K: How did you get into photo retouching?
C: I studied Graphic Information Design at Falmouth College of Arts and after a brief period of searching for work in the West Country I took on a role in a reprographics house. I had technical Mac skills and was thrown in at the deep end preparing design for print and troubleshooting files sent in from clients. The hands-on part of the job involved colour correction which was probably when I first started retouching.
I moved on to another repro job after several months and was trained in high end scanning and eventually moved into the Bristol area as an artworker within a design agency where I was responsible for preparing deign for print – which involved a great deal of Photoshop work.
K: Can you briefly describe your process?
C: It varies but essentially it starts with a decent brief and a good look at the source files, you know where you are starting and what you are aiming for. I should point out that I retouch mainly for commercial print so there are certain areas which need addressing simply because the target is usually a 300dpi CMYK file and not an RGB one.
As a process I always try to work in a non-destructive way. Photoshop over the years has allowed us to change more, more quickly and with multiple undos but I still come across a great deal of work where the original has been altered so you end up retouching a retouched image. Also, in a commercial environment, it is often essential that someone else can open a file and see what you have done in terms of layers, effects and corrections as further images may require the same work.
I will start with the composition, laying out the elements where I want them - each on separate layers if possible and masked. I then work on bedding them in - making the elements work together so that you can't see the joins, changing, removing etc. Finally I work on the colour correction work.
By working on the colour correction at the end of the process you are more able to move the elements around underneath the colour correction to a certain extent without having to retouch the joins again. If you colour correct a layer and then clone on top of it, for example, if you change the colour layer later, the cloning won't match and has to be reworked.
This is a general process and I will deviate from it more often than not but it is a general plan when starting.
K: What is your favourite genre of photography to retouch?
C: Anything really, each piece of work has its own challenges. I have worked commercially on advertising, promotional work, literature and for print, web and display. Most people (men) comment on the lingerie work in catalogues for obvious reasons. The more creative work can be fun but it can sometimes be difficult to be on the same wavelength as the photographer and to fully understand what they want. I enjoy the work most when you cannot see that the finished piece has been retouched. If I had to go with one though it would be advertising pieces - they tend to be very creative, challenging and an opportunity to produce work that adds to, rather than stands out from, the finished item.
K: What is your favourite piece of work you have done and why?
C: I don't have a single favourite piece - I get the most out of the work when people look at a file and have no reaction to it. This means they can't immediately see that it has been altered and that I have done the job well - the retouching has not got in the way of the purpose of the piece. It is a bit like special effects at the movies - sometimes the effects look great, sometimes it is just a great movie. I aim to make a great movie, not a great effect.
K: What new skill would you love to learn to improve your work?
C: There are a couple or areas I would like to improve – my illustration and my photography. I haven't worked on my drawing since my degree and observation of life is essential for retouching. Drawing helps improve this, making you really look.
I could always improve my knowledge of photography which helps in the understanding of both sides of the retouching role, from shoot set up and production to finished picture. Many photos are taken with "it can be retouched later" attached. Generally, it usually looks better if done in camera first and that's where I could do with more knowledge.
K: What has been your biggest mistake?
C: A particular job required a shiner – this is a percentage of cyan printed underneath black in order to give a good, solid black when the item is printed – and I simply got it wrong, putting too much magenta and not enough cyan into the colour producing a very warm, pinky black. Fortunately it was spotted at wet proof stage so wasn't too costly. It was for a well known chocolate brand so it could have gone very wrong.
Lesson learned – always preview separations individually in Photoshop.
K: What do you believe is the future of retouching?
C: I feel the skill is becoming devalued in recent years while the desire for the work to be done is increasing. I think there are 2 areas to look at which will respond differently – commercial retouching and retouching as an art form.
As an art form, retouched images are being produced by an increasing number. I remember hearing that as little as 2% of fine artists make a living from their work alone (don't ask where I heard it from or how accurate the figure is - the point being that it is a small number!). I think the same may still apply to an artist who uses the electronic medium, however the opportunity is most definitely there to carry those skills from creating personal art into the commercial arena. People won't stop having fun with retouching!
Commercially, with the software becoming more and more accessible, more and more people are having a go, often with some entertaining results (there are websites out there with plenty of retouching disasters). This means that it is almost always possible to find someone who will do the work for less but you might just get what you pay for.
It is difficult to predict but I think that as the moving image becomes more prevalent the commercial requirement for retouching stills may diminish. I don't think the art form will fall away quite so much.
But I could be wrong!
K: Do you have a favourite saying or mantra to keep you going?
C: No saying or mantra – that would suggest that the work is a chore and I had to chant away to get through the day!
I could have been an accountant (I was pretty good at maths, honest) but all I could see ahead of me was a payslip at he end of the month. The reason I do this work is still the same – I get to see the work I have done on a daily basis on supermarket shelves and shops, bus stops and posters, even on TV. I get to say (only to myself so as not to bore people) "That looks great. I did that."
I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Chris Lunn for taking time out of his work to talk to me, I appreciate it is a busy time of year and I am overjoyed with the interview! Thank you!
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