Julia McKim, Author at Retouching Academy

30 May

Business & Clients, Industry & Community News

Huge Summer Sale on Fstoppers!

Our friends at Fstoppers are currently running a huge summer sale for all of their tutorials. Most of those tutorials include post-production and are very valuable if you are getting into a specific type of photography, even if only as...

25 Jan

Beauty Retouching, Efficiency & Productivity, Real World Practices

Don’t Let Facebook Image Compression Ruin Your Images

December 17, 2018
Posted by Julia McKim
retouching, software
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So, you just spent hours retouching your perfect shot. Naturally, you want to share it with the world, so you upload it to your Facebook page, only to find your hard work trashed and frankly looking like sh!#t. Well, rumor has...

12 Jul

Beauty Retouching, High-End Beauty & Fashion

Approaching a Beauty Shoot Like an Art Master

August 3, 2020
Posted by Julia McKim
beauty retouching, making of, retouching
3 comments

Today our guest writer, Art Director & Retoucher Alexey Adamitsky shares his methodical approach to a beauty photoshoot from an artistic perspective and outlines his thought process as well as workflow steps from the start of the shoot to the...

19 Apr

Beauty Retouching, High-End Beauty & Fashion

Retouching Eyelashes and Eyebrows in Beauty Portraits

November 21, 2018
Posted by Julia McKim
beauty retouching, close-up beauty, retouching tutorial
5 comments

In this beauty retouching tutorial, out guest writer, Minsk-based Art Director & Retoucher, Alexey Adamitsky will demonstrate how to deal with delicate facial features such as eyebrows and eyelashes in post-production. --------------- Beauty retouching requires a great deal of concentration and attention to...

09 Mar

Creative Retouching, Interviews & Making Of Stories

A Guide to Creative Toy Photography and Focus Stacking by Felix Hernandez Rodriguez

November 9, 2018
Posted by Julia McKim
conceptual photography, creative retouching
7 comments

Felix Hernandez Rodriguez is a conceptual and commercial photographer and graphic designer from Cancun, Mexico. Today he shares his Guide to Toy Photography which is designed to help all enthusiasts in this genre create realistic images by using a few...

17 Feb

Fundamentals, Video Tutorial

The Power of The Curves Adjustment Layer – Part 2: Manipulating Color

November 9, 2018
Posted by Julia McKim
basics, color, curves
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In part 2 of our introduction to the Curves Adjustment Layer we will take a look at how to use this tool to tone and color correct an image. In particular, the video demonstrates how to use Curves to: Color correct an image; Use Color...

21 Jan

Fundamentals, Video Tutorial

The Power of The Curves Adjustment Layer – Part 1: Tonal Range & Contrast

November 9, 2018
Posted by Julia McKim
basics, curves
Leave a comment

In this video, we are going to take an introductory look at the Curves Adjustment Layer, one of Photoshop’s most powerful and flexible tools. In particular, the video demonstrates the strengths of the Curves tool: How to use it to precisely extend the...

09 Nov

Creative Retouching, Stay Inspired

Photo Series Captures the Imagination of Children to Create a Calendar for Charity

January 21, 2019
Posted by Julia McKim
composites, personal project, RA inspiration
1 comment

https://vimeo.com/144526468 As a commercial photographer I am constantly creating content for clients. As much as I love my jobs, I inevitably reach a point where I find myself with a hankering for my own personal creative outlet. This eventually leads me...

25 Jun

Beauty Retouching, Video Tutorial

Dodge and Burn: Working with Micro Transitions

January 21, 2019
Posted by Julia McKim
beauty retouching, dodge & burn, RA Quick Tip
1 comment

Transitional Values, Tonal Transitions, and Micro Transitions are a big part of how we define the qualities that make up an image in photography. Transitional Values are the values found between the midtones and the shadows, and between the midtones...

06 Aug

Commercial Retouching, Efficiency & Productivity, Fundamentals

The Importance of Layer Organization in Product Retouching – Part IV

January 21, 2019
Posted by Julia McKim
commercial retouching, efficiency & productivity, product retouching
2 comments

This is the fourth part of the article by our guest Australian Commercial Digital Retoucher Peter Worthington. Part I: The Importance of Layer Organization in Commercial Retouching – Part I Part II: The Importance of Layer Organization in Product Retouching – Part II Part...

25 Jul

Commercial Retouching, Efficiency & Productivity, Fundamentals

The Importance of Layer Organization in Product Retouching. Part III

November 2, 2018
Posted by Julia McKim
commercial retouching, efficiency & productivity, product retouching
Leave a comment

This is the third part of the article by our guest Australian Commercial Digital Retoucher Peter Worthington. Part I: The Importance of Layer Organization in Commercial Retouching – Part I Part II: The Importance of Layer Organization in Product Retouching – Part II Grouping Related Layers You're probably...

16 Jul

Efficiency & Productivity, Food, Product & Jewelry

3 Ways to Save Retouching Time with Food Photography

November 5, 2018
Posted by Julia McKim
efficiency & productivity, food photography, retouching food
Leave a comment

Shooting food is different than portrait, architectural, or landscape photography. When shooting food, there is one end goal of your image. YOU WANT YOUR VIEWER TO BE HUNGRY! If the viewer wants to eat what is in your shot,...

08 Jul

Commercial Retouching, Efficiency & Productivity, Fundamentals

The Importance of Layer Organization in Product Retouching – Part II

November 2, 2018
Posted by Julia McKim
commercial retouching, efficiency & productivity, product retouching
1 comment

This is the second part of the article by our guest Australian Commercial Digital Retoucher Peter Worthington. Part I: The Importance of Layer Organization in Commercial Retouching – Part I. Enjoy! Previously, I mentioned how to select all of the images you require in Adobe...

02 Jul

Commercial Retouching, Efficiency & Productivity, Fundamentals

The Importance of Layer Organization in Commercial Retouching – Part I

November 2, 2018
Posted by Julia McKim
commercial retouching, efficiency & productivity, product retouching
2 comments

In this tutorial our guest Commercial Digital Retoucher Peter Worthington will walk us through his workflow and share the most effective ways of handling layers in your master files as you progress with a retouching job. Peter is currently based...

15 Jan

Creative Retouching, Interviews & Making Of Stories

The Story Behind “The Princess And The Golden Chair” Artwork by Johan Normén

January 22, 2025
Posted by Julia McKim
making of, photo-manipulations
8 comments

In this post our Guest Artist photographer & master photoshopper (who is a full-time consultant and a team leader at an e-commerce company by day) Johan Normén from Alingsås, Sweden will show us the entire process of his “Princess and the golden chair” image...

10 Jan

Fundamentals, Software for Retouching

The On-Screen Image Resolution Myth Busted

July 29, 2021
Posted by Julia McKim
fundamentals, resolution
2 comments

We recently had a lengthy discussion in our Retouching Academy Community group regarding the importance and definition of image resolution. Even though it is pretty straight forward there is still a lot of confusion. With this quick post I...

30 Oct

Fundamentals, Working With Colors

Introduction To Color Management

July 29, 2021
Posted by Julia McKim
color management, color theory, working with colors
2 comments

COLOR SPACES Color Management is the process of coordinating colors from nature to camera, then to monitor, then to print, so that the color that will be produced in your final images correctly represents the colors that you intended, and match those...

11 Oct

High-End Beauty & Fashion

A Glimpse Into Practical Color Correction

Since I am a very intuitive photographer and retoucher, I might not always use the easiest way to achieve a certain result. For me the key to color correcting a photograph is the search for that tingling gut feeling...

18 Jun

Fundamentals, Working With Colors

Bit Depth: 8-bit Vs. 16-bit

February 5, 2018
Posted by Julia McKim
Bit Depth, fundamentals, working with color
18 comments

Bit Depth is a metric of how many unique colors are in the color palette of an image that are used to represent each of the colors. This is not to say that the image will make use of...

Shopping cart

Huge Summer Sale on Fstoppers!

Don’t Let Facebook Image Compression Ruin Your Images

Approaching a Beauty Shoot Like an Art Master

Retouching Eyelashes and Eyebrows in Beauty Portraits

A Guide to Creative Toy Photography and Focus Stacking by Felix Hernandez Rodriguez

The Power of The Curves Adjustment Layer – Part 2: Manipulating Color

The Power of The Curves Adjustment Layer – Part 1: Tonal Range & Contrast

Photo Series Captures the Imagination of Children to Create a Calendar for Charity

Dodge and Burn: Working with Micro Transitions

The Importance of Layer Organization in Product Retouching – Part IV

The Importance of Layer Organization in Product Retouching. Part III

3 Ways to Save Retouching Time with Food Photography

The Importance of Layer Organization in Product Retouching – Part II

The Importance of Layer Organization in Commercial Retouching – Part I

The Story Behind “The Princess And The Golden Chair” Artwork by Johan Normén

The On-Screen Image Resolution Myth Busted

Introduction To Color Management

A Glimpse Into Practical Color Correction

Bit Depth: 8-bit Vs. 16-bit

TIMES OF CHANGE

How to Avoid Excessive Revisions in Retouching By Galina Trush

Cyber Monday: Up to 45% Off on all Courses & Retouching Panels

Important Update: Legacy RA Panels and the New UXP Upgrade

Skin Work & Frequency Separation Section on the latest Beauty Retouch Panel

AI in Vogue: The Pushback

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TIMES OF CHANGE