criteria. This method helps greatly helps minimize steps that would later be taken in retouching the file.
2 comments
Very well done you two. Also great lightning.
Please tell bill some greetings from his german friend.
Keep on going… great Team
lg Calvin
Thank you so much Calvin, it is always a pleasure to hear from you! I’ll make sure to give Bill your message :)!
-Shana
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