Portrait Professional...

Retouch of a headshot for model Christina using Portrait Professional software. This software is amazing, softens skin, reduces imperfections and makes the eyes pop. The best part is it's easy to use and relatively inexpensive.

I usually only use this software for my model headshots and boudoir portraits. And occassionally for Senior Portraits as well.

Before & After Tutorial...

A little tutorial if you will.

The first image is straight out of camera (SOCC), no retouching, color correction or anything done to this image. Just downloaded to my computer.

It's pretty flat and boring don't you agree? I would never present this to a client. It needs some help first to make it look the way I envision. Part of the creative process if you will. There's so much more to photography than just taking the picture. The countless hours spent retouching and processing after the shoot is very time consuming. But it needs to be done to each and every image. Kind of like the Digital Darkroom.



SOCC

SOCC

The final result below! Much better. It pops off the page now. The eyes just sparkle.

Here's what I did:

Cropped and straightened the image
Color corrected and levels adjustment

Saturation and Contrast boost
Sharpened (just a tad)
Added Gausian Blur (leaving eyes and mouth sharp)
Adjustment layer soft light at around 40%
Adjustment layer hard light at around 50%

That's it. Now it's ready! Of course I don't do all of these to every image but always do at minimum, color correction, saturation boost, contrast boost, levels adjustment and cropping if needed. Occasionally, I'll also run Portrait Professional for extra creamy, perfect skin. It's great for headshots and boudoir portraits.

Final Image,

Model: Christina

Digital Workflow...

A little something different for today. Thought I would share my digital workflow with everyone today. This is what I do in order, after every shoot. Now I realize other photographers may do things a little differently but this is how I personally finalize my photo sessions.



1. Download all compact flash cards to a specified folder in photoshop. I already have the folder named before my shoot.


2. Take a quick look and make sure all images are there, none are missing.


3. Now I do a quick sort and move the best images to a subfolder I named "Keep 1".


4. Walk away for a couple hours. Come back and take another look and add any more keepers, if any to the "Keep 1" folder. *** Make a pot of coffee ***.


5. Burn all images from "Keep 1" folder to a CD. Do not erase memory cards until this step is done and images have been backed up.


6. Start picking my favorites from "Keep 1" folder and retouching those images. Just basic color correction, contrast, levels and saturation boost. Take a break in between. Post all retouched images to private on-line gallery for client. Keep retouching until all images are done.


7. Take a break.


8. Go back and do more retouching, convert some to black and white, add textures if it will enhance an image, etc. Add any special effects that I think will look good on any images, upload.

9. Design coffee table book, collages and/or cards. Upload to gallery.

10. Wait for print and specialty orders. Then arrange those images into a "print order" folder and double check files, upload to lab, order prints.


Thats just about it. A lot of work really does go into just one portrait session, wedding and/or senior session. There are endless hours of sorting, retouching, ordering, designing, backing up, etc. Hope this helps.