Happy Easter guys! This week I wanted to give you a handy guide for double-checking that your images (with people in them) are as free from distractions as possible, and how to fix any that appear, before you release them. There is another impressive article on how to do this with videos if you prefer some German humor ;). I like to break my images down into 3 key areas (entirely because of Stefan). These are the following: As long as these three issues are covered, you have a wonderful base to assume that your image is going to be relatively distraction free.
So what are these problems, and how can you identify/fix them? The answer is simple, with the right techniques and a ton of experience. I can show you the techniques, but the experience part is up to you! So load up that photo you never got around to retouching and allow me to help you through it with this guide!
In short, everything we’re looking at doing here is to simplify our image and remove distractions. Texture/Structure: The most common culprits I find myself coming across are:
Stray hairsSkin (cracked lips, spots, creases, folds)Clothes (folds and creases)Distractions (rubbish, leaves etc)
Luminosity problems
Limbs (hands, fingers, arms, legs, feet)Subject vs BackgroundHotspotsEdge Flicker
Color problems
Skin (Blotches, Lighting)Dyed hair (the roots and ends)Limbs (hands, fingers, arms, legs, feet)Saturation of highlights vs shadowsNot adhering to a color scheme (distracting)
Here’s a quick animation taking you through one of my latest images where I worked through the issues above in order: Structure (healing), Luminosity (brightness), Color (fixing limbs, subject to background ratio, and adhering it to a ccolor scheme). Then it swaps between final and RAW three times for comparison. I think the quality increase and clarity of the image are evident here.
Rather than making this an absurdly long and in-depth singular article, I will instead be linking off to wonderful examples of articles either I or people I trust have already written to allow for a more digestible checklist. People often tell you how to fix A or B, but people seldom tell you a list of things you need to have fixed before you push your work out there. Because if you’re putting your work out there with a lot of these issues still intact, you’re cutting yourself off from the next level and ultimately reducing your image quality, which reflects on your brand.
Fixing Structure
Fixing Structure
When it comes to fixing structure I like to use the healing brush for 99% of the process, occasionally swapping out to the stamp tool if required. I have found success using the healing brush at both 0% hardness and 100% hardness, though now I seem to enjoy the results of 0% hardness more. Pratik Naik recently released a fantastic tutorial with RGG detailing one of the many ways in which you can approach fixing structure and while Stefan Kohler and I seem to part ways here (as he’s a 100% hardness guy with the healing brush) both methods are identical with the exception of hardness. I work with a 0% hardness brush with my healing tool and paint over problems to fix them. I picked up a cool tip from David Neilands. Basically, I ask myself can I fix the problem by healing it instead of dodging and burning (D&B for short) it? If so, heal it. I swapped my workflow to healing as much as I can get away with, and only using D&B to fix up some of the issues where replacing texture doesn’t make sense. If I can sample a clean version of the same texture where the issue is I can save the difficulty/complexity and time of micro contrast dodging and burning and simply replace the problem with clean skin. It looks better and takes significantly less time. Here’s a before and after of an image with the texture/structure distractions fixed:
Fixing Luminosity
Fixing Luminosity
Luminosity is the brightness of elements within your image, and one of the most powerful things we can use to direct people in your images. By changing the brightness of areas relative to each other we can selectively increase or decrease contrast. Wherever there is contrast, the eye will be directed to. Here’s a before and after of an image with the luminosity distractions fixed (from the first step of fixing structure):
Fixing Color
Fixing Color
Color is a vast subject, so I’m going to avoid as much theory as possible and stick to the quick fixes. If you want to dive into color there’s a fantastic tutorial from Stefan Kohler here. Here’s a before and after of an image with the color distractions fixed: I really hope you guys find an immense level of value here as I’ve detailed almost everything I would look for in an image and how to fix them. Until next week, Happy Easter and wishing you a smashing week.
