Tips and tricks: k10

I recently journeyed to North Lake Tahoe beach with alternative model k10, and my assistant/girlfriend Kayla Raw for a swimsuit shoot. Today, I’m going to break down the post processing steps I used in order to create the beautiful image seen below.

©Danny Postawa / Lispy Studios

Camera: Canon 5D MKII w/ a manually held 580 EX2 speedlight and shoot-through umbrella.
Settings: 1/40 @ f/3.4 ISO 400
Lens: 24-70mm 2.8

1) Create a duplicate layer to work on in Photoshop so you’re not damaging the actual background layer. I usually rename this layer “r1″, which is short for Retouch layer 1. This is the layer where I smooth and soften the skin using the Spot Heal tool and Clone Stamp at a low Opacity, usually set between 18-21 on the Clone Stamp opacity, not the layer visibility.

Tips and Tricks R1

2) The second thing I normally do after retouching those pesky blemishes is contour the body and slightly refine the edges of the skin in order to replicate how we actually see the individual being photographed rather than skin bunched up, which is unflattering. Remember, skin is skin, that doesn’t mean fat. I handle this by using the Liquify tool located in the Filter drop down menu at the top. The size of the brush you use to liquify is dependent upon the area that you’re adjusting and I usually keep my Brush Pressure under 40.

Tips and Tricks Liq

3) The third thing I do after removing blemishes and contouring is color adjustment. The color treatment of your image defines the mood you set for the audience. In this case, I used an 81A warming filter on k10, which pops out nicely against the vivid blue saturation Lake Tahoe is naturally blessed with. I wanted to enhance the saturation of Lake Tahoe since the sun was going down and the vividness of Tahoe was being diminished every second with the setting sun. I rarely adjust multiple colors at a time when using the Hue/Saturation adjustment tool to in this case I wanted to enhance the blues so I created a Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer and brought the blues up +57. One thing you have to watch out for when adjusting color is ensuring other blue areas in the photos that you don’t want affected get masked out, which ultimately leaves those areas “untouched” by the adjustment.

Tips and Tricks +b

4) Next, I focus on shading. Shading helps define your shadows and highlights that are already present in the image. I shade using a technique showed to me by Kayla Raw. Create a blank layer (CMD+Shift+N) and rename is shading. Once the layer is visible use Shift+Delete to fill the layer on 50% Gray. Change your blend mode to Overlay, which will “hide” the layer, but its secretly resting over the image. I use the Brush Tool set at a low opacity (usually 10-15) and paint with black to help define the shadows, and paint with white to help enhance the highlights. After I’m satisfied with the shading, I apply a Gaussian Blur to the Shading layer at about 36%, which allows the shading to blend in more naturally to the skin and shadows already present.

Tips and Tricks Shading

5) After looking at the overall image, I decided the overall warmth was still a bit too much for the mood I wanted to portray, so I used the Color Balance Adjustment layer to reduce the Reds and Yellows throughout the entire image until it reached the desired color temperature, which in this case happened to be:
Red/Cyan: -10
Magenta/Green: +9
Yellow/Blue: +18

Tips and Tricks Color Balance

6) Finally, the last thing I do is Sharpen the image. The way I like to sharpen is by going down the Filter drop down menu to Other, and click on High Pass. When using the High Pass sharpening method, make sure you don’t over-do the amount because doing so will create posterization and banding. This is when the edges all throughout the image has the whitish/yellowish outlines. This is unflattering for the photograph, and especially on the talent. Remember, Less is more.

And that’s it! These techniques can be used for various types of photography and post production.

Tips and Tricks B/A