Ariadne Photography wrote:
I'm pretty set on beauty retouching as there's tons of resources out there that have helped me learn but I'm struggling with the correct way to retouch product/cosmetic still life shots.


I thought I was doing alright until I saw this video from F-stoppers of a speed retouch on a Rolex.

http://fstoppers.com/brilliant-time-lap … map=%5B%5D

While I understand the basics of what is going on I'd love to see a slowed down version of what is being done.  It's seems very much like the pen tool and simply airbrushing in areas is a large part, which is something I'd like to comprehend better.

I know this is more a model photography site but I'm just curious if any knows any good resources/tutorials for product and still life work.

Product retouching goes like that

Remember in your othe thread I said: masking, airbrushing, texturing?

That's product retouching

I've never found a video in real time or it, maybe I should make one.

Xx

Natalia_Taffarel wrote:
I've never found a video in real time or it, maybe I should make one.

Xx

I'd love to see a product retouching video from you Natalia, it would be a good addition to the other tutorials you have out there right now.

JBHarris wrote:
There are some retouch videos on retouch pro that go over jewelry retouching, i'm not sure if you're looking for product in general or jewelry specific, but since you mentioned the rolex video on Fstoppers I thought I would throw that out there for you.  There is one on there that is retouching a watch in specific.  I can't attest to how good these videos are as I haven't watched them yet, but after seeing some of there other videos I can't imagine they would be bad.

True! I forgot about those.

Good retouchers -and the videos are cheap to rent

Natalia_Taffarel wrote:

Product retouching goes like that

Remember in your othe thread I said: masking, airbrushing, texturing?

That's product retouching

I've never found a video in real time or it, maybe I should make one.

Xx

Oh I totally have the masking down now, I've been practicing a lot it's just the airbrushing that's a little strange to me still, I'm way more used to using the healing brush and D&B to clean up areas and make everything smooth as opposed to just painting them in completely, it seems so fake looking but I'm guessing making it look real is the trick.

And you should make a tutorial!  I feel like it would help a lot of people who are actually trying to work as retouchers for agencies, since commercial still life seems to be such a big part or their workload but there's not where to learn it.  Honestly I know some photographers that went to RIT and had courses in retouching and when it came to product work they apparently barely covered anything outside of the basics.  I almost feel like the only place to actually learn the right techniques is from the agencies themselves :p

JBHarris wrote:
There are some retouch videos on retouch pro that go over jewelry retouching, i'm not sure if you're looking for product in general or jewelry specific, but since you mentioned the rolex video on Fstoppers I thought I would throw that out there for you.  There is one on there that is retouching a watch in specific.  I can't attest to how good these videos are as I haven't watched them yet, but after seeing some of there other videos I can't imagine they would be bad.

Honestly anything would help at this point really.  And it doesn't have to be jewelry specific, the watch was just the only example I've ever seen of a speed retouch using , what seems to be, a rather professional technique compared to many other videos. 

If you have any links go ahead and post them I'm completely new to retouchpro and couldn't find anything in my short search so a link would be incredibly helpful if you have it

JBHarris wrote:
Here is a link for some jewelry ones on retouch pro, they don't have product other than jewelry on there, but if you can get the hang of jewelry you should be able to do other product as well.  Jewelry is one of the tougher ones because of all the reflective surfaces and specularity of it. 
http://www.retouchpro.com/index.php?page=skrentals

Thanks so much!

Marin Photography NYC wrote:
Karl Taylor photography has a bit of product retouching in one of his videos. Maybe look him up and see if he has something with more detail...

I have one of his dvd's and the retouching is very very basic, really not anything other than basic knowledge about brightening and contrast, and merging exposures.  It's a good dvd overall, but not really in depth product retouching info, much more about the photography.

Ariadne Photography wrote:
Bummersville, I actually bought and watched one of the jewelry retouching videos and found in pretty underwhelming, the really wasn't any information in there that I didn't already know, he just did basic clean up, sharpening, color correction, cleaning up the background; all basic stuff.  No airbrushing or texturing, nothing like the watch video I posted above. 

It was a decent try since it is one of the few videos out there for product work it just  doesn't cover any advanced techniques and I already know everything else.  I might just be outta luck and have to either practice on my own or hope I get trained how to do it correctly in NYC.

which one did you purchase?

JBHarris wrote:

which one did you purchase?

I got the top one because it seemed to have the biggest before and after difference, but when you watch the video it's mostly that it's two different pictures with completely different lighting (they just used this uglier image to bring out a small part of the final, better shot, image).  I might watch the watch one but I'm super low on money so after spending $15 and not getting anything out of it I'm a little grumpy and hesitant to buy another one.  I wish they said what kind of techniques the would go over in the film or a short preview at least so I could decide if it's something that would help

JBHarris wrote:
Ok so I did some searching and I can't seem to find anything that is going to show more than clean up and color correction, nothing on the level of the Rolex retouch anyways.  I think our best bet is for Natalia to graciously make one for us

Yeah I donno why there's no resources for that type of retouching, it's such a huge part of actually working as a retoucher, at least it seems that way.  Hopefully, at least in my case, the company that hired me will be willing to show me either some good resources or train me.  They looked all the full PSD files of my product retouching so they know what I can and can't do (and I even told them I've never retouched product stuff) so hopefully they know a good solution to have me learn and maybe after that I'll just make my own training video for everyone

Ariadne Photography wrote:
jewelry retouching

http://www.happyfinish.co.uk/

CGI Images.
Products.

Changing times.

The Something Guy wrote:

http://www.happyfinish.co.uk/

CGI Images.
Products.

Changing times.

the ability to create 3D product shots has been around for awhile, but I don't see it fully replacing actual product photography any time soon, from what i've seen it is normally used on products when the client doesn't actually have the product made yet.

JBHarris wrote:

the ability to create 3D product shots has been around for awhile, but I don't see it fully replacing actual product photography any time soon, from what i've seen it is normally used on products when the client doesn't actually have the product made yet.

Both have its place.
There's a lot of 3G in product retouching, there's a lot of illustration and there's a lot of retouching.

The Something Guy wrote:
How about the Guinness and Jack Daniel's CGI images on the product page or the automotive page.
It's so much easier if you have a product created as CGI image taking the measurements of the designers (CAD) drawings.

All the beauty retouching high pass and blur is becoming a thing of the past and those retouchers (beauty) will become dinosaurs... learn CGI.
http://keyshot.com/what-is-keyshot/

3D is definitely here to stay, and has replaced some photography of still objects, especially in car photography of the actual car in still images, but again I don't see it completely eliminating all product photography any time soon.  It certainly could one day, and learning a bit of 3D isn't a bad idea.  Like Natalia said they each have their place.  Also I've never seen a 3D product shot that hasn't been brought into photoshop for work afterwards, it still goes there and gets retouched.  I had a friend who did a mock up of an add for Jack Daniel's Tennessee honey whiskey, with a bee in it that had a Jack Daniel's bottle as the body of the bee.  He spent more time in photoshop working it up than he did in 3D.

JBHarris wrote:

3D is definitely here to stay, and has replaced some photography of still objects, especially in car photography of the actual car in still images, but again I don't see it completely eliminating all product photography any time soon.  It certainly could one day, and learning a bit of 3D isn't a bad idea.  Like Natalia said they each have their place.  Also I've never seen a 3D product shot that hasn't been brought into photoshop for work afterwards, it still goes there and gets retouched.  I had a friend who did a mock up of an add for Jack Daniel's Tennessee honey whiskey, with a bee in it that had a Jack Daniel's bottle as the body of the bee.  He spent more time in photoshop working it up than he did in 3D.

Don´t over think it, Chris is a bit bitter lately and ranting against retouching for some reason

Natalia_Taffarel wrote:
Don´t over think it, Chris is a bit bitter lately and ranting against retouching for some reason

It's a bit like all the film users who ranted about digital.... and looked what's has happened to film.

The Something Guy wrote:

It's a bit like all the film users who ranted about digital.... and looked what's has happened to film.

It´s still used?

x

Natalia_Taffarel wrote:

It´s still used?

x

Film about as rare as rocking horse s**t.

Toyota invested $1 mill into a car studio a few year latter they closed the operation and moved their automotive work onto CGI.

The Something Guy wrote:

Film about as rare as rocking horse s**t.

Toyota invested $1 mill into a car studio a few year latter they closed the operation and moved their automotive work onto CGI.

Im just having fun with you, I think the market is big enough for everyone.

If I'm wrong, it doesn't worry me in the least, there's a lot of business for people with my knowledge and skills in close niches

JBHarris wrote:
You should really check out the happy finish video series they made for photographers, all about how using 3D in conjunction WITH photography is the future.  It's very interesting

People have been touting 3D since I was a kid saying it's the future and will replace this and that and the other and it still hasn't caught on.  I'm still in disbelief that it ever will...

JBHarris wrote:
You should really check out the happy finish video series they made for photographers, all about how using 3D in conjunction WITH photography is the future.  It's very interesting

Who made these videos?

Marin Photography NYC wrote:
People have been touting 3D since I was a kid saying it's the future and will replace this and that and the other and it still hasn't caught on.  I'm still in disbelief that it ever will...

I think you're living in the past it already has taken over a huge amount of photography.

I'm on 'Happy Finish' mailing list and remember when CGI was just a rumour now it takes up a large part of their work.

People probably said the same about digital ' it'll never catch on '.

Robert Randall wrote:
I can't think of anyone in the world that is more successful than Mark Laita, when it comes to product photography.

http://www.marklaita.com/

I have no idea what anyone is thinking when they ask about tutorials geared toward product retouch, so I can't think of any to recommend. To me the question is more telling about the perception many of you have about retouch, in that so many of you seem to categorize the work as if there's a difference between retouching a beauty image, and retouching a bottle of Scotch.

There is basically no difference. You need art skills and creative vision, and you need software knowledge. I can't categorically tell anyone that a highlight on a bottle needs to look a specific way. Highlights on glass can conceivably all look different, just like highlights on hair and skin can look different.

I suggest a good course of action would be to study what you see on Mr. Laita's and try to duplicate his work. At the very least, you'll be working from images made by one of the most sought after commercial product shooters that ever lived, which I think is a far cry from the tutorials you might run into.

I think part of the reason I want a video (or any kind of before and after) is to see what exactly they're correcting and where.  Sure I might think some part of some bottle looks fine just like someone might think some model's hair looks fine but to a pro it needs work and a specific type of work to get the job done quickly and effectively.  I don't think it's a question of not being able to retouch something it's about learning to do it in the proper way and ending up with the proper result.  I really think sometimes you can't tell unless you see someone doing it in front of you, which I'm guessing is why this company wants me to come train for a few days with them.

Thank you for the link though, he really does have a great port of still life and product work, if anything I can just try and really get a good idea of how things should look by just looking at as many finished pieces as possible.