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Different types of retouching. Differences?
spolier: Sorry for the noob question There are several types of retouching (as for every type of photography beauty, fashion, glamour, editorial, portrait,etc.), all of them mostly have a similar subject (a person, excluding product retouching) but different objective and use. Now, the techniques and methods of retouching made available in PS and other software are the same, and some of them may be useful to one kind of images, and some not. What are the key difference between every type of retouching work? As I can understand: 1.- beauty (head, head and shoulders): -Pixel level skin correction and smoothing, -really detailed handwork in textures and color (skin, hair, etc). -The use of "fast" methods is discouraged. -perfection is the word here. -The accent is made in the face of the subject, not the subject itself -Full time job, 3-6 or more hours of work per image 2.-Editorial: -Same as above but leaving key individual details intact -Clothes retouching -The subject is the important here, his personality, individuality. -Fast methods discouraged. -Full time job 3.-Fashion: -The accent is made in the clothes/accessories -Detailed work on texture and colors -The model have a secondary role, but need to have perfect proportions -Some fast techniques are acceptable (for the model) -0.5-3 Hours of work 4.-Portrait: -Light skin correction -Face defects correction -Color correction -Fast methods are acceptable -15min-3hrs 5.Glamour: -The body and face are primary objective of the retoucher -Skin, face, proportions need to be "perfect" -Fast techniques are acceptable -0.5-3hrs 6.Fine art: -Textures, color, proportions need to be perfect (beauty level) -The overall "message" of the image is the key element -fast techniques are discouraged -0.5-3hrs 7.Average pictures: -focus, color and light correction -skin correction -fast techniques are acceptable Time and retouching work done on each image would depend of the future use of the image, the status of the client, and the quality of the file. Are my suppositions correct?. Would like to know other POV on the subject and how people decide what work need to be done, what could be done, what will be done and how much time give to an image depending of the factors mentioned above. Because for me is really difficult to limit the work that has to be done for some image, comparing to the things that I know that need to be corrected, and end up giving too much time for images that don't deserve that.. Feb 24 13 09:07 am Link Whatever gets the job done...... Feb 24 13 08:08 pm Link dodge and burn Feb 24 13 08:44 pm Link Alejandro Crespo wrote: Not really. It's a personal choice, of course, but I don't think the quality of your work should depend on the status of the client or the future use of the image. The quality of your work should only depend on what you want to represent. Feb 25 13 07:36 am Link But it is possible to do the same kind of job for example in beauty and fashion? I mean, you get the beauty image that consists in the head and maximum shoulders plus arms, you spend on it, lets say, 4 hours. The next day, you get a fashion image, that consists on the full body plus props and background that need to be retouched (the quality of the image is the same), you will not spend the same 4 hours that you spent in the beauty image on this one, if you expect to do the same micro work, it gonna take you x2 or x3 more time. I mean, you cant charge the same for those? Feb 25 13 07:58 am Link You can deliver the same kind of quality without spending 4 hours on just the skin. Quality is not just in skin, it's in the colour (which, to me, is the most important part of retouching), it's in your vision, in the small details... If it's fashion, and there's less skin (or there's simply less detail in the skin because it's a full body shot) you spend maybe an hour on skin, and the rest of the time on clothing/background/... It's just a matter of finding a way to make it work for you. It depends on what the image is going to be used for and what your client wants, but if it's a fashion editorial and the client is expecting the same kind of skin as in my beauty images, and there's a lot of skin (maybe even with a lot of detail in it), then I will deliver the client an image with fully retouched skin. If it costs more than some of the beauty images I did, so be it. Your client is not going to say "that's more than a beauty image", what he/she can say is "that's too much". So, to answer that question: Yes, you can charge the same for beauty and fashion, if it's the same amount of work, why not? A client just wants the perfect image and if you can deliver that, they won't mind paying you for it. Don't be scared to ask money for your work, don't go "but that's too much! I can't possibly ask that amount of money!" ... I used to make that mistake. Yes you can, if you have found the right clients for the kind of work you do. Feb 25 13 10:30 am Link Laura Abigail wrote: Yep I understand that, thats why I stated in the first post that the use of the image gonna have impact in the kind of work you do. Because if for instance, the fashion image is for a bigboard, one gonna have to put the same micro work as for beauty. Feb 25 13 11:50 am Link Laura Abigail wrote: If I give you a RAW file and say prepare me the the cover for my E-Magazine and I don't want it for any other purpose, are you going to quote me for more than if I want to use it for H&M billboards and magazine adverts. Feb 25 13 02:38 pm Link Mike Needham Retouching wrote: +1 Feb 25 13 03:43 pm Link Laura Abigail wrote: I respectfully disagree - when I'm retouching for a local client I sure do my best to give them great quality as usual, but I definitely won't spend as much time as for a client whose photos I'm retouching for a publication. I sometimes over-deliver when I know that the images I'm working on are going to have big exposure. It's like investing in your own advertising... and that's given I will be able to use those images and tear-sheets in my own portfolio. Feb 25 13 04:23 pm Link Mike Needham Retouching wrote: Yes of course, I was more talking about using it for Facebook vs print portfolio. Not the big differences like billboard vs Facebook, in that case it is indeed the budget. He was talking about "status" etc, what I was saying applies to images within the same budget range that will maybe be used in different ways. Feb 25 13 08:23 pm Link Julia Kuzmenko McKim wrote: I agree with you, I do the same thing. Maybe I didn't really express it the right way, what I meant is, I don't start on an image thinking "I won't use this for my portfolio and I don't like the image, I will quickly finish this and deliver less quality" when the client is for example a student. If I really like a project, there's a big chance I will work longer than I'm hired for. But the standard quality you deliver shouldn't depend on the status of your client. (Of course we over-deliver for publications etc, but we should never under-deliver because a job doesn't seem important... That's how I feel about it) Feb 25 13 08:37 pm Link Laura Abigail wrote: By status I was referring to the "name" the client has and the budget they manage . Feb 25 13 08:43 pm Link Alejandro Crespo wrote: I don't link name to budget because I sometimes get high budgets from photographers that don't have "a name" at all, and sometimes a photographer with "a name" happens to be on a low-budget production. But I suppose you could over-deliver for bigger names if you feel that you could get more future work out of it. Feb 25 13 09:34 pm Link |