Slickforce Studio

[Trever1t]

So in wanting to improve my post processing skills I purchased the mastering retouching tutorials from Nick Saglimbeni http://masteringretouching.com/mastering-retouching/

my first edit using the technique is rudimentary at best but I am exaggerating the process during learning it.


_POR0381-Edit by WSG Photography, on Flickr

Basically light is smoothed and noise is added. If you look very close you can see I added too much noise and undoubtedly smoothed way to much.

 

[bribrius]

Had some doubts looking at the mis-spelling "stetchmarks" on the website. But your photo is good so it seems to be working for you.

 

[AKUK]

I came across him a couple of years ago. He certainly has had a lot of magazine covers, then again, scantily clad attractive women tend to sell quite well.

There is no doubt time-wise, it's an effective and relatively quick technique but, it depends on what you're looking for. It's quite easy to get the plastic skin appearance using the clone tool in the manner he does and the colour noise to simulate skin texture never really appealed to me personally. I found it looking like the image was shot at a very high ISO.

The "best" results tend to come from dodging and burning/frequency separation. A much more long winded process but there is a reason why the vast majority of professionals use FS in some form or another in their high end retouching. The "slickforce" technique (IRRC) is more of a quick fix IMHO. It has it's place. If you can't afford to hire retouchers and don't have time to do high end retouching yourself, then the slickforce method can get a pretty good look, in a limited time, provided you're proficient with it.

 

[Trever1t]

Although the image above was edited using his method alone, I plan on continuing using my previous methods, which include FS and assimilating some of his technique into my routine to achieve the smoother light and shadow transitions. Another tool in the box so to speak. Again, I'm so new at this that it's going to take me some time and dedication to achieve what I want.

 

[AKUK]

It's always worth looking at different techniques. That's the beauty of Photoshop. There are a multitude of ways to arrive at the same or very similar results. Just look at the amount of default sharpening options that are available, let alone sharpening with blur lol.

 

[Rick50]

Nice Trever. I bet it's that 135 again. The Bokeh is super....

 

[Trever1t]

Yes, and yes indeed!

 

[tirediron]

Had a look; while his prices aren't crazy, they're definitely in the 'high enough, I wouldn't buy on spec' category. Thoughts on value for $$ Trev?

 

[photoguy99]

Skin processing is almost always overdone. I'm looking at Ralph Lauren, Coach, Chanel, Salvatore Ferragamo, Burberry. The skin is nice and has good makeup, but if there's digital cleanup is very very subtle.

Guess, Oscar de la Renta, of course Dolce and Gabbana, are all very very sleek, but they're simultaneously going for a very very heavily made up look.

 

[Trever1t]

Had a look; while his prices aren't crazy, they're definitely in the 'high enough, I wouldn't buy on spec' category. Thoughts on value for $$ Trev?

Well still on Level 4 of 7 but I've learned quite a bit already. I'm sure one could search youtube and find the info for free but having everything laid out is what I need. .. . I'm kinda thick headed ya know I'm happy with it so far. If it helps me improve than the money is well spent.