Getting Into Photography - Learning the Art
By: Yury Novitsky | Posted: 04th March 2010
To be successful in the art of photography means not only knowing the basic portrait retouching technique but going deeper to advanced photo editing and photo restoration. You should have the eye especially in pointing out what is wrong with the portrait and how to make improvements to make it look better. Be attentive not only to the image you are working on but to the physical attributes of the subject as well. You need to study closely the portrait so that it will be easier to make the necessary corrections and enhancements but making sure that the overall output looks more natural.
Create a Strategy
You cannot start the basic/intermediate photo retouching just by randomly whitening teeth, correcting the color or removing blemishes without having a thorough understanding of the overall image of the portrait first. Map out a strategy to make retouching more effective and efficient.
- Assess the subject. Make a thorough assessment of the person physically and determine the facial features that need emphasis or need to be toned down to be able to reveal a polished portrait. The different characteristics and personalities of an individual will help you recognize which features need intermediate photo retouching to make the person shine.
- Remove distractions. Be able to spot and remove distractions that will make viewers look away and get disturbed by the portrait. Take a good look of it yourself while your eyes squint and defocus and take special attention on what registers in your own eyes. Distractions include disturbing background elements, unsightly folds of clothing, and lightened areas near the image edges.
- Leveling. Smooth body contours, face, neck, and hair to make it more flattering. Take a close look to the contours and observe for anything that gets in the way of its smooth flow. Watch for unflattering body contours, wide heads, double chins, folds of skin especially around the neck, tight shoulder or arm angles, flyaway hair, and bulges in clothing. Unattractive bulges may be formed by weight, age, body position, and awkward posing and they should be smoothen out or reduced carefully through advanced portrait retouching.
- Rest your eyes. Take a break before finally evaluating the portrait. This will allow you to take a look at the portrait with a fresh eye. Sometimes you tend to overlook the important details after working on the portrait for some time especially when you are on a tight deadline. You can ask for a second opinion or better yet, you can make a print of it so you can study it more closely. The moment you learn all the basics in retouching and photo editing, you could be on your way to making photo art and photo collages.
Learn more about photography from the experts of Sharper Images Now or better yet, collect photos that you wish to be edited and take them to their shop. There is a whole new world to photography and it will be more appreciated with the help of photo art professionals from Sharper Images Now.
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Tags: distractions, facial features, photo editing, physical attributes, bulges, squint, smooth flow, whitening teeth, body contours, double chins, art of photography, photo restoration, photo retouching