A while ago I had the chance to photograph the raising star of many dog disciplines - Alena Smolíková and her pack. Here are few photos from that serie

Keysi is the best known of her dogs since she appeared with her in a talent show on TV

Chipsy, pack of energy

Chipsy

Britney, constant photomodel :-)

Maja is wonderful dog of Alena´s boyfriend Roman Habasko, she´s been injured by a train with other dogs and only survivor, she lost her leg

Dogs are never easy to be photographed in the studio, they are nervous, hyperactive, sometimes annoyed, bored, sleepy, they do not want to stand on a one place etc. Sometimes you make 100% light setup but the best image you get is when dog moves away from the light direction. 

This was great opportunity to watch 100% professionals at work. Alena is amazing dog leader and does the great job. She became a great example and pattern to lots of people.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Here are some of the videos of her

Visit her page http://www.freestyledogs.cz/

Lucie Kout

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Title could be easily explained "how to get most out of RAW conversion". It is non destructive way to get more out from RAW. It will help you to fix stuff that you had problems to fix before. You can also use it creative way. Here is the way I do it...

featured model is Blaza Hlasova

Sometimes it´s impossible to reach the perfect light in a conditions you have. The easiest way how to do it is to get most of RAW and make a multiple exposures and then use masks to blend these exposures together. Very common practice is to make only one exposure and edit everything on this one single layer. Unfortunately once you develop RAW image you loose all the informations that are included in RAW.

So what do I do? I begin with general exposure (using smart objects) that works for most of the image or that would work the best as a base then I make several copies (copy smart object via copy - this way raws aren´t linked together) for specific purposes and blend them together - for example extra layer for pupils, extra layer for modulation of light (can be for hair, shines, overburned areas etc.). And as we all know, one image can speak better than thousands words, here are samples.

This image was done from 5 different exposures

Please click on image to start a slideshow with RAW conversions only

Here is the whole magic, RAW conversions, showing masks used, liquify and then dodge and burn in a row with sharpening and fine tuning

This might give you the idea how it works. Wishing you all the best to the new year!

Lucie Kout

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I am just so happy from this portrait, loved the light "Olive" tint and the deep blue eyes...

Portraiting people is neverending challenge to me... I used Canon 70-200/f2,8 lens, ISO 100, F11 + three lights on the stage. Although seamless background was light blueish gray, due to light setup it turned out to dark gray. I know I´ll be repeating myself but I love light that build a contrast...

Regular dodge and burn was used, olive tint was aded to reveal more of cinematographic effect :-)

Model was beautiful Ilona N.

Lucie Kout

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After almost 5 years together, I and Ondrej brought home this new family member... little pup named Enola by bomber Enola Gay...

It was a long journey to find a perfect pup with a good pedigree and kennel we would trust. Now we are happy parents of this little boxer female which already became most photographed dog in our country for sure :-D. Tough life of being photographer´s dog...

Enola has her own Facebook with lots of images :-) which is actually in Czech language but with gaining watchers from around the globe we might switch to English soon. She will have her own webpage soon and we will post more about her life there. Raising a puppy takes all our free time for now but we are so happy to have her.

Nola modeled on these pictures for dog bedding company DOOOP

Lucie Kout

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Been super busy last weeks and couldn't do much posting here but I am back and ready to spread some images. Here are latest tests I did for modeling school.

Our set up was meant to be outdoors but due to bad weather we moved to studio.

Hair - Michal Moučka http://vlasovymag.com/
MUA - Eva Vodňanská http://www.vodnanska.com/
Direction - Petra Fedur Ziková

See the full gallery on Posterous

See the full gallery on Posterous

See the full gallery on Posterous

See the full gallery on Posterous

See the full gallery on Posterous

See the full gallery on Posterous

All images were taken with 24-70mm lens or 70-200mm lens, light basic retouch.

Lucie Kout

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Here is detailed info about setup for lighting this photoshoot

I used 1 light (500W at full power) with 21" silver beauty dish, no reflector was used. Light, model and camera were aligned in a one line. Light was aprox. in 190-200 cm height. Madel was like 40-50cm distance from wall. Light could be like 80cm far from model´s face. See picture bellow:

Model - Gabriela Dvořáková
Hair - Michal Moučka vlasovymag.com
MUA - Eva Vodňanská vodnanska.com
Fashion - Eight Sin eighthsin.eu

Here are two more images I posted earlier with a little variation of same setup. Here I kept the original wall color and contrast that I eliminated in previous two images.

And here is one of these images printed in a magazine called Fashion ... sorry for cell phone snapshot but I did not yet get a scanner since old one is gone on a new OS.

Have a lovely weekend and stay tuned for more!

Lucie Kout

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Good things happens too...

I almost forgot we talked about this with Frederic long time ago but yesterday, he sent me result of his work. Enjoy it with me.

And here is reference photo.. an old one, yet taken on Sony camera

You can visit Frederic at http://fredericdupain.deviantart.com/ and say hello to this wonderful French artist. Thank you once again, you just made my day brighter!

Lucie Kout

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Lately a large community of artist have been informed about huge scam at Art4love website. I just recieved I am one of these artists whom work has been stolen and being sold. Here are more details about this fraud.

Till yesterday I didn´t know I was part of this case.Thanks to Emily Sheldon I know it. She was that kind to inform me about my image being sold on Art4love.com website. I´ve heard about this massive copyright infringement on deviantart.com and lots of my friends and people I know virtually has been target of this attack of human stupidity. Main website appears to be taken down but from what I know selling images continues on another address.

Chad Lieberman appears to be a guy behind behind stolen images. He (and maybe some other people) stolen artwortks from many respected artists and sells them without any permission to do it.

As you can see my image is being sold for USD899 (after sale) but I sell this original print of "Bajkonur" on deviantart for aprox. 100$.

I got kind of used to the fact people steals my images and stopped most of my activity to remove these images. I take reasonable acts just when someone claims being author of these images, publish them in print, use commercially, sells them etc. As long as I am not the only victim, I would like to connect with other artists and sue owners of Art4love for this huge scam.

Here are couple of other images and informations about this case http://alexiuss.deviantart.com/art/MASSIVE-COPYRIGHT-INFRINGEMENT-253771563

This whole website is related to this fraud http://art4loveisafraud.com

I am going to do some research now and connect with other artists to deal the next steps. I am not sure if they really had print sources of these images or they just stolen thumbnails. In a fact the only place I´ve putted my print files to is deviantart. I have to find out more details now.

Lucie Kout

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Recently I shot a couple simple images for Eight Sin label with beautiful model Gabriela Dvořáková. Light set up was very simple, contained only one light plus one reflector.

Model - Gabriela Dvořáková
Hair - Michal Moučka http://www.vlasovymag.com/
MUA - Eva Vodňanská http://vizart.cz/
Clothes - Eight Sin http://www.eighthsin.eu/

According to conditions I did images with one 21" beauty dish (1x500W) + honeycomb and 80x140cm silver reflector (to break a bit of shadows, not really very visible). This could be a proof for "photographers that are broke" you can take okay images without tons of lights. Also if you simply can´t carry all the gear, it might work this way. Of course, it must be clear to all who personally knows me, I prefer more light sources. I start with one and end up with like 5light sources with no bigger problem. If I have an option, I always use more lights but it´s not necessary to have them from the start. If I had 10 lights, I would be able to use them at the same time. These images were taken on Canon 5D MKII + Canon 24-70mm/f2,8. Images are not as much retouched as I usually do since the result had to be simple.

Lucie Kout

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There are couple things I see photographers doing again and again. Can´t almost believe it´s still actual to talk about it. These bad habits harms photography business but it's super-easy to avoid it.

"Model release"

Get it and use it. You never know what happens in the future. You should keep the contract simple. No cheating. It's good to track phone numbers and emails via organized model releases. One day you´ll be glad you have them.

"Overrated ego"

Nobody wants to hear about how good you are, who all you know. You are expected to take photos. I saw so many noses too high although quality of work was far away from being professional. You shouldn't say how "big" you are, others should. Don't even try to use tricks like "I am playboy photographer". It's cheap and stupid. A single look at your photos will reveal the truth. Be normal and everyone will love you for that.

"Photoshoots without concept"

There is nothing so annoying as coming to a photoshoot prepared and see unprepared photographer. It's disaster and waste of model's time. You are not the most important person in the world and other people could be doing something more important than waiting till you make up your mind.

"Keep studio clean"

After lots models told me they like to work with me because my studio is clean, I realized how important this is and how many other photographers live in a mess and clutter. There is no problem with having very little equipment. Everyone can understand you just begun your business. But no woman would feel comfortable in a clutter. Organized mess is still mess.

"Remember what you shoot"

If you shoot portrait, then take a picture of head, etc. Why does people cut heads or leave so much space above or from the sides? Photography is about capturing specific frame so care about framing and composition. Of course, you may work with negative space but it´s on purpose and obvious. If you have to shoot hand you wouldn't snap a foot, right?

"Keep your word"

If you give it, then fulfill your promise. Can't be easier!

"Don't gossip others!"

This is probably one of the worst bad habits. Okay, you may be jealous but gossips are straight way to hell. Be sure such things spreads easily. Don't bother yourself with stupid stories. It distracts from work anyway.

"Forbidden fruit"

There are tons of self-proclaimed professionals that are nothing but perverts. If you take pictures to sneak into someone panties, give up or realize yourself in other more suitable community. You destroy a good name of professional photographers who make their living on taking images.

"Communicate"

Good rule to success is communication. Always say what you want to achieve. If you need to touch a model, say it first or ask assistant to do it. The better you explain what you need the better your model will be able to follow your orders.

Well... I am sure you could find a lot of other bad habits that are common. I wouldn´t mind if you post them in comments so I can add them here later :)

Lucie Kout

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So you want to become model. Maybe not a runway type but you would like to have a
couple lovely images to look at when you get old. Whatever is the reason, here are
some of my tips to girls that would like to get into business.

First and the most important rule is:

Work only with people whom work you like and respect.

This way you won't get dissapointed with results. Also good andprofessional photographers would never try to get you in a bed. Let's face it, this is what scares all of you the most. Professional should never do this. No photo deserves this, even if it was worth quality of Helmut Newton.

"Should I take my boyfriend with me as a guard?"

Often asked question. I will tell you my opinion on this... If model feels unsafe I don't mind it but I am also not happy with it. Everyone prefers working with model and creative team only but if it's a model's condition, I have no problem with it. But please always say this in advance. Anyway, my general answer is no, don't take your boyfriend with you - it usually distracts all, you and photographer from working. If you feel scared, rather don't work with particular photographer or at least leave a friend in another room.

"Do I need professional pictures to begin my career?"

No, you don't. Snapshots are enough to get general idea what you look like. Even if you meet, photographer won't have exact idea of what you can do until you are in front of camera. That's reality. We take photos, we know what photoshop can do.

"Must I be skiny?"

Question is, wanna be photomodel or runway model? In case of photomodel, you can be whatever height and weight. There is this magic tool in photoshop called liquify if needed. On the other hand, catwalk models have to be skiny. I am not fan of this and hopefully we'll see more normal curves there in the future. It's good to be in shape but I don't need you starve before photoshoot since one click in photoshop can fix this. 80's are gone forever.

"How can I get good photographers want to work with me?"

Stay positive, be natural, supportive and cooperative. Bring new ideas. Don't complain. These are simple facts that may improove your relationship with anyone in the team. You raise your chance to work with successful people. Being reliable is also very important. It photoshoot starts at 10 a.m. be there! If you can't make it, there are cell phones so call or at least send text message.

Realize that you are not there just to stand and be beautiful. Photoshoot needs much more than that. My experience says: "Good model is 50% of success.". The other half is good styling, idea, light, composition and postprocess. If you expect makeup artist, stylist, hairdresser and photographer to serve you, rather don't bother with coming. Modeling is a hard work because you play so many roles and it's exhausting. Complaining may ruin you. Photographer would never want to work with you again. It may not be pleasing fact but if you are stupid, it doesn't matter how beautiful you are.

"Do I have to be beautiful to become photomodel?"

Yes and no. Preferences varies. But in general, interesting face is usually more than plain beauty. You should think of what differs you from others. I would personally rather work with normal but interesting person than a Barbie type. Beauty isn't easy to be described. These normal girls are usually responding better to words: "This looks good," than average beauty. They are not used to hear this as often and it raises their confidence and will to colaborate.

Give a photographer reason to work with you. If you have ideas, dresses, you can do yourself hair and makeup, it's always a plus.

Remember you and photographer works together to create something new. Don't act like
a child but also don't loose your self-respect. It's decision from both sides to work together.

"TFP or paid book?"

The better you behave and look the bigger are your chances to not to pay for good photos. It's all about deals. Don't get offended when photographer says no to your offer. Really good photographers have a very little time and only they knows what they want to shoot in a spare time. There is nothing as stupid as harmed ego of a model. This unfurtunatelly works for photographers too.

Stay yourself and first place where to send your question about finished photos is the photographer, not your facebook.

"Should I learn to pose?"

Yes and no again, each photoshoot is different. An every image needs another access. Knowing how to pose comes with experience. Don't be afraid to experiment. If it don't look good you'll get direction from photographer. The most important is to be natural unless the purpose of the photo is to be directed into weird poses. Photographer should know what result he/she wants to achieve.

This is pretty much all I wanted to say for now. Hope you enjoyed it, see you next time...

Lucie Kout

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This is latest band promo shoot I did. Band is Satisfucktion (metal-rock band from my town), feel free to check out their music at BandZone. These guys are mighty fine!

It was pleasing collaboration. I kinda like how relaxed band memers looked like. By the way, their new album Penumbra is out! I don´t expect myself enjoy music of every band I take a pictures of but in this case they are pretty close to what I like :-). I used standart 24-70mm lens and the fisheye and "Calvin Hollywood" postprocess look (fake HDR like).

Lucie Kout

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Here are all images from "Creative obsession" set, enjoy!

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 24-70mm/f2,8 L USM, ISO 100, something like f9, 1/125sec

Model - Bláža Hlasová, one of the most talented and coolest models I´ve met recently, thank you very much Blahul!

Lucie Kout

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A different way to recycle plastics... Another image I did just for fun and relax. I should glorify my Wacom tablet and the pen tool.

Ornaments are manipulation, all the rest is photo and airbrushing. This is how it ends when girls are bored :-). Hopefully I get to regular photomanipulations by the time. Everything seems to be stucked with commerce and I need to do a bit of personal work to keep myself fresh!

model, costume and hair - Michaela Valentova

Lucie Kout

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After 2 years of preparations and waiting I am happy to announce I am finally starting my project Neo Olympia - a celebration of human body, sport and antique ideals.... a pilot image features a beautiful female bodybuilder Lada Plihalova

model - Lada Plihalova
assistant and endless support - Ondrej Kout

It´s hard to say something about this project since title "Neo Olympia" says it all... Shapes, perfection, kalogakathia, purity in a pure form. Transcendency of body and mind. My inspiration was Leni Riefenstahl and her original Olympia movie from 1938. If we get over scandalization, trials and emotions, it´s timeless glorification of life, human, body and consonancy of all above. This is my tribute to art and life in all forms, kalogakathia included! Leni was artist that deserves respect even these days when we use her methods of sport capturing. She was revolutionary great artist.

Used gear - single silver reflector + Canon 24-70mm/f2,8 L USM lens on 5DMKII

Lucie Kout

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Lately I had a chance to photograph this lovely couple wedding day. Here are some of the images I personally like and couple thoughts about wedding photography.

Wedding photography is challenging discipline, can't really reccomend it to unexperienced beginner photographers because range of needed skills varies from documentary (in a speed of sport photography) to arranged photography. Weather and light conditions changes every moment and as the day goes and you are responsible to capture every important moment. For some of pictures you may have only one take and if it do not look good you won't look good in eyes of client.

You gotta be experienced with shooting outdoors/indoors and using flashes and reflectors in various weather/light conditions. In a fact be sure when shooting a wedding... weather will suddenly suck, there will be a heavy rain and you'll still have to take a beautiful images. It might not be easy and you have to count with everything. That´s reality. Nothing else.

My suggestions when shooting weddings:

White balance - dont´be afraid to shoot AWB, it does good job in most situations and if not, you can tweak it later in RAW editor. Fluorescent lamps does mess but they would do it on both, auto or manual white balance setup. The only problem is on most of cheaper APSC DSLRs because their greenish tint is way more visible.

Using higher ISO is not a problem when doing a journalism images but does not fit an arranged photoshoot. Shoot in RAW. I prefer using RAW + JPEG because sometimes I like jpeg red transfer better than RAW and I copy the colors from original JPEG. JPEG also serves me good for quick actions I use to make small previews for client to let them decide which images they like.

Automatic and semi-automatic modes are good when you have an average scene conditions and extra little time. It may happen that you first time fully appreciate them. I shoot 99,99% of my time on manual but I don't mind using them for journalism images when I am pushed by ticking hours. I can't reccomend using them for arranged photos of course where correct exposure may be different than what built-in exposure meter says. When shooting in backlight you can't use these modes - predictably.

Good choice of lenses does a lot. I carry pack of three 12-200mm zoom lenses and switch them every now and then. Using various focal lenghts won't make your work boring.

Advantage of shooting weddings is obvious - everyone expect photographers in there and accept this fact. It makes your work a lot easier. There is also that much rush so they do not have the time to start being nervous of camera. Everyone has a role so does you...

Images were taken with Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 24-70/f2,8L, Canon 70-200/f2,8L and Sigma 12-24/4,5-5,6 DG HSM, with natural light, silver reflector, 2strobes and system Canon Speedlite flash.

I can just say happy future life to Aleš and Andrea now! They are beautiful couple and it was so nice to meet them both. My best wishes!

Lucie Kout

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This is last of "Analyze this" articles. It would seal the circle. We talked about composition, light, mechanics, anatomy and now we will talk about another essential part of the image - colors and tonality, which are same important as any other aspects of image.

Model - Marie Mejzlíková
Lens - Canon 70-200mm/f2,8 L USM (it´s getting a bit heavy for ladies but it´s great)

For these who missed my previous articles, you can read them here:

Analyze this I.
Analyze this II.

Colors

Colors and tonality build an image same as composition does. My experience says that colors are pretty much personal thing. Everyone has different taste. There can be two equally amazing photographers who would disagree on colors and they would be both getting amazing results. I always argue on colors with others. No way, we all have another opinion on colors and tonality. The goal is not to agree with someone else but to get result that works the best for images/ideas you create.

I love muted colors plus I kept saturation on some main colors to attract your eyes to the makeup.

Colors can bring any needed mood to image. What specific color evokes in you? Warm yellow and green is great for fresh images, warm orange reminds of summer sunset, cold blueish tones are superb for "alone in the dark" type of images or for winter like scenes, red is color of blood, purple for hate... Wheter you are trying to say something, it´s great to use colors as an instrument that would help you reach desired outcome.

There are various instruments to change colors in photoshop. You can use selective color, channel mixer, color balance, gradient maps, as well as working in various color spaces like LAB or CMYK are. I personaly like sticking to real colors with some decent twist somewhere else, I am not much friend of mad colors but I like to put existing colors into contrast. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. That´s like with everything.

My personal tip to everyone who likes to add some new dimension to own images, try gradient maps blended in various blending modes, like overlay, soft light, etc.

Tonality

What is tonality? Basicaly nothing more than range of light/dark tones in the image. By a first look you can say if image is light or dark, if shadows are too dark or not dark enough, if there is too much white or too big dynamic range.

Cameras have built-in exposure meter that helps you to determine right exposure. But what is the right exposure? What camera says? Not exactly. Besides the fact it simply counts an average image and judge exposure by amount of lights and shadows falling trough lens, there are no constant light conditions around us. The difference between night and day is super-obvious. Camera does not know if we are shooting day or night scene, or black object on a white background. Camera does not make differences between these scenes. So it´s you who decides what exposure is right. You can shoot model in a backlight and overexpose image to get light high key images. Snow is good example, if you shoot it in AUTO mode, camera thinks the white is gray and underexpose whole scene. Also if you shoot dark object on a dark background, camera also thinks the dark color is gray and overexpose the scene. You gotta think what result you want to reach and then expose by it. I want to encourage you to experiment, there is no wise man falling from the sky, you gotta practice and make an own opinion.

There is another side of tonality. Photoshop/editor thing. You can adjust tonality so many ways - local way, global... there is such a great power between using masks and blending modes. Use it if it have a sense and helps the image. Bad edits are often based on using a good technique way too much. Don´t worry if it does not work on the first time, it simply needs a time.

Another personal tip - If image is too light, you can adjust it with using copy of whole image, multiply it and if shadows are too dark, simply load suitable chanel and insert it into a mask, then invert and you get perfect "luminosity mask".

Lucie Kout

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Hello there, we all love step by step tutorials so here is mine "Recycled Couture" image step by step. I explained some of techniques earlier so if you want more details, take a closer look at following articles.

10 tips to better retouching
Retouching magic = good workflow
Analyze this!
Analyze this II. !

This image originated from my collaboration with lovely hairdresser and my friend Michaela Valentová. She did the hair and recycled a bit of plastic bottles into this cool wearable piece. Then she served me as model. We shot two looks and later I sprayed it red and this is result. Coolest way to recycle, huh? :-)

One backstage shot from preps

Exif data

Step 1 - correct RAW exposure from well exposed source

I wouldn´t be posting complete RAW runtrough since it varies on every image but for those extremely curious, exposure was correct so I did only minor changes. Now you might hear inner voice telling you that shooting correct exposure IS really important. It simply allows you to do more later. Shooting image as close as possible to desired result is a mandatory step. If you mess it, you´ll never be as good as you could if you did it right. Don´t give up, test it again and again, if possible shoot directly to computer and display results on the screen. This would help you "see the light". Whole set may entirely suck due to model´s expression or whatever else (and to be really critical, most of images in set suck) but if you catch one image that is spectacular, it was worth it. It motivates you to work again and more. To be clear, not all images are worth seeing, not all of them are worth editing and most of themes you see aren´t worth shooting. If you spend so much effort on postprocess, idea behind a shot should be as strong or even stronger than your will to reach perfect retouch. That´s my two cents about preparing a photoshoot rather better than not at all. Prepared has more "luck"! Now back to processing.

I did all RAW changes in smart object layers (I also already talked about this before). I had 3 RAW exposures. First one, everything set to basics and +50 contrast, +45 brightness, second - the same but +15 saturation in oranges, masked on hands to give them a liiiiiittle bit of saturation, third - I boosted contrast and a bith of sharpness and masked out eyes, lips and eyebrows. This layer brings more attention to eye area.

See the full gallery on Posterous

I am organized (since I started using a lot of adjustment layers, it´s necessary, so I guess you won´t have problems with orientation.... unfortunately I have Czech language installed)

Step 2 - Liquify

Once I got everything I needed out of RAW I made a stamp of everything above grouped RAWs (CTRL+SHIFT+ALT+E). Then I liquified the model. I remind you there are options to save and load mesh so you can resample to lower resolution, liquify, save mesh, cancel, go back in history to get original resolution and load a mesh. One of the trick I use for extra huge files. Not needed in this case but I saved a mesh couple times till I was sure with edit.

I exaggerated it so you can really see the difference. Amount of liquify really depends on you. I talked about this in one of my ANALYZE THIS article. I usually liquify just to help the composition or expression or to make someones lines more smooth. I am pretty sure I will need to get back to liquify tool to fix arms a bit more but let´s do it later. I retouch and clone to a new layer (sample all layers or sample this layer and bellow option).

Step 3 - General retouch

This step is for general removal of dust, crossed hairs, blemishes etc. Nothing about smoothing skin right now. Just remove the biggest mess. I also used a bit of clone stamp to refine edges of lips, eyeliner and eyebrows (low opacity).

I also removed second hand. Just to simplify a composition. Texture is okay but lightness will be fixed in a next step. It was all done with cloning stamp and healing brush. Curly hair do not need as much perfectioning as straight ones.Retouch was done on a new layer with sample current layer and bellow option. Later I added gray fill under this layer to show you how much and where was image retouched.

Step 4 - Dodge and burn

I wrote these articles related to dodge and burn. I highly reccomend you to read them.

Myths about dodge and burn
Dodge and burn like a professional

Basic idea of D/B technique is to lighten or darken some areas to reach desired result. I created a set of DB working layers. DB set contains two curves, one lightens the image, other one darkens the image. Both masks are hidden (hide all option when creating a mask). I have it saved as an action. Here is my setup for both curves.

Other set - called BW is black and white adjustment layer plus anything what brings a better contrast to image to reveal every imperfection. Then I paint with white to black masks to lighten or darken specific areas. See the video to get better idea what it is a like.

Here is finished D/B edit, there will be most probably another D/B set later just to refine highlights and shadows. I would call this general D/B

Step 5 - Color corrections

Now it´s time to make a color corrections. Sometimes you can use dodge and burn masks and add a clipping mask to them. Of course not everything can be fixed via using clipping masks.

After fixing color shift of D/B I made several layers to improove colors. One for hair saturation, one to desaturate face a bit (reddish tones in shadows simply are not flattering), also gradient mapping in a color mode and extra layer in color mode to colorize reds.

Step 6 - Refine tuning

The very important step in retouching. DB itself or retouch itself is neat but this step will perfection your image even more. Top images differentiate by skill level of retouchers and his/hers imagination and ability to find details and refine them. Now I use clone stamp, healing brush and regular paint brush to improve image and give it that "polished" feel. I use DB principle to paint some shadows and lights to give image another dimension. I also colorized reds to make it a bit more settled into one color. Instead of painting mask for collar I used selection by range of color.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Step 7 - Sharpening

Final step of retouching this image - sharpening. Use whatever method you like. I use manual high pass. This time I used two high pass layers in linear light for local sharpness. I do not like using general sharpening. There are many methods to reveal details and I do believe sharpening is last instance. Local sharpening works well to point attention somewhere in the image, same as using a bit different colors (desaturation, saturation, warm x cool tones etc.). Using sharpening to add more plasticity to the image (fake 3D effect) is more efficent. Of course this depends on everyones view, this is just my way to do this.

And that´s it! Hope you enjoyed this run trough ... it´s kind of my daily routine. Have a nice day!

Lucie Kout

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There is another interview with me on www.mykreativci.blogspot.com. You can read it in czech-slovak language there or English version I tried to translate here. Thank you very much Linda Bergerová who sent me these lovely questions and which were so much fun to answer!

Every creative person soak an art brush to own soul to pain a little piece of self. Sometimes art is part of shadow we carry inside, little secrets, rejections but sometimes also full color palette where you can find sunny yellow, carrot orange or sky blue. That´s what we will talk about with Lucie Kout today.

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Lucie Kout photo by Ondrej Kout http://ondrejkout.deviantart.com/

Hello Lucie, welcome on "My Kreatívci" blog, take a seat, fasten the seat belt, we take off :). Who is Lucie Kout, where are you from, what do you do and why?

Hello, I guess I won´t say anything new. I am photographer and retoucher from Budweis (Czech Republic) and I do this because it seems like I am able to do it well and I like it. There is no magic behind it :-).

You make photography for living, how does you typical day looks like? What are pros and cons of being full time photographer?

My day starts slowly :). I begin with attempt on waking up (usually around 8 a.m. but I don´t score at this), then coffee, reading RSS and then, in inexplicit hour, starts my work which ends late in the night. Can´t say there is something like a plan. I don´t respect weekends, I work all the time. Even when I am not doing commercial work I am working on something personal. Once I start working I have a problem to stop. Pros are relative freedom, you can work whenever you want (but it doesn´t matter because I work always), you can leave for couple days, make your own business and there is nobody above yelling. Disadvantage is wating for money, if client pays you. That´s uncertainty you have to live with. Other cons are aching back, eyes, carpal tunnel and fundamental lack of sun :-).

Often it´s said it doesn´t matter how much talent you have but how well you know to sell yourself. How much money influences art? Do you see internet as a key marketing tool for artists? How do you present your work and get it to subconsciousness?

It´s not actually truth that talent doesn´t matter. It should be combination of both. Money can be an instrument or goal. Sometimes you create things to pay bills and sometimes because you want to say something. Combining both is ideal. Internet is great tool for presentation. In a fact it´s the only way we promote our work actively. It allows me to work with people across the planet. I assume add in local magazine wouldn´t do this for me. And Banksy´s Exit throught the gift shop nicely shown aspects of money in art. I can reccomend to watch it!

What is your opinion at photo industry in Czech Republic? If we compare Czech Republic or Slovakia with Paris, we still miss fashion shows, magazines, etc. How this affects photographers? Doesn´t they have an abmitions to go to the center spot?

I don´t really watch Czech Republic or Slovakia, I look for individuals their work impress me. Then I do not care if it´s Czech, Slovak, Canadian or Russian. Also work with people from foreign countries seems to be easier, they respect your work and gives you bigger creative freedom. "Our people" still have this need to control everything although they do not understand it. Great example is webdesign, the more animated banners, the better. That´s why they fail.

You beautify your photos with photoshop. How much can graphic software improove or completely rebuild and save bad images? It it important to photographer to have a such technical skills?

Resource, as best as you can reach, should be a base, always! Retouch is not here to save bad images but improove a good ones. It´s upon everyone to decide if to retouch or not or how much. I don´t really think it´s necessary to know photoshop, in a fact it´s enough to have a money and good taste and pass it to someone who can do it :). Of course it´s an advantage to know it because photographer knows what to want and what can be reached. I would try to avoid saving bad photos unless they are family treasures or you have another good reason. You can do a lot but not miracles. When it comes to photomanipulation, it´s a bit different thing. There are no tabus but even here skilled knowledge of editing goes hand in hand with improovement. When you have a good taste and do your job well, people handle a lot :-).

Do you have some other hobby besides photography? What would you do if you weren´t photographer?

I don´t know, probably something around media. I studied graphic desing but I never wanted to compose a typography for supermarket leaflets. Others can do this. I love drawing, jewellery making, I enjoyed sculpturing as well. I always had to do something creative, artistic. I don´t have much time for that right now but I like to go back to it, with a top view and better mood. My other great hobby are dogs, german boxers, so I guess I could be professional german boxer nanny or dogsitter. I have a braincells for it and gene which causes I don´t mind them slobbering all over me :). I like this combination of love to dogs and photography. I´d like to make a monography with boxer photos or maybe a serious publication if I ever meet someone who would be able to write such a special text.

Are there things you still learn or which scares you? Can photographer say once: "Now I know everything."?

Maybe someone else, not me. There are still things, techniques, connections, ideas that talks to me. Can´t say I am scared, I like challenges. What annoys me when gear fails or if I don´t get the result I wanted. I rather give myself goals then questions.

What are the most important aspects to create unforgetable photo? Is that gear or knowing a craft or aestethical feeling?

Definitely aesthetical feeling, you can learn the technique, buy a grear but if someone has no talent, it would be really hard to explain him why some composition sucks. If we talk about these unforgetable artworks, artists (I don´t like this word) sometimes does not even recognize they created something spectacular. At least I usually identify it from feedback :-).

What was the most important lesson you learned as a photographer?

There were more things I´ve learned but it was more personal. Simple principles. To be polite, humble, don´t judge, give a chance, share things, trust my instincts and close people. "All I need to know I´ve learned in a kindergarten.".

Do you prepare for photoshoots or do you leave it intuitive?

I prepare. I rarely do something bang off. Intuitive part comes when already working. It usually blow me somewhere a bit else than expected but it also usually works well.

Where do you get your inspiration from? What inspires and motivates you? Is that another artist, photographer, book or music? Share your success secret :)

Anything can become inspiration. The world around, social themes, feelings, reading something, watching others, associations originates without consequence and always when least needed. Music usually don´t work for me.

How does photography job affected your life? Can you detach it?

It has completely changed it :-). I don´t have typical Monday to Friday job. Sometimes I travel, sometimes I am at home, sometimes I meet new people, it´s a permanent facing a new impulses. I am so happy that I can make people happy. There were some great moments like when a lady made a cake with my photo on it when I came to her. It was soooo lovely. Or when people send me images of my huge prints hanging on the walls to share how nicely it looks. It completely changes a posture of work done to pay a bills.

Difficult topic: what opinion do you have on feedback? How do you take negative critique?

It depends how critique is handled. Speciality of Czech servers is stupid and peckish critique that should only hurt - I ignore such things. Also "this is great" or "cool" doesn´t talk to me much, it´s nice and pleasing but that´s all. And finally there is aconstructive criticism. I am grateful for it no matter if it´s positive or negative. There is only one Czech site I go to and comments there nicely ilustrates Czech nature. But I always have in mind, even big stupid and say a big truth.

There are many talented peple out there who would love to become famous photographers, what advice would you suggest to them?

I don´t know, probably: "Take images! Take images! Take images!" :).

What are you recently working at, what are your plans? What can we expect?

I just finish some commissions, write tutorials and articles, prepare some projects I have in mind. There are many things I work at but I don´t want to talk about it much until it´s done. Simply not always everything works well. But I am about to shoot one female bodybuilder, theme I will surely enjoy a lot. I also started retouching for other photographers not so long time ago. It´s a great experience to see someone else´s kitchen :). Some of them are great people, open minded, collaborations like that are pleasing me.

Last question: "To be or not to be? Mac or Pc? Canon or Nikon?" :-D

It´s nice to be. Related to others, can´t generalize, it´s about everyones preferences. I don´t have a problem to use both, Mac and PC. Both has advantages and disadvantages. I think of buying Mac Book Pro 15" i7 or maybe a new MacBook Air, depends on a bowels. Apple gear can stand my bad treatment and it´s a system I can serve myself. OS for dumbs. And because it would be working tool, hammer for photos, my demands are a bit different than for workstation. My workstation is PC and I am happy with it. Windows are steady and okay for work since Win7.

And Nikon vs Canon thing, I would be rather choosing between Hasselblad and Phase One. But for me, Canon is a winner. Nikon has a subjectively worse grain even on fullframe DSLRs. Can´t help myself but Nikon grain is a bit unpleasant. I also dislike Nikon menu :), it´s not bad, but Canon is more intuitive to me but I still carry a manual with me. There are too much settings there :). And related to cheaper cameras, it doesn´t matter what you get, they all sucks equally :). In a past I thought it´s a Sony speciality but now I see the greenish-yellow tint everywhere, in all labels :). A difference starts at fullframe cameras. I started on Nikon, then I used Sony and finally we got Canon. There is always something to improove but colors, grain and mechanical manufacturing satisfies me.

Thank you very much for a nice questions :)

Lucie Kout

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You wouldn´t believe me I edited some of my appreciated pictures on ancient 21" Sun CRT. What a pain! I couldn´t stand the headaches it was giving me and color, contrast and brightness shift. I never knew what I am doing.That was why I got EIZO last year and even when it´s not a "pro" edition, I can say I am happy with it. Unless you really need a precision calibration, this would satisfy you. I can say it´s enough precise for 99% photographers. Your eyes won´t recognize much of a difference. Your head won´t hurt and you see all you need to see. Although I am happy with this screen, I am thinking of switching to bigger (24" appears to be a bit better, but yeah, I long for 27"  or perhaps a bigger - silly me, the more space I have, the better).

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Eizo FlexScan S2232 is not a newest model. It was substituted by S2233 model which is a bit cheaper and weights 4kg less than this one. We did not really believe this new model would be any better or equal to this old one because that weight and price shows some major changes have been made. I believe Eizo wanted to upgrade this model to make it cheaper and sell more of it. I assume quality would be a bit worse now. My Eizo FlexScan S2232 is 22" widescreen S-PVA - displays widegamut (AdobeRGB 95%). Well manufacturing is EIZO standart. Can´t complaint about this a bit. Gotta love the supersimple cornered design. Nothing really disturbs you. Menu is very settled and unobtrusive. There are just two small diodes, nothing agressive at all. EIZO designs are meant to be giving you as much space on screen as possible - very friendly. I already heard complains about EIZO designs - some people don´t find this simplicity attractive and likes more rounded appearance. But in a fact when it comes to quality, EIZO has so much to offer - especially in higher classes of their monitors. I would say EIZO is still incomparable to other labels. Plastics are firm, it has nice dim (matte) surface.

Feature I like the most is automatic brightness calibration. Screen gets darker in a room with no light and lighter in a room with a lot of light. It follows a natural light conditions and adjusts a brightness. I also appreciate stand rotation which is just perfect, enough stiff and easy to manipulate to all sides. I also enjoy Ecoview mode (something for ecology fans and people with eye strains).

Menu is intuitive and since calibration I didn´t have the need to open it again. There are 2 extremely useful USB conectors on the left side of monitor. I use them quite often for connecting a camera, my iPhone etc. I do not use headphones socket, I rather plug my headphones into a computer directly but why not. It´s not annoying you anyhow. Colors are "real" when calibrated and sharpness and depth of colors makes your eyes find another dimension of images. It`s really accurate so I am almost afraid how other people will see my work on low cost monitors. They are always amazed by images displayed on this EIZO. My old CRT limited my work. Because I wasn´t able to see the contrast well, my images were more flat. Now I enjoy working on this screen because I reveal everything, if image posterize, etc.

Price was really good since new model is out. It was a good deal. You can find all the specifications on internet but it´s already sold out. I can just reccomend to go for EIZO. It´s an excellent label which offers great quality screens.

Lucie Kout

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