As of late, Photoshop has received more and more heckling due to improper use of its awesomeness. The Dodge, Burn, Clone Stamp, and Blur tools have been overly and incorrectly used by amateurs and hobbyists giving the software and, slowly but surely, the industry a bad rap. I’m not blind to the horrible uses of Photoshop and, if anything, I cringe when I see it more than the average consumer, but I also know and understand the beauty of Photoshop when it is used correctly!
Excuse the tooting of my own horn, but view the images from the Beauty section of my Retouching Portfolio: http://naymarie.com/retouching/2011/03/01/beauty
Notice the preservation of skin pores, highlights, midtones, shadows, and body shapes. More often than not, people are exposed to those who have a limited understanding of how to use the basic tools in Photoshop to enhance their images instead of ruining them. Not to mention, thus far I have only spoken of retouchers who utilize Photoshop, but people must also remember the amazing graphic designers who utilize Photoshop, even if in part. Take the masterful work of 5thGM for instance. Illustrator and Photoshop have been fused to create these phenom illustrations in their Behance port http://www.behance.net/gallery/Deep-Vector/1853633.
This is the main reason I created Photoshop for Retouchers. It’s a platform for those, from beginners to Adobe certified, to continuously hone their skills in the way that Photoshop was intended. Let’s create more of Example A and less of Example B!
Example B was created by carelessly utilizing the Clone Stamp, Blur, and Dodge Tools… hint hint 😉
