Welcome to a New Level of Retouching

You’ve made it this far, and you certainly know your stuff. Together, we can start expanding beyond basic Photoshop Tools and concepts. The 4-Week Intermediate Course on Adobe Photoshop CS6 and CC will look inside your photography in ways you never have before.

Great Photography means more than knowing the tools that Photoshop has to offer. It’s about getting your hands dirty and experimenting. It’s about real world problems and solutions. This class incorporates much more “how and why” than a basic class can. Because I introduce many tools beyond Photoshop (like various HDR Software and other Plug-Ins), you will know more about photo retouching than most highly paid professionals.

 

On the front end of the project, I was not even sure if I could complete the task to anyone’s satisfaction. Everyone else that showed up was a talented professional, and I had to bring my “A” Game. Because of the intermediate course I had taught previously, I was able to achieve effects even I did not think were possible. HDR, RAW Processing, and Smart Objects were at the core of what made this image possible.

 

What You Will Gain

When I first taught this course, I threw together a few solid concepts, and started to teach it to a few students. What became obvious very quicky, is that they knew a lot. Intermedite students question the teacher, and keep them on their feet. In the following year, I had collected many of the most complex, and secretive tips, tricks, and settings rarely to have ever been seen. I want to share new skills with you. I want to challenge you. I want to fill the gaps in your knowledge, and make you better than ever before.

This Retouching Course for Photographers is targeted squarely at people who feel comfortable with Photoshop, but know there is more to learn. If that sounds like you, then perfect. We will have intelligent discussions about tricks and techniques. We will look at things from a technical and an artistic eye. It is not all about how to use the tools—much will be conceptual and what-if’s. Expand your horizons; you’ll be happy you did.

Yes, I can teach you things you never considered. If I couldn’t, this course would have had a very short life span. But it is still here, and so far, everyone who has taken it has been very pleased. I guarantee it will be worth your time.

Great Photography means more than knowing the tools that Photoshop has to offer. It’s about getting your hands dirty, and experimenting. It’s about real world problems and solutions. This class incorporates much more “how and why” than a basic class can. Because I introduce many tools beyond Photoshop (like various HDR Software and other Plug-Ins), you will know more about photo retouching than most highly paid professionals.

 

What To Expect In Four Weeks:

• 20 engaging class hours will engulf you in the topic.
• People as serious as you will be in the class. Peer pressure is a strong motivator.
• Focusing on a single topic, our lessons will never be boring, always engaging.
• The ability to ask me any Freelance or Photoshop question for 4 weeks.
• Full access to me via phone or priority email.
• Weekly assignments that will improve your hands-on experience.
• Pre-Recorded Course, Pre-Written Class Notes, and Expanded Supplemental Videos
• Complete image and video library for all sections, as well as reference notes.
• Mixing in homework (videos, retouch samples, etc.) with recorded sessions, you can catch up with the class at your convenience. If you are not able to attend every class, each lesson is pre-recorded and posted online for easy downloading.
• If we do this for 4 weeks straight, I guarantee you will know this stuff inside and out.

 

 

Photoshop Schedule

This course will cover the most important points that a Photo Retoucher needs to know, to create perfect images. Here’s a break-down of some of the topics that we’ll be covering in our 4 weeks together.

Week #1

• Digital Fundamentals Revisited – Designed to fill in the key information that may still be a gap in your training. The goal here is that we will all start off on the same page, no matter what your background. We will review all the topics covered in the Basic Class, as a fairly quick refresher. This goes into a deeper explanation of resolution, bit depth, tonal range, and color spaces.

• Tools and Palettes Expanded – I look high and low for the most obscure topics I can teach about. We will go under the hood, and discover many items off the beaten path. There are 5 different ways to do everything in Photoshop, so let’s talk about them.

 

Week #2

• RAW Processing and HDR– Let’s go further into what is possible in Adobe Camera RAW and HDR (High Dynamic Range). Between Lightroom and Camera Raw, it is now possible to have half your image retouching already completed before you even open the image in Photoshop. It is quite amazing what we can achieve these days in ACR. For the HDR part, I will show you how I extract lost information using specialized software, then combine the missing pieces back together with Photoshop.

• Beyond Cloning and Touchups – Here, it is about learning how to fool the eye into believing the unbelieveable. Being able to take the tiniest sliver of detail, and replicating it across large gaps within an image. Painting and sculpting within Photoshop are some of the ways a professional will separate themselves from being “merely adequite”.

 

Week #3

• Advanced Masking Techniques – Assuming you know how to create a selection using quickmask, this class will be perfect for learning the tricks behind some of the most complex masks you could possibly hope to create. There is nothing simple about this class, it is all top shelf techniques here.

• Compositing – Often requested is; How to replace a sky, background, or a person’s head? Together, we will replace several different items, and I will show you how to do it in a seemeless way, so that no one will know that you did anything at all.

 

Week #4

• Color Correction Mastery – We will dig in deep to find out how to properly wield all the Color Correction tools available to you. And there are a lot. We will go further into Color Spaces and Profiles. Soft Proofing and Rendering Intent. We’ll discuss how to properly calibrate your monitor with your printer. We will also go over tricks that will help you uncover your best prints ever. Many different topics are planned for this day’s events.

 

 

 

Testimonials:

	Paul Villacres – Intermediate Week 4:
	John Venter – Intermediate Week 4:
	“One of the good things about doing an intensive course like this over a number of weeks in quick succession is that it has really made me focus on it. I found the course very informative, and it is already changing a number of things I am doing when post-processing my images, as well as generally increasing my understanding and confidence in using Photoshop.” – Ginny Campbell
	“I would say it’s more than worth it. And John definitely knows Photoshop inside and out. And what he doesn’t know, he can discover. Yeah, online tutorials can still be helpful, but they can’t replace this, and you’ll get a whole new level of understanding on how to even extract value from the online stuff after taking a live course!!!!!” – Robert Henard

View More Testimonials

 

What I Supply:

• Weekly Assignments
• Images the class will work on together
• 125+ Page eBook with detailed notes on the topics covered during class

   

 

Investment—Professional Training at Amateur Pricing:

This is a Live Webinar. You will be able to use your Internet Browser and speakers to join us remotely. You can even “raise your hand” and ask questions. The class itself is being hosted with The Art of Retouching Studio Meetup Group, located in New Haven, Connecticut.

In the end, it boils down to this: If $447 seems like too much, for 20 hours for a Photoshop Course, it’s not. If $447 seems like such a steal, that’s because it is. The competition is way more expensive, teaching only the tools, not necessarily the skills or techniques. They teach tiling patterns? I have way more important things to talk about, than tiling patterns. You can watch that on youtube.

I just can’t see charging you that much per hour. I do not have all the overhead of an overpriced school. They need to pay rent, instructors, office personel, etc… I don’t.

 

If you have any questions at all, please email me at info@theartofretouching.com

Have questions? You can reach me at 203-551-9684, my name is John.

 

Class Time: 20 hours
Cost: $447.00