Creative Point of View■ BY K ATRIN EISMANN

Artists have been interpreting and enhancing portraits since the celebration of fertility with the Venus of Willendorf. The photographic tricks that we now use to enhance beauty include longer lenses to avoid distortion, glamour lighting to fill in shadows, and soft-focus filters to smooth skin.

Image and Ideals

Today, every magazine cover in the checkout aisle is run through a gauntlet of Photoshop postprocessing that, in the hands of an artist, can make the beautiful perfect,

but in the hands of an over-eager Photoshop jockey, can make the person look so different that the illusion of reality is utterly shattered. Most recently, news anchor Katie Couric was being heavily promoted as she took over the anchor spot of the CBS Evening News. One of the reasons that many people are paying attention to this transition is that Ms. Couric is the first woman to solo anchor an evening news show. Sadly CBS released pho-tographs of Ms. Couric that were so overzealously retouched that the naturally attractive and professionally competent Ms. Couric, who had 20 lbs. shaved off and every single wrinkle (or as I like to call them “signifiers of experience”) removed, made her look contrived and unrealistic. I wonder: Would FOX News have Bill O’Reilly slimmed down? Would NBC like to make Brian Williams younger or taller? Does CNN feel the need to improve Anderson Cooper’s appearance? The problem is that as a woman, Katie Couric has to be both serious and attractive—a very sad example of how we perceive and portray women. The magic of glamour illustrationI’ve had the pleasure of speaking with and learning from a number of the best retouchers in New York and Los Angeles and I find it very interest-ing that most of them came to retouching from different careers. Many started by study-ing painting, sculpture, biology, and human anatomy, and interest-›

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Photoshop from the creative to the practical

ingly enough, many have a serious musical background. All of these art forms and disciplines require a precise attention to craft and a disciplined dedication to practicing their skills. The best retouching is invisible to the closest scrutiny and I’ve revealed many well-kept secrets in Photoshop Res- toration & Retouching. One of my favorite techniques requires the use of two Curves adjustment layers—one that lightens the darker blemishes and one that darkens the lighter ones. This dual-layer approach enables the retoucher to control the density adjustments in three ways: by adjusting the curve; changing the Opacity of the Curves adjustment layer; and adjusting the density of the brush used to paint in the correction.

Carrie Beene from Otto Imaging, who shared the follow- ing technique, explained, “I do all my skin retouching with two Curves layers—one to lighten and one to darken—and I go back and forth between them with a very soft brush with 100% Opacity and the Flow set to 10–20%. That way, I can make all kinds of adjustments along the way either to the mask or to the curve.” R

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CREATIVE POINT OF VIEW

STEP ONE: Double-click on the Quick Mask icon at the bot-tom of the Toolbox and in the dialog that appears, make sure that Color Indicates is set to Selected Areas.

STEP TWO: While still in Quick Mask mode, choose a small, 70% Hardness, black brush to dab over a few representative darker spots.

STEP THREE: Press Q again to exit Quick Mask, which will create an active selection (as shown).

Add a Curves adjustment layer (Layer>New Adjustment Layer> Curves) and pull the center point of the curve until the darker blemish density matches the overall skin values. Click OK.

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STEP FOUR: Now choose a small, soft, white brush, set (in the Options Bar) to 100% Opacity and 10–20% Flow, and paint on the Curves layer mask to tonally blend in the blemishes.

STEP FIVE: Repeat Steps 2 through 4 to create a separate curve for the lighter blemishes.

Carrie also improves the shading, shape, and makeup with multiple Curves and Selective Color adjustment layers, in which she uses this Quick Mask technique in combination with her painting skills to refine high-end glamour shots for the most critical international clients.

We have the powerAt the local market I use the candy-free checkouts whenever possible to avoid junk food temptation. I wish that stores also had a magazine-free aisle so that easily influenced consum-ers could avoid the unrealistic expectations of celebrity and fashion perfection that stares out of many magazine covers. Let’s always remember that we’re the ones holding the mouse in our hands and we have to be aware of the impact that our Photoshop work has on the perception of reality and the self-image of many impressionable people.

www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/couric_watch/katies_extreme_makeover_42842.asp

www.ottoimaging.netwww.digitalretouch.netwww.briandilg.com/imaging/projectRunway.htm ■

Retouching websites and examples

Katrin Eismann is the author of Photoshop Restoration & Retouching and Photoshop Masking & Compositing and an internation-ally recognized artist, author, and educator. She has been inducted into the Photoshop Hall of Fame and named as Chair of the Masters in Professional Studies in Digital Photography at the School of Visual Arts in NYC.