Photo processing types and stages

1. Photo processing: types and stages Photo retouching makes a photo more impressive, complete, aesthetic. A beginner gets lost in the abundance of techniques and tools, regardless of whether he takes courses, reads articles or learns

2. from videos. What to grab? Where to start? What kind of processing is needed for a photo, and what will waste your time? We’ll tell you what kind of retouching is needed if you’re shooting a reportage, a portrait for a private client, or working on a photo that will appear in a magazine, advertisement, or exhibition. Types of retouching The first thing you need to realize is that it’s better to be able to do everything. And process a photo in detail “like in a magazine”, bringing every pixel to perfection, and simply do a light makeover with color correction. But, depending on the task, the price of the work and the final destination where the photo will be sent (social networks, billboard, exhibition, competition), in what size it will be viewed, the depth of processing can and should be different.

4. Let’s imagine a situation: you’ve been commissioned to make a portrait. Does that sound large-scale? But what if it’s going to hang on the website as an icon in the technical support section, 50 by 50 pixels in size? Does it make sense to spend 1.5 hours on one frame to clean the background, remove pimples, even out the light and shadow, “comb” the hair and eyebrows, drawing them hair by hair? The answer is: for training, yes, but if we’re talking about the work and its result, no one will notice your efforts in the end. Color correction As a rule, this is a stream Photo Editing of a large number of frames, where the author edits only brightness and color. It would be more correct to call it RAW conversion or JPEG color correction. Most often, street photos and photo reports are processed this way. For example, weddings, when from several hundred to several thousand photos are obtained from the registration, banquet, walk of guests and newlyweds.

5. What this stage may include: ● Changing brightness. Overexposed photos are darkened, darkened ones are lightened. Photographers often adjust brightness in a separate tonal range. For example, when in a wedding photo shoot the bride’s dress can turn into a shining white spot.

6. ● White balance. It is changed if the photo seems too yellow, blue, or green. The goal of this stage is to bring the colors to natural ones. ● Increase sharpness and contrast. ● Tinting. If desired, you can add some shade to the photo. For example, weddings are often made warmer. This also includes adjusting individual colors. For example, you can

7. mute all the green shades so that the foliage is not conspicuous, or remove the redness on the face. There is no correct order here. Usually, start with what bothers and irritates you the most. Is it so dark that you can’t see anything? Raise the brightness. Is the frame so yellow that you can’t distinguish other colors? Adjust the white balance. Technical retouching The main direction of this type of processing is the effect of a photo without retouching. Its task is to remove and correct significant frame flaws that affect perception, but leave the photo natural. For example, correct the color, remove wires, garbage, clean the background. Maybe you took a photo of a model in front of a mirror and then saw stains? Or accidentally during a break in shooting a stain from coffee or ice cream appeared on the clothes? Did the lipstick smudge? Did the mascara crumble?

8. This retouching is most often used by photographers who work for private clients. These are single, couple, family photo sessions, children’s, but it can also be a photo shoot of clothing catalogs (although, ideally, color correction should be sufficient for catalogs).

9. What does technical retouching include: ● Color correction. Yes, everything you did in the previous block is just one of the stages in technical retouching. ● Background Cleaning: Remove dirt, debris, wires, unnecessary objects and people. ● Cleaning clothes. Clean out fur, lint, stains and the most noticeable creases. ● Working with a model. Fix any makeup that has fallen off and obvious skin defects that you don’t plan to show. For example, a large pimple appeared on your nose before the shoot. If this is not part of the concept of the photo shoot, where you want to show a person completely natural with all their flaws, please the model and erase the pimple so that she can confidently post the photo on social media. ● Working with skin color. For example, the face is one color because of the foundation, the neck is another, frozen hands are a third, and the legs are a fifth because of tights. In this

10. case, it is better to even out the color. Another reason when spot color correction may be needed is cheeks, nose, and fingers that are red from the cold. ● Plastic surgery. Not always and not everywhere. It depends on the wishes of the model, the photographer’s vision and — naturally — the shot. For example, a model in a tight dress and tights. The latter squeeze the waist, which makes the silhouette a little uneven. Plastic surgery will help smooth out this flaw. As you can see, it is not always about changing a person’s figure and face no less than a plastic surgeon would do. ● Can a photo with such retouching end up in a magazine, a competition or an exhibition? Definitely yes! However, in this case, the photographer bears more responsibility for organizing the shoot: model, location, light, selection of accessories, clothes, makeup, idea. Everything should be so high-quality that detailed processing is simply not needed.

11. Deep retouching You can find several variations of the name: magazine retouching, hi-end retouching. This is a detailed processing of a photograph, where the retoucher pays attention to every little detail. The shape of the lips and the beauty of the glare on them, the thickness of the eyelashes, the shape of the eyebrows and teeth, gaps in the hairstyle, the consistency of colors, symmetry and accuracy of light and shadow — all this is paid attention to during such processing. This retouching means that not a single pixel is left without attention. It is suitable for advertising portrait and product photography, and can be submitted to magazines and exhibitions.

12. Stages and order of magazine retouching: ● color correction; ● technical retouching;

13. ● deep processing of a model or object. This stage is the longest and most labor-intensive. It uses and mixes two retouching techniques: frequency decomposition and dodge & burn. The first allows you to clean the surface of an object or the model’s skin from pimples, wrinkles, and even out the light and shadow pattern, the second allows you to work in detail with texture and light and shadow. Also, at this stage, they work on details. For example, you are processing a large portrait that will advertise lipstick. What, besides the skin, may need to be edited: ● eyelashes, if they are sparse; ● makeup flaws; ● lips. For example, make the outline perfectly clear, add a highlight, change the texture if the lips are chewed or chapped.

14. ● eyes. For example, remove capillaries, redness. ● teeth. For example, whiten, remove a chip. ● hair.

15. It is important to retouch not only the model itself, but also the background. It is not enough to simply remove a scratch or a shoe mark. For example, if it is a crumpled paper background, it needs to be brought to perfection. In addition, they retouch clothes, removing folds, wrinkles, protruding threads, and the rest of the body. Yes, if hands and neck are in the frame in a large portrait, they need to be edited with the same care. ● Working with color. Even out skin tone, recolor individual elements of the image, bring the photo to a beautiful color scheme. ● Plastic surgery, if you didn’t do it at the technical sharpening stage. ● Sharpness if it seems insufficient.

16. Product Photo Editing A separate type of deep processing is artistic retouching. This is a conventional name, but the key message here is a strong change in the source, a complete reworking of the image and turning the photo into something more. For example, collage, photo art, photo manipulation. Here the author can use many sources, 3D objects, redrawing and finishing of image elements manually.

17. By and large, it is difficult to call this photography. Such works can be seen at exhibitions in galleries and in advertising, but this is a separate world. Rather, it is a picture created with the help of graphic editors, so we are talking about creativity here, where the author acts as an artist and where the skill of drawing is much more important than photography or retouching.