Retouching portraits is something that you either love or you hate. Regardless of your stance, retouching portraits is a necessary skill. I love to shoot and dread sitting in front of a computer for hours afterward. If there were an editing program that could emulate my minimal style and save time, I’d buy it in a heartbeat. A few well-known plugins on the market create very noticeable results fast. The results are mannequin-esque with plastic-looking skin, which is a total let-down. This is where Retouch4me aims to make its mark on the photography world.
Continue reading…One of the blessings of digital photography is that you can fine-tune the tonality of black-and-white images to a degree unheard of in the days of film. This is especially helpful when shooting portraits. Of course, you have to start with a color image. And a RAW file format gives you more options and flexibility than JPEG.

My First Image with VSCO Cam
Yes, let it sink in a little. VSCO has been out for iOS for some time now. Android users, like myself, have been jealous. As of today, however, you can download VSCO Cam for Android free from the Google Play Store. There are additional in-app purchases and ten presets and editing tools to help you with creativity. Along with all this, VSCO Grid is also available through the VSCO Cam app. VSCO Grid is an online gallery to help photographers display their work on their mobile devices.
For those of you not familiar with what VSCO is to begin with, it is an app that offers filters that are of much better quality than Instagram’s. It isn’t really a competitor, but the service has its own social networking structure. Think of it almost like the best of Instagram and Hipstamatic.
VSCO has extra samples on their website.
VSCO has been making lots of new updates to their VSCO Cam app. Today, they’re announcing a new tool in the app called Skin Tone. VSCO is stating that the tool is for adjusting a person’s skin tone in order to make it more realistic looking and for fixing weird lighting that may happen at night without the use of a flash.
You can get the new tool from the in-app store for free. Also be sure to check out VSCO Grid. And if you want these looks on your non-mobile photos, consider VSCO Film Pack 3–or the other ones.
Now if only this app would come to Android already…
Not long ago, my co-worker Matt and I needed to get all dressed up for a wedding video shoot. We’re both the early birds of our departments, and I asked him if I could do a quick couple of portraits with him using the Rokinon 85mm F/1.4. He said go for it. It was around 8:30AM in the morning and the sunlight was very diffused. Previously, we’ve seen that the Rokinon has presented some challenges for me due to the manual focusing. So was it any better this time around?