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Basic Body Shaping

Lesson 21 from: Advanced Portrait Retouching

Lisa Carney

Basic Body Shaping

Lesson 21 from: Advanced Portrait Retouching

Lisa Carney

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Lesson Info

21. Basic Body Shaping

Lesson Info

Basic Body Shaping

What's her basic build? Her basic build is going to be some basic retouching. Oh, that shadow and highlight! Eyes, thrown in extra. We did it already. We just changed that hair color. Don't be afraid to do it. I love shadow and highlight. Yes, for internet folks who want to know if you can do it on a smart object, you can. I want to reiterate: too many smart objects for me causes trouble. On a file like this, it did not cause trouble. And again, it's just that ubiquitous shadow and highlight. Paint it in, every so gently, to lighten up her highlights. Okay. Changed her eye. Oh, what's over there? Wait. What? Who you looking at? I have to do this all the time. (audience laughs) Sorry, sweetie. Have to do this all the time. It drives me crazy. No, you don't drive me crazy, sweetie. It's that the clients ask you to do this and what we did on this, and I feel like this is kind of like body shaping, only it's eyeball shaping. It's taking the eye from camera-right and moving it over. I have ...

to tell you, it takes a bit of a hand to not make this look fake. It's tough. But try to grab the one, cause you want the reflection and everything. Do you remember the eye librate you have? Eh, get an eye librate. You can fix some stuff like this. If we have time, I'm gonna come back to this, but sometimes decisions you have to make in retouching are manipulation. Like are you gonna change the mouth? I feel a little strange about this, but I think I need to talk about it because this is when people stop looking like who you think they are. I get asked to do this all the time. You never do this on a celebrity. You probably won't want to do this on an entertainment editorial or an editorial where the person is the subject, and who they are is very important. Where you tend to do it is in areas where folks are kind of considered objects to promote a product, not the person that they are. You understand? And some of it, I mean, it's not a big deal to stick her tooth back behind her lip. That's not a big deal, but fattening lips? That's a different conversation. This is done in liquefy and we'll talk about that in a minute. Now, I want to talk to you about job flow and order. The frequency separation is pretty minimal and it's done underneath this. It's kind of not a big deal because the mouth isn't really affected by the frequency separation, but it's worth noting - where do you put the mouth? Put it under your frequency separation or above the frequency separation? And it really depends on your flow. On your job flow. Frequency separation, for me, is generally just... Just part of the face, but if that's the case, and I want you to be really careful here, if your frequency separation is that whole file? That whole image? And you are not masking in your frequency separation? You can't put the mouth on top easily. So you just have to be careful how you build. I am not trying to tell you how to build. I am just trying to tell you to be careful with your build. All right. Hue saturation. This is a pretty subtle move on the dress. Sometimes you're asked to lighten dresses, sometimes you're asked to darken it. We did not talk about this earlier. All that frequency separation I talked to you about before was on the portrait. Frequency separation is invaluable for clothing. And in fact, I think it's kind of why frequency separation came to be, and came to be popular, is fabric. It is dynamite, or dy-no-mite!, for cleaning out wrinkles. Wow. Yeah, crazy wow and it takes three minutes. It's the same thing as skin. It's the exact same thing as skin. So I guess we can call body shaping frequency separation and removing fabric because you are shaping the body by that way. So there is a blur layer. Right? You know the blur. You're so familiar with this already. Dust and scratch. Dust and scratch. You know, I use this filter. This happens to be 48-0. 48-0 painted in. The smudge tool. We talked about the smudge tool, I believe, earlier today for the Gaussian blur. Can you remember that? You can also use the smudge tool in frequency separation... You want to be careful that you don't get her arm. Now the smudge tool on really big files is clunky as holy heck. The smudge tool on really big files is very clunky and not very user-friendly. You can make boobs bigger with this, by the way, and we can talk about that in a minute. So blurring. I'm basically just pushing around fabric. And when you have wrinkles, and you're trying to get rid of wrinkles, you just push it around. It's kind of a weird question, but as a photographer I was taught make sure you do not have wrinkles on any clothing. Bring a steamer, is this common for you- as a retoucher? Sweetheart, I cannot even tell you and it's baffling to me. It's 100% baffling, like how in God's name are there wrinkles on the fabric? Yeah. It's a shock. And, now this was not a professional shoot, in that it wasn't shot for a product. I will tell you I am forever dealing with this: Manicures. Get a manicure for God's sake. Now I'm painting nails all day. No, I don't know if stylists have changed, budgets have changed, time has changed... This is a really good question. So as a photographer, if you are not your retoucher, and you remember we - I not so delicately talked about the $500 filter? I'm gonna charge you to take out these wrinkles. And it may take me three minutes and I might not charge you three minutes. I might charge you what it normally would have cost. So as a photographer, yes. Please, please, please please pay attention to this. But no, honey, people are not paying attention to this. All right. Hue saturation on her hair. I just want to reiterate as we did the hair last time a lot of the color and toning is done under the frequency separation, okay? Coolio, coolio. Throw some mouth back on the top. Lighten her teeth, we talked about this. This is a tiny bit of a review before I get to the body shaping. The teeth? The bleaching of the teeth? You remember we talked about this? Yellows, lightening and yellows? I'm just going to do this quickly. On the frequency separation when you are trying to clone out fabric. It gets a little hairy. You often want to add a little noise. I don't know on this screen if you can see this, but when you have a... I call it the Ruffles potato chip ridge. You have some Ruffles potato chip ridge on... when you have a fold, you have no more ridge, and to try to elongate that perfectly is really difficult and often, you can't match it up perfectly, so it's good to kind of stick some texture in to hide it. Yes? So I've noticed that you're looking at it at 400%. Yep. Just a moment ago... Yup. What's your comfort level, knowing if it's gonna be small and it's in just whatever catalog, and it's never... But you said earlier you really err on being more precise than not? Absolutely. I have to tell you. I don't if it's a mental thing for me. My stuff is on the walls of Sunset and it's all I'm used to and I can't help it. I have to be here. This is average for me. Oh, let's see what that is. So would you, if you zoomed in at 100%, and it looks really clean to your eye, you're still not good because of uprising, or billboards, or...? It doesn't mean you won't be good with it. If for your client base... This is why huge classes are a little difficult because you have your client base, you have your size, you have your viewing distance, and it's completely different from mine. 100% might be okay with you, but I'm very uncomfortable saying that. Because in my life, I'm at 400 half the time. So it depends on your uses. I'm sorry, I feel like I can't answer that question any other way. No, it's fine. It's just... It's a good question, and for those out in the world, out in the internet land, I'm sure people have the same question. I'm not comfortable if I'm not (makes zooming noise), right up top. Because someone's gonna shoot me for it, for having done...and that's uncomfortable. Has that happened? Has someone ever- Oh my God, yes. taken something so minute- Oh, you'd be amazed. For example... Oh. Are you kidding? That little mic thing? You didn't take that out? And it's a guy standing on a bus shelter, full figure, and it's this big on a bus shelter. You didn't take that out? How did you miss it? Get it all done. Plus here's why, and to not criticize the art directors and creative directors who do that, they've got this computer. They're doing this all the time. They're zooming in. They forget that it's actually not going to be viewed from a 10 foot distance, or a 60 foot, or a 20 foot, or an 100 foot, so we kind of can't help but fix these things.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Brunette RAW Practice Image
Blonde RAW Practice Image
Portrait Retouching Workbook
Lisa Carney PSD Practice Image
Layered Hair Color Change Example PSD File

Bonus Materials

Outline Cards

Ratings and Reviews

Tab
 

If you were like me and had no idea on where to start and feared that the editing process would be too destructive and would have to start all over again if the client didn't like your completed work - then this is the class for you. I watch this class often for review and to make sure that I maintain these good habits Lisa suggests to do. If you follow all of her helpful commentary on her how's and why's you will end up in a far better place when that time comes that you have to re-edit your edit. I cannot say enough great things about her work flow and how it not only enhanced my images to the result I was looking for but also decreased my editing time(bonus!!!!). I also on a whim sent her a email through her personal site and she replied with a massive helpful technique for enhancing freckles on a job I was working on. She is amazing! She is a true teacher who is there to show you how to use photoshop for you to find and gain your own editing style. Far too often i find myself in retouching classes that only demonstrate how to make your images look like who is teaching the class... Workflow and Style are very different, you can have the same workflow but your style is determined by your taste. Her workflow is solid and delivers time and time again. This class should be in everyone's dashboard hands down.

Kristine Pye
 

Thank you for taking the time to answer my question and take us through your "delivery" process, I found that extremely helpful. I have purchased two of Lisa's classes immediately after the live stream during Photoshop Week 2017 and was very excited to stream another set of lectures from Seattle. I will be purchasing the last two courses of Lisa's within the next 24 hours as I did just over a month ago. I find her classes to be absolutely brimming over with useful information--everything from the technique, her process, what other professionals in her work are doing, and **why** she chooses the methods she does in retouching. She is relatable and genuine, and her knowledge of the program and how to maximize efficiency while "skipping the actions" really reinforces the educational part of her courses. There are "easy way outs", but she emphasizes that you should understand the ways in which any adjustment effect the entire photo. These courses have helped me to move forward in my education, helping me to realize that with enough practice and good habit formation--such as naming every single layer every time-- that it is not irrational for me to make an effort in building a portfolio and a Master's degree with little-to-no- previous experience with the software. I am very appreciate. I hope to see more from Lisa in the future, but I have plenty to practice with for now! Thanks again, Kristine Pye kristinepye@gmail.com

Jeff Robinson
 

Lisa Carney is amazing! She has a depth of knowledge of Photoshop, retouching techniques, and compositing that she shares in a fast, but straightforward, easy to follow, step by step manner. No matter what your level of expertise, you'll find gems, shortcuts, and methods in her teaching that you can practice and put to use to make your work stronger, faster, and cleaner. And with the bonus materials she graciously provides, including workbooks with her detailed steps, practice files of the images she uses in class, and before and after comparisons, you'll be on your way to improving your skills immediately. She's an accomplished retoucher and gifted teacher. If you have the opportunity to take one of her classes, take advantage of it!

Student Work

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