Retouching is an essential skill for any photographer who wants to create stunning editorial images. Whether you want to correct colors, remove distractions, enhance details, or add creative effects, retouching can help you achieve your vision and impress your clients. In this article, you will learn how to use retouching skills to enhance your editorial work in six steps.
The first step to retouch your editorial images is to choose the right software for your needs and preferences. There are many options available, from Photoshop and Lightroom to Affinity Photo and Capture One. Each software has its own features, advantages, and drawbacks, so you need to do some research and try them out before deciding. Some factors to consider are the cost, the learning curve, the compatibility, the workflow, and the quality of the results.
Retouching skills are essential in enhancing editorial work, whether it involves photography, graphic design, or other visual content creation. Here are some ways you can use retouching skills to elevate your editorial work by: Color Correction: Skin Retouching: Background Cleanup: Detail Enhancement: Composition Adjustment: Image Restoration: Consistency Across Platforms: Creative Effects: Typography Integration: Brand Consistency:
In my experiences there is no difference between all mentioned software. One of the best professional software we can use, is "Photoshop". If we will be master in photoshop for example, we will be able to do everything in a photo manipulation like magician! Adobe's software like Photoshop, In Design, Premier, After effects and … all deal with images and all of them have their similarities and connectivity to understand and work.
The second step to retouch your editorial images is to organize and backup your files. This will help you avoid losing or damaging your work, as well as making it easier to find and edit your images later. You should create a consistent naming and folder system for your files, and use keywords, ratings, and labels to sort them. You should also backup your files regularly, either on an external hard drive, a cloud service, or both.
I think for a serious photographer lightroom is indispensable. You can create presets that to edit large sets of images for a more consistent look with the same exposure and color values. Photoshop is okay but for photography or images you should have lightroom. If you need creative effects there are plenty of plugins that can do that for you. I think when you have a clear vision of what you want before you start you can eliminate the need for excessive retouching.
The third step to retouch your editorial images is to adjust the exposure and white balance. These are the basic adjustments that affect the brightness and the color temperature of your images, and they can make a big difference in the mood and the message of your editorial work. You can use the histogram, the sliders, and the eyedropper tool to fine-tune these settings, and make sure that your images are not overexposed or underexposed, and that the colors are accurate and consistent.
Another useful editing way in this case by photoshop software is adjusting Shadows/Highlights. It let us to bring up the details in darkness parts of a photo as well as the details in brightness parts of it. These details were captured by camera but it might be hidden and we have to reveal it. Sometimes instead of adjusting exposure we can do it by adjusting Highlight/Shadows. The address for doing that is: Image > Adjustments > Shadows/Highlights Another alternative for adjusting white balance is Selective Color. By this command we can increase and decrease a cost of color in a photo. For example by decreasing Cyan, Magenta, Yellow from the white part of photo, we can reach the proper white balance. Image > Adjustments > Selective Color
The fourth step to retouch your editorial images is to crop and straighten your images. Cropping and straightening are simple but powerful ways to improve the composition, the focus, and the alignment of your images. You can use the crop tool, the grid, and the ruler to change the aspect ratio, the orientation, and the perspective of your images, and to remove unwanted edges or elements. You should also pay attention to the rule of thirds, the golden ratio, and the leading lines to create more dynamic and balanced images.
A word of advice, try to get it as right as humanly possible in the camera, that way you will save yourself time on fixing errors. Of course, there will be times you will need to use them no matter what.
The fifth step to retouch your editorial images is to remove blemishes and distractions. These are the small imperfections or objects that can ruin the aesthetics or the meaning of your images, such as dust spots, wrinkles, pimples, stray hairs, or wires. You can use tools like the clone stamp, the healing brush, the patch tool, or the content-aware fill to fix these issues, and make your images look cleaner and more professional.
Ohh boy... here we go... a very touchy subject, or should I rather say retouchy??? But I guess with all today's AI tricks, Instagram and TikTok filters, etc., retouching in Photoshop seems quite innocent ??♂? Done it right and tastefully, can enhance and elevate any portrait, though. To all those on the opposing side, think about why it's done. Human mind is a master of looking for flaws, and in photos—moments frozen in time—it has the whole eternity to do so ?? Once people stop looking and focusing on flaws, then retouching won't be necessary any longer - good luck, though??
The sixth and final step to retouch your editorial images is to apply creative effects and filters. These are the enhancements that can add some flair and personality to your images, such as contrast, saturation, sharpness, vignette, grain, or color grading. You can use tools like the curves, the levels, the HSL, the gradient map, or the camera raw filter to adjust these settings, and to create different styles and moods for your editorial work. You can also use presets, actions, or plugins to speed up the process and to get inspired by other artists.
This is the point in the process when you can make certain parts of the image draw the attention of whoever is looking at it. Once all of the color correction and cleanup is done, you can direct the focus to a specific point, or convey what the original purpose of what the picture meant to you. This part of the process is where the editor’s personality can be seen in the image, and give the image a deeper perspective.
Lo esencial cuando retocas fotografías es mantener un flujo de trabajo, seguir siempre la misma dinámica para que no te dejes ningún paso sin realizar.