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10 essential pieces of gear for the traveling retoucher

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As a retoucher, I travel quite frequently for workshops or events I put on, and there are a few things I consider essentials in my bag. And not surprisingly, people are always curious to see what other people travel with!

My kit always keeps updating based on what I see other people do, or as I find out about better options that are required for each job. I figure this may be of interest to you. If you have any essentials of your own, I’d love to read your comments and see what you take with you too.

Here’s an example of what’s currently in my travel kit. This does not include the obvious like passports, currency, credit card, etc.

I’m going to be doing a creative retreat in Croatia at the end of May (which I’d love for you to be a part of) and this is what I’ll be taking with me, among many other items that change based on the location at hand!

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Retouching Toolkit 3.0 initial review – it kicks butt

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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.

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Your self-doubt might be coming from imposter syndrome

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I don’t deserve to be writing this because there are more capable people who can speak more eloquently than I can that can deliver this message to you.

This is exact thought that went through my head as I was writing this blog post because I’m not the best writer. It took 10 minutes just to figure out to start and I often make mistakes even after proofreading. I try twice as hard to convey my thoughts, so why should you be reading this?

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GQ brings the humor with their “botched” Comedy Issue cover

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Is it April Fool’s day yet? Because GQ just won next year’s contest (if there was one).

In jest of all the botched jobs on other magazine covers, they decided to release this cover for the Comedy Issue with the best/worst issues! How many can you spot? I swear, I am now tempted to make one just for fun!

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What is that purple line on your Photoshop Brush tool, and how to turn it off

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If you just updated to Photoshop CC 2018, you may have noticed a small purple line that follows your brush around, and until you figure what it is, you may be frustrated by it. Retoucher Pratik Naik put out a great video explaining exactly what this purple line is.

Turns out this purple line is an indication of a feature called smoothing that is turned on. Smoothing makes your brush strokes… well…. smoother.

There are quite a bit of options on that tool and the video does a great job of breaking them down.

[What Is That Purple Line On My Brush Tool In Photoshop CC2018? | Pratik Naik]

How to edit video in Photoshop in 7 easy steps

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I make a lot of screen recordings that I need to edit quickly. With someone who doesn’t have a lot of video experience, I did my best to learn the basics of Premiere. Being that it was a foreign program, there wasn’t much familiarity. About the same time, I came across this video from Scott Kelby that showed me it was possible to edit video in Photoshop. It has most of the basic tools you’d need, and you use adjustment layers for grading!

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How Photoshop is used to accommodate Middle East’s modesty laws

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I admit, the first time I saw these images I though they were fake. Someone probably added their clothes on as a joke. But when I realized the context and saw the source of the images, it made sense. The fact that the execution was bad made it hilarious. Accommodate

“Bikinis and mini-skirts may be commonplace in the Western world, but the Middle-East is a slightly different story. Countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran enforce strict modesty laws on women in keeping with Islamic tradition, and prohibit any skin other than the face and hands from showing. These restrictions even apply to Britney and Madonna, as it turns out.” – Bored Panda

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The mental sweet spot for progression

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There is a problem we all face as creatives in one way or another, and that is either being too hard on ourselves, or too happy about our own work that we take critique very personally. Both of these sides are toxic and they aren’t the essential zone we need to be in to promote and nurture growth with our work and our lives.

Over the last eight years, I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know photographers who I have seen become very successful. I met them on their journey and they asked for my help in improving their retouching through one on one consultations. I noticed a trend among those that made it during our time spent together, and it wasn’t just the relentless drive they had in order to succeed, but the exceptional balance of knowing their worth while also being aware that they had room to grow.

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How to never approach a photograper if you’re an influencer or media personality

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I really dislike it when photographers aren’t treated with respect for their time and talent. It happens way too often sadly.

Justin Rosenberg recently fell into this situation. He was recently approached by a media personality that wanted to take advantage of her position. The funny part is that she had less online engagement than he did so there was legitimately no value to the over-inflated claims produced in the beginning.

The conversation below is exactly how NOT to approach a photographer when you want someone to produce content for you.

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This photo has no red pixels and you’ll refuse to believe it

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I initially refused to believe it when this photo came across my feed. My eyes aren’t broken! I can see they’re strawberries, and they’re definitely red. They have to be trolling us with this image, right?

I immediately took it into Photoshop and used my color picker because I just had to prove myself that my eyes aren’t deceiving me.

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