Author: Stefan Kohler Conny Wallström posted a video on YouTube about “Brightness vs Luminosity inside of Photoshop”. As always a somewhat more technical topic, but fascinating: It is about the possibilities of transforming an image into its black-and-white representation. Especially when you use this as help layer while retouching, you have to be extremely careful — otherwise you get massive color problems very quickly. Conny shows the different interpretation possibilities in Photoshop: The initial picture: Here we have 6 […]
Author: Stefan Kohler What is the “Solar Curve”? The “Solar Curve” looks like a wave created from the normal linear curve inside of Photoshop. Normally 4 or 6 points are inserted. Mathematically one divides the entire range (0-255) into 5 or 7 parts and sets accordingly the points: 4-point Solar Curve If you want to set 4 new points, simply divide the 255 (maximum) by 5 and get 51. These points result accordingly: Input / Output 0/0 51/255 101/0 152/255 […]
Author: Stefan Kohler Presumably, each of you knows: You retouched forever on an image, retouched the fingers sore and if you want to show the final image quite strange rings in color gradients arises. These rings are called “banding” and are nothing more than tonal value demolitions. Before I explain where these tonal separations come from and how to avoid them, I would like to show you a small example: As you can see in the background, we have — just on […]
“Our language culture is in a rapid transition to a visual culture” (Franke, 1997, quoted in Gläßel, 2010, p. 17). Considering the date of this quote – we actually live in a visual culture. In which way are (ideal body) images processed by our brains? Which tools and biologically preprogrammed patterns does advertising use to make the images more effective? These questions will be discussed in the following sections. Credibility of images Besides the impressive effect of images, there’s another dimension […]
Author: Stefan Kohler I recently had an interview on the ethical responsibility of retouching. I found the experience very moving and very thought-provoking. In this article, I would like to write down a few of these thoughts. What we see in advertisements and in magazines every day feels like reality to people outside of the retouching industry: Impeccable models, even skin, great characters. If the retouching is carried out properly, the processing won’t be visible — which creates an own […]
Almost everyone of us is seeking a change of one kind or another. Being thinner, firmer, smoother, better trained or simply a different look — beauty is at its peak. Photographers and retouchers apply this analogously to the digital image: A flawless appearance of the image becomes the goal. The discrepancy between the beauty of the recipient and the medially ideal of advertising is increasingly emphasized by retouching. When does retouching starts? The question of where exactly image manipulation starts is […]
MK Retouching investigated different Vogue Paris on retouching lables in 2019 after her first investigation in 2018. Here you can read about the latest developments and possible forecasts. It is recommended to read the general legal context and first study from 2018 first to understand the overall context. In the last study it could be determined that the advertisements do not change depending on the magazine. Therefore, this time only Vogue Paris was chosen as the magazine that had the […]
Presence of advertising Media are everywhere: They reinforce values, offer models of behavior, shape role models — they make us think about different topics, they evoke emotions, we learn from them, we identify with them. They become co-designers and orientation aids at the same time (Jäckel et al., 2009, pp. 7-8, Gläßel, 2010, p. 13). That does not sound problematic at first. But what if this leads to unconscious processes and influence that we can not escape, that we can not control? […]
MK Retouching investigated popular fashion magazines on retouching lables in a research in Paris. These were then sorted and evaluated according to their appearance. To visit Paris is unavoidable, as the access to resources in Germany is very limited. For this purpose, various editions of the following different magazines (french edition) were examined several times. Vogue Paris (No. 981, October 2017) Vogue Paris (No. 982, November 2017) Vogue Paris (No. 983, December 2017) Vogue Paris (No. 984, February 2018) Vogue […]
Background to the adoption of legal measures In France, studies have come to the following conclusion: Worrying developments regarding women, such as the increase in eating disorders, are probably due to the medially widespread and their though slimming norms. France sought a way to protect its population from unattainable, unrealistic body images and to avoid anorexia (anorexia) among adolescents. This resulted in the restrictive decree “2017-738”, which came into force on 1st October, 2017. Advertising bans and restrictions But what […]
Presence of the retouching lable in public How to deal with an avoidable retouching lable in public? Through a 3-day stay (15.02.2018 – 17.02.2018) for orientation and material procurement in Paris, MK Retouching was able to get an idea of the current distribution of the retouching lable “Photographie retouchée” in public places. Overall, it was noticeable that very few advertising posters with the hint of retouching were to be found in the streets of Paris. Even in the expensive department store […]