Retouching - The 8th Deadly Sin

Yesterday evening I posted a full edit of one of my photos from the afternoon's shoot at Physique Evolution Gym with Derby based Personal Trainer, Angela Silver.

Today I want to provide a photographers insight as to why achieving this image is so rewarding, the work that goes into it before and after the shutter is clicked.

It's also a great opportunity to shed some positive light on "retouching", which currently seems to be a bit of a taboo topic on social media platforms.

The below images are a before and after. The raw file that comes straight out of my camera with no adjustments compared to the final jpeg image.

I always try and do as much as possible in camera, get as close to the final image as I see it in my head. This helps me achieve more natural results and most importantly helps with a more efficient post production. Time is money people!

That's Just how I see it!

"Beauty is a question of optics. All sight is illusion" - Joyce Carol Oates

You could send 10 photographers into a room one at a time to photograph the same subject in the exact same environment. Chances are they'd all come out with completely different photos. That's the beauty of photography, everyone sees the shot differently.

That being said you are governed by the equipment you use. For me the most important thing I consider when planning a shoot is my lens choice. This will determine the overall look of the images, specifically the angles and depth of field.

To achieve a consistent look for the LOFT ONE12 brand I generally work with a limited selection of lenses. It's less complicated, I know my gear and I know what to expect.

Balancing the Light

Understanding light is everything. It's going to determine how and when I shoot.

After receiving a brief from Angela we decided to work more with the environmental lights. It'd be quicker and less complicated. We were shooting during a busy time at the gym so didn't want to cause a scene or make Angela feel uneasy.

However I also wanted to make sure I could achieve clean skin tones and introduce a little creative pop. So I used a single light set up that could be moved around and placed pretty much anywhere as it only took up about 6 inches of space. Small but mighty!

For this specific image I positioned the light at an angle that encouraged the light to feather across Angela. Balanced out with the ambient light this added depth to Angela's face and upper body, provided catch lights in her eyes (massively important in portrait photography), brought highlights into the darker areas such as hair, headphones and the bench and also caused an amazing light leak in the left side of the frame.

We've Only Just Begun

Once the photo has been taken there's so much more that can be done in post production, the scale is infinite. For me the fun part is enhancing what I've achieved in camera.

As I work with RAW files they come out a little "meh"... flat and lacking punch. So initially I look to correct this by working with my exposure and colours. Although I'm doing this on my computer, the theory is similar to a traditional dark room.

I experiment with different looks such as warmth and contrast until I'm happy with what's been achieved.

In this specific edit I mixed the colours up a little to add more interest. Notice that the highlights I created using the light have changed colour. I love how it looks on the headphones. Juicy!

I've also enhanced the highlights and shadows to add more contrast and depth. This couldn't have been achieved if the lighting wasn't right at the time of the shoot. Pop!

The Clean-up

Ok so now we get into the retouching or as I like to call it the clean up. It's really important that you have a good understanding with your subject on what they want the final image to look like. Some want more, others less.

For me I'm only looking to enhance what we've already achieved during the shoot. I have to think where do I want the viewer to look and then I have to help them with this decision. Generally your eye is drawn to the lightest part of the picture. In this instance that's Angela's face, specifically her eyes. The catchlights in her eyes, created by the light I used, keeps her eyes alive and really pushes her facial expression.

I work with the highlights and shadows to push the contrast and also to work on the natural contours of the face and body.

Generally mobile apps that have retouching filters tend to remove all contrast in order to soften the skin. This can cause the subject to lack depth, become flat and in most cases a little wide.

Following this I then look to remove spots and blemishes. My rule of thumb is that if it wasn't there last week and it's not going to be there next week, I'll take it off. Personally I don't see anything wrong with this. We've all woken up on picture day or date day with a pimple or two and cursed our bad timing. However I always take the subjects lead on this.

Mobile editing apps generally aren't smart enough... yet, so they tend to go a bit OTT. This often causes a blurry look like the person's face has been smudged.

It's really important in the clean-up stage to maintain and in some instances enhance the natural skin tones and textures. You want to be able to see pores and fine hairs to prevent looking like a porcelain doll.

So as you'll hopefully see there's not too much difference between the before and after, just subtle changes that tidy up and enhance the image.

However it does take time to get the balance right, sometimes I've gone way too far and sometimes not enough. But years of practice helps.

If you'd like any advice on how to get the most of your images feel free to get in touch.