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Learning and going to school for retouching
I have always had a passion for retouching and photo manipulation, so much that I would love to make a career out of it. I was wondering if any of you have any insight. Do you do this as a side job? Did you go to school (if so, how long)? How long did it take you to get where you are now? Thanks guys! Aug 20 09 09:40 am Link I shoot and retouch on the side ( Im more of a web designer ) although I do get some poster, cd cover jobs. I have just studied things online. There are som many resources nowadays , and cool places like www.lynda.com , and many books to buy on the subject. Im a slow learner, takes an awful long time for things to stick in my head. I started with Photoshop in 1997. . Aug 20 09 10:36 am Link pellepiano wrote: Thank you for that. I'm the same way with learning. grrr Aug 20 09 10:58 am Link Do you do this as a side job? Yes, I'm in my last year of nursing school. I would only suggest it as a side job since your workload will really vary. Some weeks I'm so swamped I put in over 60 hours of editing, while others I may only get 1-2 images a day. Its good money but its not consistent by any means. Did you go to school (if so, how long)? How long did it take you to get where you are now? No school, learned from tutorials, studying other people's work and trying things out myself. I've drawn inspiration from 100's of different sources. Don't be afraid to try something! Always challenge yourself. I started March of this year. In my opinion, either you have an eye for it or you don't. I've always been good with computers, so I think that may have helped the learning curve. My advice is to give it a shot. You'll find out within a few months if its for you or not. And don't be discouraged if it doesn't work well from the beginning. We all (or at least I did) started out blurring up faces and ruining pictures...its where you go from there that matters. Aug 20 09 10:59 am Link JL Retouching wrote: Wow thats all great. Aug 20 09 02:02 pm Link Do you do this as a side job? Yes. I think the majority of the people on this site do it on the side. Some of us have other computer related primary jobs, and others have something totally unrelated. I do research in brain imaging and will hopefully get a job in a Brain Injury Unit while doing my MSc next month. Did you go to school (if so, how long)? Nope. I'm self taught. I've been trained in photography and web coding, but nothing to do with PS and graphics. It's just a passion of mine. How long did it take you to get where you are now? Years and years. I started playing with free imaging editors before I ever got PS. My first real break into learning editing was getting PS7 like 6-7 years ago. I've mostly used it for art and graphics until I really got into photography. I mostly photograph architecture and landscape, so it wasn't until a couple months ago that I started retouching models. Dealing with skin and the subtleties of this type of retouching is in a whole different field than the kinds of things I've done in the past. For me this site (and this forum in particular) is the best place to learn what you need to know to excel. Do most of you guys use CS4? I use CS2 since I managed to get it for cheap and I can't afford CS4 with all my university fees and debt. I would obviously love CS4 but I'm not about to try to steal it online. CS2 works for me. There are some issues with opening certain types of RAW files because the plugin for CS4 doesn't work in lower versions. I've gotten around that by downloading Adobe DNG Converter to change the RAW file types I can't open into ones I can. Aug 20 09 04:36 pm Link I'll chime in: Do you do this as a side job? Yes, originally as my wife's retoucher, now I'm trying to branch out. Did you go to school (if so, how long)? No. Mostly yaught via video podcasts, online tutorials and many hours of work. I have taken one non-credit class on CS3 that was useful for explaining some concepts. How long did it take you to get where you are now? About 3 years and I'm at the point where I don't suck but I'm not self-delusional about my skills (a problem among most artists, I've noticed) and I know how far I have to go to be "great". What I've learned is that "good' is in the eye of the beholder and you have to love what you do or you won't be great at it. Do most of you use CS4? I do and it has a lot of little enhancements that make the overall program better to work with. Nothing super-stupendous that will make you drool, but many things work better and it supports OpenGL. It's not obvious at first and I thought I spent money wastefully but the enhancements are good, they're just subtle. However, I honestly think that if you have CS3 you can stick with it and use the DNG converter for the new camera's RAW images. Aug 20 09 09:09 pm Link now my little about me  Do you do this as a side job? Yes - I'm a part-time photographer & retoucher, though I work full time for the government  Did you go to school (if so, how long)? I did photography in High School, then did photography electives through my University Degree (From the University of NSW) at the College of Fine Arts (COFA) How long did it take you to get where you are now? Well I'll refer to retouching only here. I've been retouching since working in a photolab approx. 8 years ago. Whilst in the photolab the retouches were pretty simple jobs for customers wanting old photos scanned in and fixed in photoshop prior to printing. From there I've been playing around with photoshop, mainly going through tutorials online and also seeking the guidance of my partner who works as a high end retoucher for a major media organisation here in Australia Do most of you guys use Photoshop CS4? I use a range of different versions, just depends on which machine I'm on at the time. I use both the Creative Suites and Elements. Generally I use CS (yep its old, but I love it!) or CS3 - yet to buy CS4 Elements 4 or 7 Honestly I would say practice practice practice. Check online tutorials, Photoshop Magazines, checking the forums on MM and just asking ppl how they managed to achieve what that did. You could if you wanted to go and train somewhere using Photoshop, but keep in mind there may be 10 different ways to achieve a certain goal using the software. By self teaching, you have the ability to try things out without the scrutiny of an imposing teacher Aug 20 09 09:18 pm Link OutsideTheBox Imaging wrote: You filthy swine. OutsideTheBox Imaging wrote: If only we could all be so lucky! I try to get my partner to even take a photo and he seems to make me look hideous. No artistic bone in his body. Get him to draw a flower and makes something that a 5 year old would draw. Aug 20 09 09:28 pm Link On the side for fun really. Aug 20 09 09:52 pm Link Can't recommend work experience enough! Seriously, especially if it's hands on training. Have a look online and see what ad companies or better yet, retouch companies are in you area and pick up the phone. (Emails have a habit of getting 'lost' depending on the company) Aug 21 09 03:16 am Link Michelle Ames wrote: OutsideTheBox Imaging wrote: You filthy swine. Hi, don't confuse being able to draw with being able to photoshop. I honestly cannot draw to save my life. It's more about determining what needs to be done (the end product) and then knowing how to do that effectively & efficiently. THAT is the part that takes a lot of work/experience, but you don't need to know how to draw. I'm sure it helps greatly if you do, but it's not a requirement. Aug 21 09 07:25 am Link Ramon Carcases wrote: I know that. I was merely using drawing as another example to illustrate my boyfriend's complete lack of artistic talent. You don't need to be good at drawing or photography to use PS as the tool that it is, but if you lack the 'eye' for what makes a good image, you're not going to do well in any of them. Aug 21 09 08:34 am Link This is all really great information. Thanks all  Aug 21 09 08:53 am Link Michelle Ames wrote: Oh! Sorry for misunderstanding. I'm lucky in that my wife is a photographer and we have complimentary strengths. She has the "eye", she's bringing it out in me. Aug 21 09 09:02 am Link |
