PP woes

[rub]

I am a complete novice when it comes to PP my images. I do my best, but right now it is taking me far too long. I often know what I want, just not how to effeciently achieve those results.

I am learning mostly through the web, tutorials, and tips from friends (and will be taking a Photoshop course at the local community college in a few weeks) but I still have so far to go. So now I have been thinking about hiring out some of my pp.

Has anyone ever done this?
Any downfalls you can think of, other than cost & losing a bit of the creative control?
What can I expect to pay for this service?
Would people pay by the hour? The image?

I am not looking for major retouching on most images, just a little more than what I can do now.

I have thought about approaching some of the site users here, who's style I like. If anyone would be interested in taking on some extra work, or if you have any advice, it would be appreciated.

Kristal

 

[mark h]

losing a bit of the creative control

That's the big one. Is it really that hard to learn yourself? Just give it a bit of time and you'll get there.

 

[rub]

Its just the time factor that I am worried about. I have a few clients lined up right now, and I know my pp skills are not where they should be. I am really looking for a short term solution so that I can give my clients a great final product while I am still learning.

 

[Big Mike]

I know a few photographers who 'sub-out' some of the PP. Sometimes it's just RAW processing, sometimes it's album layout & design, sometimes it's letting the lab do color corrections. I'm sure that some people sub it all out.

Part of learning and developing your post processing is streamlining your workflow. Maybe it you tell us your current workflow, we can help you to speed things up.

If you are looking for someone to give you a quote on processing; e-mail this guy, he does great work. Tell him Big Mike sent you. [email protected]

 

[rub]

Thanks Big Mike.

Right now I shoot RAW. Download. Do a quick run through and garbage the garbage. Save to HD, plus save a copy on DVD.

Do color adjustments etc in Lightroom (which I am getting quick with). Right now I am not doing any batch edits...

After adjustemts, I save to quickfolder (or whatever its called) and then export as tiff EditedFiles/filenumber.

For those that need retouching, I open edited files in PS CS3, and thats where it all goes wrong. Removing blemishes, sharpening, reducing noise, brightening eyes, all fine. But anything else, I just wanna cry...lol

I know that if I had the skill I would be ok.

Any tips on improving my workflow would be great.

Thanks again.

 

[holga girl]

Thanks Big Mike.


For those that need retouching, I open edited files in PS CS3, and thats where it all goes wrong. Removing blemishes, sharpening, reducing noise, brightening eyes, all fine. But anything else, I just wanna cry...lol

I know that if I had the skill I would be ok.

Any tips on improving my workflow would be great.

Thanks again.

did i post this? it sure seems like it!

 

[Big Mike]

I don't have lightroom, so I'm no expert on it....but I think you could still trim some time there. Do have version 2? I think they added a few more editing tools, so that you don't have to do them in Photoshop.
You should be able to apply some of the tweaks to multiple images, even if it's only the WB setting (for example). It really depends on what type of shoot you have and the variety of your images. I use Raw Shooter Essentials, which is similar. I adjust an image, the copy those settings and paste them onto subsequent images one at a time or in a batch. Those settings might not be perfect for the other images, but they are usually pretty close, so the needed tweaks are minor.
Also, don't forget about 'Presets'...they are basically like Photoshop actions. I think you can download them or make them yourself, then save them and apply them to any one or group of images.

As for Photoshop; practice makes perfect. Learn to use shortcut keys and actions. You can buy & download pre-made actions, but you can also record your own. An action is just a string of commands...so if you find that you are doing things repeatedly for each image (like creating adjustment layers, resizing, saving for web etc) you can turn those into actions and then run them with the click of a button.

 

[Big Mike]

Oh ya, look into getting a pen & tablet. I highly recommend Wacom.

It will take some getting used to, but it can really be great for doing delicate edits.

 

[Josh66]

[...]Removing blemishes, sharpening, reducing noise, brightening eyes, all fine. [...]

That can all be done in Lightroom. That'll save you a little time, not having to export to another program. I would only go to Photoshop for the things that Lightroom can't do.