I would like to welcome all the new subscribers to this Newsletter. You can find tons of great links below for all kinds of worthwhile videos and articles from all over, that will help build your retouching skills.

As for me, I haven't sent one of these out in a long time. I've just been crazy busy. Have you seen the new issue of Advanced Photoshop Magazine #138? I was thrilled to find out that I had the Front Cover, a Featured Article on Natural Beauty Retouching, and even a Personal Interview.

I was on the Front Cover a few months ago for Beauty Retouching, and nearly every other month for the past year, I had a new article inside. I was also in Photoshop Creative, also for Beauty Retouching. If you are interested in Beauty Photography and Retouching, skip to the bottom, I have something special to offer my newsletter list.


Photoshop Disasters
I absolutely LOVE this website. I have  
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Today, you can purchase Advanced Photoshop Magazine #126. I am quite excited because I have a 5 page feature article in there that I wrote, and of course retouched and composited.

If you would like to watch a Behind the Scenes video of how I created the image for the magazine, you can check it out here:
http://bit.ly/1t6DRN2

You can also purchase a digital copy of the magazine here:
http://bit.ly/1uo9OCp

Behind the Retouching
A few weeks ago, I had started releasing a new video series, Behind the Retouching. I have been doing some image reviews for my students, where I show them what they may have done wrong in their own retouching. More importantly, I show how they can correct their mistakes, as I work on the same images to teach them. So far, this has been a highly successful venture, and I plan on continuing to do them.
http://bit.ly/1xiozvd

Gritty, Grungy Retouching in  
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Retouching work in my studio is completely dead. It's summer time, and this is totally what happens. So I am filling my time with many personal projects. I just finished writing my *3rd* book on Photoshop. I can't believe it. I give them to the students in my Photoshop Courses.

After 2 months of walking (and being bothered by my wife's schedule), I finally picked up my new car yesterday. 2012 Hyundai Accent. Officially, it is the low end model, but they sure fooled me. It's roomy, peppy, and fun to drive. I even got a monthly payment that's less than my phone bill. So, I'm quite thrilled... just like a kid who got his first car, and no longer needs to ask his mom to borrow the car.

Professionally, several of our Spring jobs fell through, so after this week, I have a completely dead schedule through the summer. Anyone know a photographer who needs a retoucher?


Emergency Retouching for Photographers
One day I sat down, and created a Photoshop in 1.5 Hour video class. It is targeted at someone who knows nothing about Photoshop, but would still like to make some simple and basic corrections. I go from open to save in as few steps as possible, but still give a working  
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I have had the quietest past 3 weeks, than I have had in years. I really don't know what to make of it. I am about to be slammed with images from London and Florance next week. Personally, I am pretty excited about getting a guided tour, from the comfort of my office chair. I guess I'm just lazy like that.


Camera Raw Filter
In my final tutorial on Smart Objects, I discuss the Camera Raw Filter. The introduction of this in CC was a huge improvement, and really allowed me to work with a greater degree of flexibility. If you haven't used it yet, check this out.
https://www.theartofretouching.com/blog/photoshop-tutorial-camera-raw-filter

Harsh Honest Critiques
I have come across this guy before, he has a Podcast on photography. In this video, he reviews the photography of his mentee. He is pretty brutal, but both his comments, and the images, are very well done. The good stuff starts  
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As I went through articles and videos for this week's newsletter, I really became disappointed by the complete lack of properly taught educational content for Photoshop that has been released in the past month. I mean, I reviewed one after another, only to find bad advice, after less than good advice. It didn't matter what site I went to. I just couldn't find much that felt well thought out, and worth watching. Much of it just seemed like they were thrown together for Google Traffic.

It always seems like the best content available, is consistently coming from the same people. The quick few that come to mind are SLRLounge.com, Plearn.com, RetouchingAcademy.com, FStoppers.com and of course TheArtofRetouching.com.

I am starting the Basic Course in a week, with Basic 2 and Intermediate following soon after. If you are interested in skipping all these random tutorials, and get right to the heart of what you want to know. This is the quickest, and  
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I am currently without a car, which is the first time in 26 years! After the first day's panic of "What am I going to do now?!" I simply came to the realization that I work from home, and have little need to go anywhere during the hours my wife is not here. So, I am sucking it up, and making an effort to remain free from that added monthly expense. I'll see how that goes.

This past Saturday I finished up with my Basic 2 students, and I can honestly say I had a ton of fun teaching that course. Students that keep me thinking (and teaching me a thing or two) really make this such an engaging experience for me. I am starting the Intermediate Course this Saturday March 1st, so check it out if you are interested.


4 Women React to Being Cover Models
Here is worth 2 minutes of your time. It has 4 "normal" women pose in a professional shoot with a professional retoucher. While I get the concept, I would say that the  
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I have been retouching like crazy this past week and two. It's amazing to me how I continue to find images that challenge me, and really make me scratch my head. This past week I used Content Aware Scale for the first time, to some excellent results. I showed it to my students this week, and they were all very surprised at the results.

Unfortunately, when I tried it on two other images, I received the usual Content Aware Sucks results. Oh well, win some, lose some.

I am having a Basic Course starting this Wednesday (yes, tomorrow), due to request. If you want to Rock in Photoshop, now is your time to skip the youtube nonsense, and learn how to make your images awesome!

40 Photoshop Tutorials
You know, some of these posts are so massive, I only need to link to one article, and call it day. Geez. Here are 40 to keep you busy.
 
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Thank you for sending me your Pain Points last week. I will be sure to include them in the Photoshop Basic 2 Course starting this Saturday. I will also put them as next up for free videos when I release some more. You if forgot to reply, you can simply reply to this email, letting me know what you would like covered in future videos.

Crazy busy week here in the studio. I've had about 50 images pass through already, with another 30 to go. It's nice to keep busy, and have the ability to work on many different photographic styles and subject matter. It helps keep my ADD occupied (Oh look, a squirrel).

I've also added several images to my online portfolio https://www.theartofretouching.com/studio, and several more to my private portfolio. Again, it's nice to be able to keep things fresh and active.


Arcsoft Portrait 3 Review
Arcsoft approached me about a year ago an asked if I could review their product. I looked  
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