Online workshop portrait between photo and painting and portrait retouching

description

Preamble :
This workshop, entirely dedicated to the portrait, will allow you to discover many retouching techniques. From natural skin rendering, to a very softened style, to a painting effect, you will discover how to obtain the desired results in Photoshop.
Also, these 2 courses will allow you to learn the methods of complex selections. This is often the case in portraiture, when small elements, such as hair, need to be cropped.
At the end of this workshop, you will have learned to use a variety of tools and techniques, allowing you to easily work on portrait retouching, and give your images an artistic style.

Workshop content:

Portrait between photo and painting :
(Sunday, March 19, 2023)

This style of portraiture is commonly referred to as "Fine Art" or "painterly portrait effect".
This course will teach you how to create this style of image, and obtain visual renderings that are somewhere between photography and painting . You can see some examples under the course thumbnail (click on the images to enlarge). The atmosphere, the colours, the backgrounds, and also the luminosity, create an ensemble characteristic of this style of image.

Prerequisite:
This course is intended for users with a good knowledge of Photoshop (intermediate level).
The mastery of the blending masks and the dynamic objects are necessary to follow the course easily.
Concerning the selections, the technique (which will be about the only one necessary here) allowing to separate the subject from the background, will be an integral part of the course, and will be explained in detail.

Course Content :

• Presentation of this style of image:
  We will discuss the characteristics that are regularly found in these images.
• Shooting:
  Although we start from a file that will be provided to you, the shot used as a starting point for this style of image also has its own characteristics. These will be explained.
• Trimming the subject :
  This is the essential technical point I mentioned above. In this course, you will learn how to crop the subject with precision. Indeed, the idea is to place a new background behind the portrait. Selecting a character is usually a complex job, because of small elements such as hair.
  The technique explained here will be clipping using layers, and working on an alpha layer (also known as a separation mask in this case).
  There are several methods to create layers as a basis for the preparation work. They will be explained in detail.
• Edge enhancement :
  A clipping often needs to be refined. You will study the different techniques to obtain a precise result.
• Paint effect :
  Several effects will be studied. Insofar as these are intended to be subtle, in order to remain between photography and painting, they will be applied in a localized manner, and with different techniques.
• Atmosphere:
  Here is a very important point. Indeed, as you can see in the examples, the atmosphere of these images is always very particular.
  Once all the elements are in place in the image, work will be done to create the atmosphere. Several techniques and tools will be studied.
• Final rendering:
  Once the result is obtained, you will study the possible variants. An image created is always a reflection of its own sensitivity. We each have our own, and that is why we will end the course on this subject.

Software :
For this course, in addition to Adobe Photoshop, the Nik Collection suite will need to be installed on your computer.
If you don't have it, you can find a trial version, or buy a license on the DxO website.

Working files :
The images (1 portrait file and 1 texture file) will be provided just before the start of the course (sent by WeTransfer).
If you wish to work with your own images, you can let me know beforehand. Provided that these correspond to the standards necessary for the technical needs of the course, we will be able to use them during the course.

Portrait retouching:
(Sunday, March 26, 2023):

In this course you will learn the techniques of portrait retouching.

After a presentation of beauty retouching and its specificities, the following points will be studied:

• Commonly used correction tools in portrait retouching
• skin softening (2 techniques with a different approach will be presented)
• Work on colorimetry (skin colour)
• Underline the look
• digital make-up
• Use of the fluidity filter
• Trimming of the subject with the alpha layer technique
• Improved routing
• Tips and tricks will be presented to you during the course.

Questions / Answers :
During the different stages of the 2 workshops, questions may be asked.
Also, 30 minutes will be devoted at the end of the workshop for a question and answer session.

Course of the workshop:
This workshop will be held online (via the Internet), and live. The ZOOM video conferencing application will be used. The connection is established in a few clicks. You do not need to create an account or subscribe to Zoom to participate in the workshop. An invitation link will be sent to you by e-mail before each session. You will then simply be asked to download the application, in order to get the user interface. It is very easy to learn. Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Video summary :
This workshop is accompanied by a video summary for each session.
It is recorded live during the workshop.
The video will be sent to you in MP4 format, via WeTransfer, after each session.

Working files :
The image files used during the 2 sessions will be sent at the same time as the videos.