Photoshelter is hosting a webinar featuring retoucher Kristina Sherk this week, and to advertise the webinar they posted an animated gif showing before and after Sherk got her hands on the image. I was shocked, as Sherk not only easily erased 10 years off the model, but even more amazingly did it without making it look fake.
Unfortunately, the webinar closed because it filled, but Photoshelter will be posting a recording of that webinar on their blog later in the week. Amazing right?
UPDATE: It has come to Fstoppers's attention that in our original article showing the outstanding retouching work of Kristina Sherk and her upcoming webinar, we neglected to put the image (and the retouching applied to it) in the proper context. Having only what was written on the PhotoShelter Blog, we lacked the back story that properly contextualizes this image. In an effort to quickly publicize the webinar being hosted by PhotoShelter and SharkPixel.com, we failed to check into the full story behind the retouching. Thus, giving our readers a fragmented frame in which to view Kristina's work through.
Sherk’s original purpose behind retouching this image was strictly for educational purposes and is to be included in her upcoming instructional retouching DVD. Her intent with the image was to show the possibilities of post production, but with the stipulation that though it can be done, retouchers should take the skills learned in creating such a piece and utilize those skills in the degree they see fit for their client's needs.
[Via Photoshelter]
![[Pics] Manipulated Photos Of Notable Historic Figures Before The Digital Era (Before And After Images)](https://cdn.fstoppers.com/styles/small-16-9/s3/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/3.jpg)
Thanks, Steven. Appreciated.
Yep, I prefer Jeremy's work to the above.
Kind words. Thanks!
Jose, thanks for the nod. To clarify, my point is not that Kristina's work is bad. It's good, and I respect her skill. But, as a photographer and a father of a young girl, I sincerely feel that we need less airbrushing and "perfecting" of people who are already beautiful—meaning everyone. There will always be a market for Cosmo-style retouching, and I salute anyone who can make a go of it. Do I re-touch? Damn straight. And we all have to make peace with ourselves somewhere on that slippery slope.
The skin texture looks very peculiar. I didn't see the webinar so this may have been discussed. I'm left wondering what the model actually feels about this retouch. I recognise that she's likely very used to this level of alteration but...
Paul,
I haven't spoken with the model directly, but the photographer was thrilled with the end result. If he had any reservations, or aspects of the retouching job he would have liked fixed, I would have gladly addressed them for him. At the end of the day for me, the only people's opinions that matter are the ones of my direct client and his/her end client. As long as they're happy, I'm happy! But thanks for the comment! - Best, Kristina Sherk
Saying that your client's opinion is the only one that counts is shortsighted, if you are advertising teaching webinars for PhotoShelter. Satisfying clients, unless you are shooting major ad campaigns, and teaching worldwide webinars are not the same. People paying to learn from retouchers teaching on sites like PhotoShelter expect the experts to be top notch, so these criticisms matter.
It seems to be a hell of work. Maybe one can make a living out of such work for advertising and therefore it's OK. For my personal feelings it is way over done. But the worst thing is the hand job ;-) It looks like she has rubber fingers. But anyway, i like such examples and tuts because it is not necessary to over do the own work like this, but we can learn always some tricks.
Great work. I appreciate the skill that goes into a retouch like this. I'd love to see some of the work of all the folks in here who are bashing it.
april's fool RIGHT?
Terrible? Lets see you do better! It's nice and safe to sit at your laptops drinking your morning coffee thinking that your keyboard gives you carte blanche to say whatever you want. The simple fact is F Stoppers thought enough of Kristi's work to feature it! I realize that for such childish behavior as some of these comments suggest, that this is a bitter pill to swallow. So. with that said, POST UP! Lets see some brilliance coming from you people who clearly have nothing better to do on a Friday morning! Link away! Or think before you say something mean on the internet that you may end up getting called out on.
Cheers Chad, I feel the same way.
Amen Chad
Yes, chad, I completely agree!
http://clarkjamesdigital.com/retouching
admittedly we work in completely different industries, but even so I wouldn't describe the work as 'mind blowing', it's the standard of any professional retoucher
Not bad Clark rather impressive one!
I've slowly watched Fstoppers evolve their content to include a lot of amazing posts and at the same time watched the Fstoppers community devolve into a negative group of 'thats terrible, I could do so much better' haters (I hate that word but it seems to fit well here).
For anyone saying Kristina's work is terrible, put up or shut up. I'd like to request that you each put up a link to a before and after retouch you have personally done for everyones review. Better yet, screenclip the 'before' photo in teh .gift above and show us you can do better. I bet that either you DON'T actually have this skill set, or are too afraid of the public ridicule so common on F-Stoppers to put yourself out there. I'm betting no one who bitched is up for the challenge. I think Kristina did an excellent job here and I can guarantee that 99% of the public seeing this while flipping through a magazine wouldn't think twice about this being a great image - which is the entire point.
I realize everyone is entitled to an opinion and you're more than welcome to bitch and moan about others work but I'm seeing a real trend from the F-Stoppers crowd of people hiding behind their keyboard only insulting others work rather than contributing their own or offering any real critique.
Que the backlash....
Youre right Mike. Thanks for saying so. As a writer for the site, its pretty painful to see how folks react like they are all the next Annie Leibovitzs
I agree that the work is stunning and peerless. Kristina is clearly a genius retoucher. Keep in mind, though, many of the comments are calling the aesthetics—not the skills—into question. This is where subjectivity really takes a life of its own. Ultimately, though... yes. If you are criticizing the work, tell us your explicit reasoning. Better yet... show us your work.
Agreed. Stunning work. Thanks for writing that out so i didnt have to myself.
Amen! All the negative stuff is why I got out of the FB group. It wasn't enjoyable any more. You had to weed through all the junk in order to appreciate the group and it got tiring. Don't get me wrong, I still love Fstopers!! I'll just continue to watch things from the outside.
I also agree with ya Mike. It seems to bring joy to peoples lives to try to bring others down. Often times there's an underlying hint of envy, either you wish you could do better, think you could do better or just straight up too cocky. If someone is shining, just let them enjoy it, no one need your cloud moving in to cast shadows.
No backlash here. You're bang on.
Thumbs up. Pity how much bashing ze lords of ze internets do everyday - especially from the photography world's overnight experts. lol they don't even know how to stop from growing into art directors now.
I love it!! Great job Kristina! Don't listen to these "haters." With digital photography we are able to create art. Transform an image into whatever and wherever our imagination takes us! As for me personally i see things in others that normally a non-photographer wouldn't see, I try to bring out that real beauty. It is still her in every sense…just without the stresses of life :) Again keep up the good work! and for all those negative ppl out there! you think that the painters back in the day actually painted the flaws?…nope! Expand you abilities in retouching, learn all you can, and stop hating on someone else's art for goodness sake!
Impressive job on the retouch. A little bit too much airbrushed like
some may say ( and personally ), but if that's what the client wanted,
then good for him!
Kudos to you Kristina for your grace under fire.
And people wonder why girls and young women have image and esteem problems...
Nothing to see yet but holding out for the website to be done:
http://www.martincline.com/about.html
Hey, Jose Martinez, stop posting the url of the portfolios of those who comment. What's the point? We don't need to be better than the post's author to be able to give some critique. And for what it's worth, here, let me save you some work: http://josetomastocino.com
Asshole.
Thank you for saving me time. To those above:
http://josetomastocino.com
Hey Jose Tocino - I'd hardly call some of these comments 'critique', some are just insults, especially Martins
"And people wonder why girls and young women have image and esteem problems..." That's called "taking the piss" or "being an asshole"
Go beat your drum some where else - Asshole.
Are you and Jose Martinez the fucking boyfriends of the retoucher or what?
Thanks for the link, but I'm not sure what a architectural photography student's website has to do with a generally accepted medical issue created by the unrealistic enhancements created by this industry. (BTW it should be done by the end of the semester - check back mid-May)
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/news/news/a11-new-policies.page
Oh wait, that's right, you were just childishly lashing out. My bad.
(BTW the website should be done by the end of the semester - check back mid-May. Although I'm sure it won't be up to your discriminating standards.)
Have not said anything negative about anyone's work. I was just allowing people to compare your work to other's. My comment about your website was simply that the website was not done yet.
José, maybe we should see YOUR work if you're going to post around everybody's, don't you think??
Jose, thank you for the links to the commentators/critics portfolios as it does provide perpective and weight (or lack of) to their criticism.
Women and girls have steem problems based on way more things than an image like this. you are reaching..... greatly.
Yes... the American Medical Association... they don't know anything.
And if you're going to comment, have the backbone to step out of the shadows with a name and a face.
It is true, the media always fills us with surreal idealistic human utopias, but they don't limit themselves to a photo-retouching, it's entire lifestyles portraying something a minimum percent of people can achieve, thus making everyone else feel they are the problem since they can't achieve that. Publicity has always made profit out of this dream chasing done by a public who finds it's own reality too poor to fulfill them. However, those who know better and are strong enough to realize what's really important in life, don't have such image and self-esteem issues.
"those who know better and are strong enough to realize what's really important in life.."
To say to the model "you're not good enough" is one thing. She is a mature adult who is getting paid, but you can't really mean that 7, 8, 9 year old girls can be held to that same standard. Do you? Children aren't "strong" and wise enough to know what's really important in life. That's a major characteristic of a child.
Should we keep the work with the porn away from children's eyes? No, but we should be more responsible.
I understand your point of view, and it's really all about that, the "point of view". If you as a person feel that you should BE the way someone else is, just because that person receives attention or appears on tv, then you are weakly minded. Forget about image and think about sports, where nothing is "wrong" there.. if a kid sees Tom Brady throw a football at blazing speeds with high accuracy and become successful and on top of that he's rich, famous and considered by most very handsome, well I'm sure that kid will try to become in many ways as Tom Brady is, but if the kid just doesn't have what it takes, he COULD become frustrated, feel useless, worthless and have low self-esteem issues. Of course 7,8, 9 year old boys and girls don't have the maturity to understand properly what is truly important in life, but that's where parents come in, it's the reason parenting is so important and that is one of the major flaws in a lot of countries where unimportant things such as image and money suddenly become priority instead of morality, ethic, and the importance of meaningful things.
Anyway, I do see your point, and I partially agree with you. But making such comments on a photo-retouch post, which is the most common thing for digital photography, is pretty much like saying the bible's wrong in a Catholic blog.
In a nutshell, you are what you decide to be, let others decide for themselves.
BTW, don't blame just "the media". We are accomplices: the photogs and retouchers. WE are as much to blame as "the media" for participating.
Kristina, I think you did an amazing job! I understand, as I'm sure you do, where the torrid yet sometimes overly critical comments are coming from. You have taken an average photograph and made it a masterpiece. Yes, it may be a little heavier retouch than I would normally apply for the average consumer portrait, but for a high fashion magazine layout, this is also about how I would apply the necessary Photoshop skills. It seems to me that most of the overly critical comments are coming from individuals not really associated with this type of high fashion layout. I hope you ignore the harsh critiques of these individuals and realize what an exceptional skill you have. Keep up the tremendous work! You are amazing!!!
I appreciate this level of retouching, although a bit overdone, takes a lot of time and practice get right. I agree the fingers look bad, it seems like they were an after thought once the initial retouching on the face was done. I can see why the emphasis was brought away form the hands, it was just executed wrong in my opinion. It's the small details in the overall image that have the most impact, if however subtle, can really effect the final outcome.
Hair can be the hardest part of a beauty retouch, it can be painstakingly time consuming to correct and get right. I think a little more attention and time could have been devoted to that, particular the models right side.
Nice work on the skin detail!
- Fellow retoucher
Hi Kristina, i really admire your skills. Do you use Portrait Professional in your workflow? My only criticism is that since you went for the perfect skin look, the hands could have been smoother. They look like an older persons hands.
All the negative comments "omg so fake" - grow up.
That was the desired look and the retoucher has done a fine job.
Take your rant about how it's giving young girls a self esteem issues and bla bla some where else.
Whilst important this isn't the place for it. We are here discussing the techniques used etc.
If you're to retarded to open a fashion magazine and realise for this style of photograph it looks good, go sell your camera now and uninstall photoshop.
Cheers
Tom
Tom, if this work was only seen by adults, I'd agree with you. However, I'm arguing on behalf of those WHO HAVE YET to grow up: children.
This work is seen by more than just mature adults.
Dear Martin, I completely agree that retouching (as a skill and an artform) is mis-leading young girls into having unrealistic body image expectations. This is the EXACT reason why I insist on keeping as many before images up on my website. So many people come up to me and comment on how nice it made them feel to roll over the before and after images on my website, and how it boosted their self esteem to know that all of those models in the magazines 'aren't as perfect as they seem.' It makes me proud that I am one of the only retouchers who insists (for the sake of the industry and the field) to include the before images on my website.
I like to draw comparisons between retouching in photographs, to special effects in movies. Just because a teenager runs off a barn roof and begins flying in a movie, doesn't mean that every teenager who sees the movie will go home and expect to have the same result if they run off their roof. It's common knowledge that special effects exist and are used regularly in films.
The more retouchers band together and insist on including the before images in their portfolios, the more the knowledge of the capabilities of retouching and photoshop will spread and thus, it will become common place knowledge that retouching exists and that young girls should not believe the images they see in magazines. The sooner this happens, the sooner retouchers like me will stop getting the bad rap they currently get (and in all too many cases; don't deserve).