DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Retouching Toolkit 3.0 initial review – it kicks butt

Oct 30, 2018 by Pratik Naik Add Comment

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

When Conny told me about the brand new Retouching Toolkit 3.0, it almost felt too good to be true. Can you imagine having a more modular version of Photoshop? I wish it was like this out of the box. Since it isn’t, Conny had to go and make it and thank goodness he did.

It’s a software that allows you to make your own modular panels so that they can be used in Photoshop! It allows you to modify and combine your favorite actions, scripts, PS tools, shortcuts, and menu options in any way that is best for your own workflow. It’s future proof as it will begin to include future modules, updates, and it already has the ability to save and share setups from other users. So now you can combine different tools for different jobs in the most concise way possible. That is the premise of the new Retouching Toolkit.

If you want to see a video on how to get started with it as I go through the entire program, check out this video

In the description, there’s a breakdown by section too.

Having had my hands on it for about a week, I want to take you through an overview of RTK-3 (Retouching Toolkit 3.0) and some of my favorite features below.

As a heads up, it’s going to be at $129 till the end of October and then $179 after! If you already own the previous 2.0, it’s $99 and $149 respectively.

Legacy Toolkit Included

This the most obvious feature that I wanted to jump straight into. When you get the program, you have access to Conny’s original legacy panel that comes in his 2.0 version of the Retouching Toolkit. From the screenshot above, panel #1 is the legacy toolkit. That alone is incredible because that contains so many incredible scripts and workflow functions that can be used right away. By itself, the price of toolkit pays off since it does so much.

You see, Conny’s previous version of toolkit looked just like that and functioned the same way. Except you couldn’t actually customize it. Now, you have it by default but you’re able to modify it. Here’s a little overview video I made on this legacy panel itself. (link). For instance, the “gradient map maker” allows you to even out skin tones when you have all kinds of colors happening across the skin range! You can also see tutorials on how to use his legacy panel here

Full Customization and Space Saving Design

The biggest sell for me here was the customization. As you can see from the screenshot and the video, I can easily create a panel that matches my precise workflow. It’s so incredible that I had to really sit down and plan out what I wanted the toolkit to look like and what order I wanted everything in. For instance, here’s one that I made this week.

It combines my standard retouching setup action that I run whenever I start retouching an image. Next, I had standard frequency separation actions there, next to Conny’s Gradient Map Maker script that I use religiously. Below that, are my dodge and burn actions, workflow actions, and other standard functions.

Even cooler, I put the standard tools and adjustment layers I primarily need. Therefore, I can close out my toolbar and actions panel in Photoshop! And if I want another tab for another task, I can do so without taking up any more space.

As you can tell, it’s still a work in progress and I am building out a few more options but I’ll showcase my final panel when it’s ready. Hopefully, you get the concept. The end result is that I can keep Photoshop’s interface very clean and completely customizable when Photoshop doesn’t have that level of complexity or simplicity, however, you want to think of it.

Just like that, my layout is condensed and concise. I have no need for anything else. Also take note that with standard actions, you can have only one action per line. With this, I can put as many actions as I want into horizontal buttons. It creates a lot more room for me.

Save, Share, and Re-Create any Panel

Once you have a panel designed in the configurator, you can easily save it so it opens up into Photoshop itself and updates automatically. You can even save the template to use on other systems or share it with other people! So once you have something you love, you can share it with the world, or update it as time goes along.

You’ll literally never need another workflow panel again. Dare I say, you could even remake the panels you like and tweak it to whatever you want it to look like.

All The Colors

This is probably the most fun reason yet, but you can modify every icon and button to be a variety of colors. The purpose of this is to keep everything visually organized. If you’ve ever seen any of my actions, you’ll see I color code mine to separate them for different functions. You also have a ton of icons to use on their own or in conjunction with other buttons! I just used a few random ones for demonstration purposes.

Multiple Panels

Carrying off the topic of customization, toolkit gives me an option to save 9 different panels and load them all into Photoshop (if I so choose to).

So if you want a horizontal panel, a vertical panel, and many others, you can do that. Granted, these are all scalable so you can design them accordingly. Keep in mind, you can also put all these panels into one, by simply creating tabs in one panel, just like the legacy toolkit has a few tabs. That way you can make the most use of space possible.

What would I change?

The Retouching Toolkit was designed with a lot of user feedback, based on seeing just how much Conni listened to the community in the beta phase. What I can’t wait for is additional modules being added to it. So just like the app store, there is going to be a lot of great modules to come based on what the community is looking for!

I just can’t see how this won’t be a part of everyone’s workflow in due time.

If you’re looking to pick it, be sure to check out!

Also till the end of October, it’s going to be at $129 and then $179 after! (If you already own the previous 2.0 toolkit, it’s $99 and $149 respectively).

About The Author

Pratik Naik is a high-end retoucher, photographer, and retouching teacher under his Solstice Retouch brand, he also runs the successful Retouchist Blog.  You can follow Pratik on his Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook.

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Retouching Toolkit 3.1 for Photoshop lets you make your own custom Photoshop panels Canon 5DS and 5DS R Initial Resolution Tests How an Old School Photographer is Kicking Your Butt on Instagram People call out Disney over this lame CGI cover-up of an actress’ butt

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: Adobe Photoshop, Pratik Naik, Retouching Toolkit, workflow

Guest Author: from diyphotography.net

About Guest Author

We love it when our readers get in touch with us to share their stories. This article was contributed to DIYP by a member of our community. If you would like to contribute an article, please contact us here.

« This guy’s Halloween costume is a working DSLR camera
The unbiased Canon EOS R disassembly and teardown »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Learn photography

Recent Posts

  • NASA reveals five photos of space objects invisible to human eye
  • Tamron’s 17-50mm f/4 Di III VXD lens ships in October
  • Facebook now lets you (legally) have multiple profiles
  • A closer look at Sigma’s new Fuji X-mount lenses
  • Everything you need to know before you start film photography

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy