Skater Action II

A simple portrait could be highly effective given the right method. If you’re fan of quick and effective portraits, this Pro Tutorial will show you exactly how to master and apply these techniques. This tutorial would give you the necessary skills to create some astonishing and creative portraits. Techniques that not only complement the image, but also, when executed thoroughly, would bring the full detail and potential of the image into perspective.

Not only does the tutorial provide a free lesson on photography and light setup, the subsequent lessons give extensive focus on retouching techniques; such as light control, selective sharpening, color grading, Dodge & Burn, fixing exposure and more. Once mastered, this tutorial would provide you with the capability to make any quick portrait look good. At +/-60 minutes, the Skater Action II portrait pro tutorial focuses on retouching the portrait image to give it the quality definition we wish we could see in camera already. The idea behind the tutorial is not only to familiarize people with the techniques, but also to help them understand the reason for using certain methods and not using others.

Included in your Pro Tutorial – 1 Hour Step by Step guide

• Lesson 1 – Photography & Light Setup “Free”
• Lesson 2 – Preparations & Raw Conversions & Help Layers
• Lesson 3 – Healing & Sharpening
• Lesson 4 – Light Control
• Lesson 5 – Dodge & Burn
• Lesson 6 – Vignetting & First Color Grading
• Lesson 7 – Final Adjustments & Color Grade

Included working files

• Raw File
• PSD File

DESCRIPTION:

Photography & Light Setup “Free”

In our first lesson, (Which is also for free – Watch here) we’re going to discuss the complete light setup and all thoughts behind this project. We will also go through a complete before and after series, presenting both the original and updated image, and how we adjust the exposure.

Raw Conversions & Help Layers

In our first retouching lesson, we will concentrate on our basic adjustments in camera raw and import our raw image into Photoshop. We will then put the techniques on hold and create a new help layer in order to point out all the retouching steps. This helps us to stay focused during the retouching process.

Healing & Sharpness 

This lesson we focus on cleaning up our image and refining all dirty areas. This will offer a better end result. That’s not all, though. We will also apply an awesome sharpness effect with an extra plugin called topaz details!

Light Control

Now that we have a clean and very sharp base plate, we will start to shape the light and enhance control over it. We will be using the curves adjustment layers in order to darken the light, but also to brush in & out only in the wanted areas.

Dodge & Burn

In this section, we will be working with our famous dodge & burn technique (We have an excellent Free Tutorial on this technique – Find it here). This means creating two new unique layers, one for dodging the highlights and one for burning the shadows. This effect will give our image and awesome light look!

Vignetting & First Color Grading

In lesson 4 we already shaped the light a bit, but that was just to for an overall exposure adjustment. Now we will build a complete new light that works like a vignetting, leading the viewer’s eye to the centre point of your image. Once we have managed this step we will focus on our first color grading!

Final Adjustments & Corrections

We will be concentrating on remaining 20% of our image in the last lesson – sharpness, fixes, final color grading, size, as well as the overall look and feel.