Retouching and Post Production

It's that time of year again. Children dress up in ghoulish costumes, grab their jack-o-lantern baskets and extort candy from the neighbors. Although, in Norway Sandnes Media AS, an animation studio, had the children who participated in their latest children's animation workshop do something a little bit different this Halloween.

Let's face it, as much as we want to believe great photographs are created "in camera", every single image you see published has been manipulated in Photoshop in some way. When it comes to producing attention grabbing photos, having a strong grasp on post production goes a long way. Oct 30th - Nov 1st fashion photographer Lindsay Adler will be setting down the camera and teaching everything she knows about retouching in her creativeLIVE workshop Retouching and Creative Photoshop. If you have a few spare minutes, be sure to tune into her free video stream. The full workshop description is

Right now the hottest spot on the globe for photography is in New York City at Photo Plus. Our good friends at creativeLIVE have set up an unbelievable opportunity for photographers to learn from eight of the industry's leading photographers all for FREE. Catch creativeLIVE's free event Photographers Ignite live right now. If you missed any of the speakers or want to revisit these amazing workshops,

Capture One is a fantastic program that recently released a new update. Capture One Pro 7 has many new improvements that are welcomed and expected. They have touted over 100 new features that makes this quite a worthy update.

Multimedia Artist Josiah Moore had always wanted to do a fun wedding picture when he and his wife got married. Well that opportunity came, and his wife agreed to go along with it! Armed with only a couple of props, he told the photographer his idea, and after the wedding Josiah got to work in photoshop to turn his wedding day into something out of a horror movie. This video shows a sped up look at his process.

Seth Worley, the director of ultimate short films, such as 'Plot Device' and 'Order Up' is back with another short film that he directed for Red Giant... 'Form 17'. The short film centers around a bomb defuser and his daughter while on a 'take your daughter to work day'. (Why couldn't my dad be a bomb defuser...or a unicorn whisperer?) In the behind the scenes look at the short film Seth goes over the writing process, the hectic filming schedule (aka: one day) and the post-production process. He also explains how he used PluralEyes from Red Giant to easily sync all of the audio.

For over a year and a half now, David Reynolds has been filming his "budget" series of short films called The Underwater Realm. Each week he and his team release a behind the scenes video on how they overcome some technical aspect of filming (previous Fstoppers posts here). This week Eve explains how he tackled the challenge of making a small diving pool appear like an infinite ocean using something other than green screen. If this is what is required on a budget, I can't imagine what the full blown productions look like!

The Second Version of Magic Lantern for the Canon 5D Mark III has been released! Most of the hype with Magic Lantern lately has been about the crack of the Canon 7D's firmware, but attention has shifted with this announcement. This video shows the power of HDR Video on the 5DM3. New features include smooth exposure transitions (ISO, shutter or aperture), HDR Video, focus assistants, and

A few months back Victoria's Secret accidentally released a dozen unretouched photos from a shoot with supermodel Doutzen Kroes. We shared those images in a post on Fstoppers and it caught the attention of many of you. The retouched versions of those same photos are now out. Let's compare the results!

As a retoucher, I'm always fascinated by the world of video and how retouching is done in beauty commercials. Foton Inc. released a video a few months ago showing how to make someone look younger with their “Age Reduction FX” technique. Now, here's another video showing how retouching in video is done in 4k format for a typical beauty video.

MPC or The Moving Picture Company is famous for creating truly stunning visual effects for blockbuster films like, 'Wrath of the Titans', 'John Carter' and 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'. They also did the effects for the mind blowing 'Prometheus'. In the first video VFX Supervisor, Richard Stammers, explains how they created the plant surface (or moon's), of LV-223. He explains how they used Google Earth as a reference for locations used for the film's backdrop. In the second video MPC shows snippets of various scenes broken down.

Phlearn.com just released this behind-the-scenes video which shows how to light, shoot, and process a shot in the style of Dan Winters. By reverse-engineering the light and color that Winters uses (and using a little Photoshop magic), you'll be able to replicate one of his most well-known shots of actor Tom Hanks. I don't know about everyone else, but whenever I look through a magazine, I guess at the lighting setups

You're probably already familiar with VSCO from their film presets, but they just released a keyboard shortcut tool for Lightroom that might change the way you handle your workflow in a more powerful way.

One of the best upgrades you can make for your computer is installing a solid state hard drive. However, the increase in performance can quickly become hindered as your photo and video production software fills up your drives with temporary files and thumbnails. With the help of WinDirStat you can easily track folders hiding these temp files and take back control over your drives.

A few weeks ago you may remember Ikea's attack on product photography. Today news has spread that the Saudi Arabia franchise has photoshopped all females out from catalogs distributed throughout the Islamic nation. Women aren't the only ones being censored, however, as even glasses of wine have been transformed into less offensive "festive cups". What does Ikea have to say about the post processing changes found in their catalogs?

As a wedding photographer, there's a certain amount of pressure to get all the "key moment" shots throughout the day. Make sure you get the kiss, dances, tosses, cutting, etc... The list adds up quickly. Despite good preparation, dependable equipment, and anticipation of events, every now and then you're probably going to miss one of these shots.

Arizona State University's mascot, 'Sparky', and its football team, the Arizona Sun Devils, have lit up several stadiums over the years with it's blazing and rock-driven intro video, but after seven seasons it looks like poor Sparky is in need of an update. The people over at True Story Films have taken over the task of sprucing the Sun Devil up for its new remake of its traditional stadium intro video.

If you weren't able to attend Photoshop World don't worry because creativeLIVE has teamed up with internationally acclaimed speaker and author of "Photoshop CS6: The Missing Manual", Lesa Snider. In this 3-day intensive workshop, Lesa will spend each day going over photoshop selections, adjustment layers, and smart objects. Lesa's workshop has already began however there are still 2 days left to tune in to her free-to-watch workshops.

I have never been a huge preset guy. I love having total control over my images, so presets were never really a big thing to me. I also love shooting film, and no matter what kind of tinkering I do in Photoshop I never really nail that film look with my digital files. Then I discovered VSCO Film.

Kim A. Thomas, a photographer out of San Francisco, recently shot an entire wedding using just her iPhone. She processed everything using Instagram as well. The couple, Jonathan and Brandi, wanted her to do so by request. She never used an SLR for any of the shots. Her main camera was the iPhone 4s with an iPhone 4 as a backup. She did use an SLR mount for her lenses and a tripod. Take a look at the shots and let us know what you think of them!

'Nick' poses as a a team member for a group titled 'Photoshop Request'. For every request, the unsuspecting victim doesn't actually get what they intended. The Photoshop Troll does everything other than what is requested in Photoshop. The end result warrants him the appropriate name, The Photoshop Troll.

Douglas Sonders has been features a few times on this site with some incredible images and this series doesn't depart from that sentiment. This video walks you through the post production of his "Beard Series" and gives you some great insights into how to use some excellent Nik Software to create a beautiful high contract black and white image.

Shot entirely on a Nikon D7000, wedding photographer Dieter Chaney did something I never thought was possible. Having free time during the dinner break, he was able to edit his favorite images using the Snapseed App (from Nik Software) right on his ipad. He later displayed them in a slideshow for all of the wedding guests to see. How's that for instant gratification?

We have featured a tutorial on here from makeup artist turned photographer/retoucher Gry Garness before. This one is a tutorial on how to pop the highlights and create shimmer in the skin. Without a doubt Gry is a master at her craft.

In this humorous parody of network TV's coverage of political races, PhotoshopWorld released this video that features several negative campaign ads that slam the likes of Scott Kelby, Pete Collins, Matt Kloskowski, and RC Concepcion. If you have ever used Photoshop, you'll get a kick out of some of the ridiculous jabs made at each of these expert users in this video. Have a laugh, it's Friday!

Dr. Hany Farid, a professor of computer science and a digital forensics expert at Dartmouth, has developed a piece of software that will rate the extent to which photographs have been digitally altered on a scale of 1 to 5.

One problem photographers face when focusing on objects extremely close to the camera's lens is the depth of field can become quite shallow. Even if you shoot at f22, your lens simply can't keep everything from 1 foot to infinity sharp and in focus. Gavin Hoey has released an incredibly helpful tutorial on how you can use "image stacking" in photoshop to create images that have much more depth of field than normal. If you are a landscape photographer or shoot tricky subjects like interiors or macro still life, stacking images for maximum sharpness can be a lifesaver.

In the past, we've featured some amazing colorization of black and white photos. The results and impact of the photos were quite impressive and well receive by most people. No matter if you prefer the colored photos or the originals, you can't deny that the technique itself is pretty great. If you've ever wondered how they are done in Photoshop, we have a great look into the process.

Most of us probably use Photoshop on a regular basis. We've almost taken it for granted and it has made life a bit easier for us when it comes to correcting images. It's hard to imagine a world without Photoshop where people still modified and manipulated photos. These images exemplify that and will be a part of a showcase put on by The Metropolitan Museum Of Art.

Have you tried to tether a D4 or D800 to Lightroom? If so, you've learned that neither program can actually recognize these cameras. Apparently Nikon has yet to release the developer kit necessary to make this happen. Erica Barker points out that you can use Nikon's software "Camera Control Pro 2" to tether your camera to a computer, and then simply point Lightroom to that folder. It's an acceptable fix while we wait for Nikon to release the dev kit.

As photographers, we are always sculpting our images with light. But if you've seen any of the light painting posts here on Fstoppers, then you know just how complex the art of light painting can get. Photographer Ben Willmore has been using small constant lights in his images for years, and now he's offering a free online workshop for anyone wanting to learn the craft. On Saturday, August 25th, Ben will be giving away all his tips and tricks for free on creativeLIVE.

Chances are you've been asked to shoot someone's headshot before. As photographers, we need to be able to make our client(s) look as good as possible. To be able to light, shoot and retouch skin are vital skills that keep our doors open, and food on the table. Hollywood photographer and digital illustrator, Lee Varis been a photographer for 40 years and involved in digital imaging for 20 years.

It's true, I have a soft spot in my heart for fan films, but this short is simply too good to ignore. James Farr took his passion and turned it into a script, and then over the course of a year was able to put together this project with the help of many other talented folks. This looks better than most video game movies Hollywood is putting out these days! Hit the jump for the Behind The Scenes Video!

With just $500 and 4 days to film, Luke Neumann of Neumann Films created one heck of a slow motion video with the new Sony NEX-FS700. What sets this video apart from all the others is that in at least every clip something or someone is flying through the air. With 24 frames per second we are able to see a ridiculous amount of detail captured on video. Check out Luke's review below to see what he has to say about rolling shutter performance, low light and resolution capabliiltes.

I've been a big fan and user of Alien Skin Exposure software for many years now. A couple months ago Alien Skin asked if I would review their newest version of the software and although it took me quite a while, I'm finally done. Basically, Alien Skin has taken what I have always considered to be the best photo enhancing software available and they have made it even better.

Many photographers already use a tablet like the Wacom Intuos to work in Photoshop. You would think that an iPad would be even better because you can touch the very screen that you work is on but it's not that simple. Due to a number of issues like lack of pressure control and the fact that your hand itself will "select" parts of the screen, the iPad never took off as a professional tool. That is until I saw this video.

Li Wei has earned his way to recognition in China through his trademark gravity defying images. This video, recently featured by the Creators Project, gives a little behind the scenes glimpse of how Li Wei was inspired to pursue his aerial stunts and how his creative ideas have reflected the quickly changing culture and country around him.

I have been learning a ton of video know how in the past few months from watching the tutorials over at VideoMaker. I recently shot a green screen video for some background compositing and didn't take as much time as I should have setting up the lights for the green screen (the subjects on the other hand were flawlessly lit, haha). I thought I was out of luck until I came across this video which showed me how to fix my beginner's mistake and also has a few more handy tips for other green screen screw ups. Enjoy!

The August cover of Vogue Russia has a small issue that people have been talking about. They have been questioning whether or not it was another Photoshop mishap or just a matter of angle? The beautiful model, Natasha Poly, graces this cover and we can assure you she has all her limbs intact. We'd like to know your thoughts on whether or not this is just a matter of angle, or if the missing arm was definitely an oversight.

This was done a while ago, but Red Giant, the maker of a number of software tools to help image-makers create more realistic visual effects, created a short to showcase the capabilities of their software. The short, "Plot Device," has a great BTS video to go along with it -- they even share all the products they used. Enjoy the finished product after the break.

The Amazing Spider-Man has been out for about 2 weeks and has made 137 million dollars. I saw it last week and was really impressed by the special effects but I've never had a full understanding of what really goes into it. In this video Jerome Chen from Sony Imageworks takes us through the basics of creating an all CG fight scene. Check out the full post for 3 additional videos.

Foton inc. recently released a video showing off their video retouching skills. As photographers most of us know the time it takes to make someone look younger in a still image but what if you had to do that with video, frame by frame. To do this Foton created a new retouching technique they have named “Age Reduction FX".

If you're a sports fan, or even if you just like toned and tan bodies, you're going to want to pick up the next issue of ESPN (hits newsstands Friday). It's filled with some pretty sexy images of the United States' favorite athletes in nothing but their birthday suits.

Jeremy Cowart is the newest photographer to be featured as a part of Profoto's Master Series. In this video he explains his work flow of his well known Imogen Heap portrait. Jeremy thinks way outside the box with much of his work and he is a true artist at heart. Hopefully hearing him talk us through this shot will move you to find new ways to shoot whatever it is you do. Enjoy!