Yesterday I showed a very basic lighting setup from our photo-shoot at Klass salon in Worcester Park. Today I’m going to talk a little about our workflow and retouching process.

The brief for the job was simply to create an image for a window display so it allowed us to be quite experimental in terms of lighting set-ups. We did however want something simple that could work as a display. The shoot was on location but on site proofing was really necessary otherwise we would have brought a macbook for iMac with us.

Here’s a brief overview of the workflow.

• After getting back to base all RAW images are downloaded, burnt to DVD and archived.
• Images are imported into Aperture.
• Basic edit in Aperture – cropping and exposure.
• Shortlisted images uploaded to Mobile Me gallery for preview the evening of the shoot.
• Contact sheets printed using Dye Sub printer and delivered first thing the morning after the shoot.
• Afternoon – return to client to discuss selection and editing requirements.
• Evening – Edit selected images in Photoshop
• Deliver final proof either via email or as a hard copy.
• Send image to lab.

In terms of editing there was a few things to do (as always).

As there are two of us it does make the workflow a little easier. After I met with the client and made notes on what changes are needed I then send on an email to Marcin to do the retouching. This is normally followed by a phone call or iChat to explain what my notes mean! As we are based in two different locations the option of screen sharing via iChat is quite handy!

Edit notes

So here’s the RAW image next to the the finished image – of course there might be a few more changes!

RAW vs Edited

If you’re interested in seeing a bit more visit our retouching website is at londonproretouch.com