The ART and INSIGHTS of PROFESSIONAL PORTRAIT RETOUCHING | Pratik Naik

This is the recording of a live broadcast where I chat with professional high-end portrait retoucher Pratik Naik. We talk about his process, his tips and techniques, where he sees the future of retouching and what it takes to get hired, along with a whole lot more. It's a great insight into the art of professional portrait retouching from someone who does it at the very highest level, and there's something in it for anyone who retouches portraits, whether for clients or for themselves.

links mentioned during the video:

• Pratik’s website: solsticeretouch.com

• Pratik’s Retouching Course “The Retouching Series” : ( LINK )

• Instagram: @solsticeretouch

• How to Print course: ( LINK )

Slideshow of Pratik’s work for his Guest Appearance:

The BEST way to LEARN PHOTOSHOP 💥 Combining Tools, Techniques and Fun

For me, the best way to learn Photoshop is by combining multiple tools and techniques to see how they work together and complement each other. In this video you can follow along as I take an out-of-camera photograph of a supercar and turn it into something completely different. It's less about any one tool and more about how they build on each other, and having some fun along the way.

COMPLETE Portrait Retouching Workflow in LIGHTROOM on an iPad

In this video I go through a complete Portrait Retouching Workflow in Lightroom on my iPad …

Becoming a Fine Art Photographer and Master of Monochrome | Vincent Versace

This is the recording of a live broadcast where I chat with fine art photographer Vincent Versace, a Nikon Ambassador and recipient of the Computerworld Smithsonian Award in Media Arts and Entertainment. Vincent is a master of monochrome, and we talk about life as a photographer, finding your own style, the art of post-production and more. There's a lot here for anyone interested in fine art photography or black and white work.

links mentioned in the video:

• Vincent’s Website: versacephotography.com

• Vincent on Instagram: @vincent_versace

• Vincent’s Workshops: versacephotography.com/workshops

DON'T FORGET the BACKGROUND ERASER TOOL in Photoshop 💥

The Background Eraser Tool is easy to forget about in Photoshop, but it's incredibly powerful when you're compositing glass objects. In this video I show how it keeps the shape and the highlights of the glass intact as you remove the background, which can be really tricky to do any other way. If you ever composite glass or other transparent objects, it's a tool well worth remembering.

Turning IMAGINATION into REALITY with Photography and Photoshop | Dracorubio

This is the recording of a live broadcast where I chat with photographer and digital artist Roderique Arisiaman, better known as Dracorubio. We talk about his photography, where his ideas and inspiration come from and his retouching process for turning what's in his imagination into a final image. If you're interested in how a concept becomes a finished picture through photography and Photoshop, this is a great look behind the scenes of his work.

links mentioned in the video:

Roderique’s Website: www.dracurobio.com

Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/dracorubio

Instagram: @roderique_arisiaman

From CANCER SURVIVOR to CONSERVATIONIST - A Photographer on a Mission | Imelda Bell

This is the recording of a live broadcast where I chat with photography powerhouse Imelda Bell about surviving cancer and how her photography helped bring hope to many others through her Surviving the Monster portraits project. We also talk about her life mission as a conservationist, and how her photography and writing skills are helping raise awareness and make a difference. It's an inspiring conversation about what photography can do when there's a real purpose behind it.

links mentioned in the video:

• Imelda’s Webiste: imeldabell.co.uk

• Imelda’s Amazon Author Page: ( LINK )

• www.thecrash.co.uk

• rhinorescueuk.org

• The Photoshop Virtual Summit 6: ( LINK )

Taking Photos with my iPhone and taking TIme Out

This past couple of weeks have been quite eventful to say the least and with all that’s happened I’ve found myself even more grateful than ever that I live near the coast.

For me, being able to take some ‘time out’ and slow down whilst looking at and listening to the waves crashing against the shore is medicine … pure and simple, and this past week it was much needed.

Here’s some pictures that I took this past week when I took some ‘time out’ just down the road at Lyme Regis using my iPhone and edited in Lightroom on my iPad.

Each of these pictures I’ve also added to my Lightroom Community Profile Page wheere you can see all of the retoching steps and also download them as a Preset to use on your own images ( LINK )

Handheld 1 second Long. Exposure using the ReeHeld App

Ragnar - Viking Composite using Photoshop

Following on from the earlier article I wrote ( LINK ) showing the Behind the Scenes of a recent Viking Photo Shoot, I’ve now finished the 2nd image so thought I’d share it here for you to see …

This is a composite made using Photoshop and is a combination of several images comprising the original studio photograph of my friend Simon ‘Foxy’ Fowler dressed as the Viking, the Location Shot and several Sea Bird Photographs.

Here’s the studio photograph of Simon …

Here’s the location shot which is a part of the coastline at Three Cliffs Bay, The Gower, South Wales …

To make sure that I got the angle and height correct, when at Three Cliffs Bay, my great friend Anthony Crothers stood in the spot where I would eventually place Simon …

In the studio when photographing Foxy, my camera was on a tripod and at a height where the lens was in line with the top portion of his nearest thigh.

When on location photographing the background / scene, Anthony was stood on a rasied area of ground …

(Note: it looks precarious but actually isn’t … to the front of Anthony on the other side is a flat area that you can comfortably walk on)

… so to get the angle / height to look as though Simon was photographed higher than he actually was, the camera lens was level and aimed just below Anthony’s nearest knee.

My new compositing workflow

Returning to some compositing has seen me now approach them in a different way especially when it comes to potentially time consuming cutouts such as hair anf fur.

My new workflow sees me leaving this part to the very end and getting great results in literally a fraction of the time …

This is something that I’ll definitely be going through in my Combining Old and New : Mastering Selections and Cut Outs in 2024 class in the upcoming ( FREE ) Photoshop Virtual Summit 6 …

If you’d like to see a larger version of both images created from this photo shoot, I’ve now added them into my PORTRAITS PORTFOLIO ( LINK )

Thanks for looking in,
Glyn

WHAT IT TAKES to become a BOOK COVER PHOTOGRAPHER with Dave Wall

This is the recording of a live broadcast where I chat with book cover photographer Dave Wall. With over 1,000 book covers to his name, Dave is one of the most sought-after crime and thriller book cover photographers in the world, and we talk about what it takes to do what he does, his process, stock photography and a whole lot more. If you've ever looked at a book cover and wondered how the picture came about, this gives a real insight into that world.

links mentioned in the video:

• Dave Wall Website: ( LINK )

• Dave Wall on Instagram: @davewallphoto

• Arcangel: ( LINK )