What’s to retouch?
by nadiphotography
Camera settings;
Nikon D90
Samyang 85mm f/1.4
1/80, f/8 and ISO 200.
Auto white balance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_balance
Since I always shoot RAW http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raw_image_format its possible not to mind the tones ‘n colors in the original image. You need to see the photo in your head, ready and retouched as you shooting.
Why f/8 on a f/1.4 lense?
With this kind of model I dont wanna fuck up anything or take any chances. The boathouse was like 10 metres long. I wanted to have the model sharp and looking good from front to back. And as you can see the background blows out quite nicely in the distance. And of course anything can be done in the edit, but thats not real photography. For me, the magic needs to happen within the camera and by learning to use your equipment.
And above all, think ahead on a shoot and LOOK at what you’re shooting.
My work flow is as follows;
I transfer RAW files from camera to PC using Nikon Transfer. With it I rename the files and create back ups to a external hard drive.
For the file handling itself I use Adobe Bridge. From there I open RAW files in Camera Raw, which is a plugin for Photoshop. Camera Raw is much like Lightroom. There I crop the image and make some slight adjustments. For example change the white balance and correct exposure. With shooting RAW I suggest you underexpose a bit. This is one advantages of shooting RAW.
You can bring back the correct exposure level in edit.
About cropping,
I tend to leave enough space around the subject just to make sure I got what I need. After in edit I can make the desired crop.
When all this is done I open the image in Photoshop CS4. First I take care all the blemishes and pimples. Then all the necessary retouching.
The level of retouching depends on the subject and the purpose of the final photo.
With this example there was not much retouching done. As you can see, using light adjustments, Curves, Levels and Exposure can make hell of a difference.
Go out n shoot!
