Top Gun Digital wrote:
You get a good feeling from the creative aspect of the shoot itself.  However, you find the retouching very boring and not creative at all so it just seems like a waste of your time and you're completely turned off when you do it.  I would say that your feeling is very common.  I like doing a shoot, but the post work is mostly drudgery.  If you only edit a few images from each shoot perhaps you should consider having someone else do the retouching work for you.

+1
This is what I would say too. If you get such a negative feeling from retouching, maybe it's wise to lay it off for a while... Perhaps expend it to a retoucher (or someone else with PS-skills) whose work you trust, to not let people wait too long for their photos.

Don't let this 'retouching sickness' get to you! Because you don't want to lose your inspiration or the joy of shooting just because you're dreading the retouchwork that comes with it!

All the best!

RINALDI wrote:
Any tips?

Buy yourself the biggest Wacom tablet you can afford! It made a huge difference for me anyway..

Cheers!
Noah

RINALDI wrote:
Any tips?

Start Shooting Film

Brooklyn Bridge Images wrote:
Start Shooting Film

Even with traditional film there is post work where you would be spending time in a darkroom to develop the film (still dodging and burning ).

Steven Burnette Retouch wrote:
I may be wrong, but from reading your description it is very obvious that you are an extravert. I am not sure how true this really is, but it seems that many who actually enjoy retouching tend to have a more introvert personality. Retouching (freelance) is often a solo job where it's just you and your computer for hours at a time, if you are more social in personality and require that constant social interaction for energy, then you will feel like a caged bird.

Someone who is more of an introvert would rather be to themselves doing their thing more often than not, so they can often excel as a solo Retoucher without feeling like their soul is being sucked out of them as you have described.

I used to do wedding photography and although I love shooting, the stress just used to get to me. Now that I retouch full time, I can work from the comfort of my own home. Its all about finding what you love doing and sticking to that.

Steven Burnette Retouch wrote:
I may be wrong, but from reading your description it is very obvious that you are an extravert. I am not sure how true this really is, but it seems that many who actually enjoy retouching tend to have a more introvert personality. Retouching (freelance) is often a solo job where it's just you and your computer for hours at a time, if you are more social in personality and require that constant social interaction for energy, then you will feel like a caged bird.

Someone who is more of an introvert would rather be to themselves doing their thing more often than not, so they can often excel as a solo Retoucher without feeling like their soul is being sucked out of them as you have described.

Yes, I understand that there are many retouchers who work in groups (agencies) or on set, but I am pretty confident that you will find many more who are one guy/gal and their computer working alone.

Same as you will find with many visual artist, we often work solo in studio, office, etc. creating traditional or digital art for hours on end and have no problem with it for the most part.

Well, I can tell you that I am actually bit more introvert than extravert. I like to do many things alone, for example, on holiday I absolutely love walking by myself and take pics. In fact, I like painting alone as well, not that I do it very often as the material is pretty expensive.

So maybe it's related to the computer? I don't need social interaction or being with other people to properly work on my computer, so nope that isn't the problem either.

Maybe it has something to do with the way I perceive things. When I see of hear or experience something, I always do that in it's totality. I noticed that when it's related to non-creative things, like project management or business, I can put all the little pieces that are required together pretty easily, resulting in the total that I want.

Yet, when it's creative, I seem to have no connection at all. So I see my picture, I know exactly how I want it to be in the end, and that's it! My brain simply shuts down haha. Like it doesn't have a clue How to get from A to B, and at the same time doesn't feel like it to shift some memory capacity to solve it. The other part of the brain is really trying to push it so it seems, to get all parts in check and working and solve it, but it get's zero response.

Summarized:
1. I see my picture
2. I see the reference picture
3. I somewhat know what to do (technical part of PS which can be learned)

...but,

4. it's STUCK! (you know, like a 1st person video game that has a bug, and your character can't get out of a corner while there are no obstacles)

Steven Burnette Retouch wrote:

Even with traditional film there is post work where you would be spending time in a darkroom to develop the film (still dodging and burning ).

Totally different from spending hours in front of a computer screen
Maybe he will find darkroom enjoyable ?

Jakov Markovic wrote:
Why can't you just hire a retoucher?

I definitely would if I had the budget for it, which normally is lunch with a TFP project. But yes, if I get paid (by a client), everyone gets paid by me, including the retoucher.

From time to time I spent hours watching images on websites of advertising post-production houses, and try not to get weepy from all that great stuff. lol

Brooklyn Bridge Images wrote:

Totally different from spending hours in front of a computer screen
Maybe he will find darkroom enjoyable ?

I think that I will enjoy it, depends on the girl I guess. Wait...what?!

Seriously, I am ashamed because I've never done that so no idea how it feels. Settled on digital because it has the best quality/finance balance for me. I started with analog but had the films developed by photo stores. I do love analog pics though!

Toto Photo wrote:
Your assignment, should you decide to accept it, is to put together a shoot that needs no retouching.

So, completely far off base.