Mastery is a Worthy Pursuit...If You’re Chasing the Right Goal

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Inigo Montoya—The Princess Bride

I’m going to give you a simple tip today that will change the way you shoot, but first, I want to dive into the big picture. Indulge me, won’t you?

You’d love to master digital photography and processing, right? 

Cool. But what is mastery, exactly? 

How will you know when you’ve achieved it?  

For many industry professionals—and folks who’d love to join their ranks—mastery means knowing EVERYTHING. They have the latest and greatest equipment and every top-of-the line accessory. They’ve memorized every secret shortcut, and can navigate the most arcane nested menus in Lightroom in the blink of an eye.

Mastery, right? 

I say no way. 

How about we think about mastery more like taming. For me, mastering my craft means having confidence in my ability to use tools like Lightroom to bring the stories and images in my mind to life. Knowing how to get the look I want from the tools at hand.

Memorizing every possibility shouldn’t be the Holy Grail. Knowing how to bend the tool to your will? Now, THAT’S power.

That’s mastery.

Trust me. After nearly 28 years in this gig, I discover new things about apps and equipment daily.  A new way to colorize an entire piece,  or a one button illustration solve. 

And I do this every day.

I’m not interested in memorizing stuff. I’ve got the internet for that. What I rely on as a professional is my ability to get to my destination quickly. I know the look I’m trying to achieve, and I know how to use my tools to get it.

Mastery.

Keeping up with technology is critical, sure, but it isn’t enough.  It isn’t mastery. 

Relax. Have faith that if you keep doing the work, keep creating, keep experimenting, you’ll arrive.  

The seductive thing about knowing every in and out of of a freaking complicated app like Lightroom  is that it FEELS like mastery. Progress toward that goal is measurable. 

Mastering art... not so much. It’s elusive, for sure. Unmeasurable. There aren’t any merit badges to collect along the way. Where’s the freaking finish line, anyway??

How do you even begin?

That one, I can answer. 

Practice.

Do the work.

Create.

Ask better questions.

As an instructor, my main goal is to get you comfortable with the technology—-so you can grow your vision.

Let’s take basic shooting, especially MOBILE shooting.  I promised you some actionable information today. Here it comes...

Most folks just take out their phone and click. Maybe they click on a point to focus on. 

But how many folks are exposing for PROCESSING?

Its time to take the camera off it’s version of automatic.

Expose for shadows, then do another shot exposing for highlights. This is a great way to give you more range in processing. 

Cover your bases in order to get the best file for your style of processing.

Shooting in HDR on Lightroom camera will generally give you the most range.

This way you can edit freely and be sure you have the information you need. And for god sake stop shooting so many shots that you get overwhelmed. No “photoria”. Just take enough to get a range.

Then have fun with your processing.

Come join me on CREATIVELIVE for Mobile Photography BOOTCAMP.

Get your learn on , and make some magic.

To Plug in or not to Plug in….

Heres the thing. I KNOW you understand TIME is money. Both budgets and timelines are at straining points. And yet in my industry, I feel like there’s this disdain for software short cuts... if you didn’t illustrate it or photo composite it yourself, it’s somehow not valid. Kind of an “it’s cheating” quality to using plug ins. 

Here’s my take on that. My job is to do the best quality work, as quickly as possible. An unwritten rule in retouching is to know when to use plug ins. Underneath that is knowing WHERE to get your plug ins. There are a variety of places you can get good or “useful” plug ins, actions, presets.

While these aren’t always as advertised, for a fairly small investment you can often get pretty good results.

(caveat here - you need to KNOW that these results are PRINT ready OR that you would know how to fix/re do if file gets signed off on)

 Alien Skin       Creative Marketplace       Flaming Pear

 EnvatoMarket       GraphicRiver

 The above apps offer some great “CHEATS.” 

Take this nifty solve below.

This image needed to be extended—no biggie—but then the client wanted different variations of water tension. The image on the left is the original image extended. On the right is my first pass with the FLOOD2 plug in.

 Check out FLAMING PEAR - Flood 2 plug in.

For a whopping $33 I was able to give them LOTS of different options in less than 10 min. AND, the images are not stock. No rights managed or usage fees to be concerned about. TOTALLY worth the $33. Oh and see below... it also does fantastic reflections.

Interested in learning more? Check out our CREATIVELIVE classes. The Filters (plug-ins) class

Dive deep into plug ins, then get the real scoop on making your business thrive.

RETOUCHERS TAKE HEED

There’s an issue we retouchers have ignored for a long time, and it’s coming back to bite us in our desk-bound asses.

Warning: it’s not sexy or artistic or hip, but skills in this area will guarantee you repeat clients for life. Short change it, and you’ll be scratching your head, wondering why first time clients don’t call back, even after you hit that composite out of the park with sparkles.

I’m talking about the business of retouching - the business of running your business.

I’ve done both freelance and agency work for over two decades. No matter the venue, 80% of retouching tasks are production work that’s probably well below your current skill level. Don’t get me wrong, these jobs lead to the awesome 20%, the exciting, challenging work you live for. And yeah, that 80% pays the rent.

You know what else pays the rent? Repeat clients. What makes clients come back to me? Hint: it’s not just my solid photoshop skills.

RETOUCHING IS A SERVICE INDUSTRY

There is so much more to the job than actually pushing pixels around. Delivering jobs on time. Sticking to a budget - or CLEARLY ringing the bell if the job’s going to go over estimate, BEFORE it’s too late.

Communicating on all sorts of levels: schedule, design/visuals, financial, delivery methods, expectations. These are business skills.

We’re in a service industry. It’s our job as retouchers to service someone else’s vision. Doing so in a timely, professional, and dare I add, pleasant and competent manner will get you invited back.

Flashy photoshop skills and an attitude? Yeah…no.

BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS ARE EVERYTHING

The following is a list of the areas I think are the most important for creating great client relationships for your retouching business:

• Communication. About everything. Expectations, finances, etc.

• Timeliness. Deliver what you say you’re going to deliver on time. Or early. Conscientious and timely billing

• File Management. Know when not to build a 89GB file even when the printer told the client that size was desirable.

• Stop Telegraphing Panic. Be a problem solver. Don’t tell a client what can’t be done without presenting three alternative solutions.

• Ask Questions. Help the client anticipate future needs. They’ll love you for it. Jobs are being repurposed for digital, social, outdoor and print. Might they want one of these formats later?

• Rinse

• Repeat.

There are folks out there who can out-illustrate me, yet they remain under-employed while I’m turning away a surplus of work. Because I play well with others.

I’ve got the skills to do the job, AND I make the job go smoothly. Be a pleasure to work with, and the rent will get paid. Every damn month.

COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE

Here’s an example. You're a crafty retoucher, good at your job. You deliver the work, but you don’t email the client to let them know the job’s ready for review. You just presume they’ll check the dropbox, since you had once said the file would be there today.

Maybe you deliver the job, but you don’t let your client know you're going out on your bike for a two hour ride. They don’t know you’re not there to answer the phone. Panic ensues.

Another fiasco: You have a quote on a job, but it quickly becomes clear you’re fast approaching the money line. This job’s going to go over budget, big time. Many retouchers I know don’t tell the client until after the job’s complete, and vastly more expensive than expected. Bad News Bears.

Don’t be those guys.

Some friends of mine have a GREAT course on PRO EDU.

The Business Of Retouching | Pricing Strategies For Photographers & Retouchers | PRO EDU Tutorial

When clients contact me, they know I am going to take care of them in all aspects of the business. I communicate with them, from start to finish. They won’t have to chase me down to see how things are going. I understand their financial wellbeing is on the line too.

Want the consistent - and lucrative - bread and butter work? Then get your A game on with your business practices. Pay as much attention to logistics and communication as you do to learning the latest bells and whistles in Photoshop.

It’ll pay the rent. Guaranteed.

Grief

I have been a bit quiet of late. Life has been giving me a bit-o-time on the ropes. Loss and injury have been constant companions for last few months. However, an amazing thing has been happening. I have been returning to art.

Art for healing and expression.

I am remembering that expression is not reserved for the good times. That I don’t need to only make “pretty” pictures.

I’d like to share a few images with you. Perhaps someone else will see themselves in this process and know that they are not alone in their pain.

I am hopefully that beauty and love will return in 2019, in the meantime I shall continue to create.

HERES TO LOTS OF ART FOR ALL this coming year.

Drowning in Grief

Sitting in it.

Paper Maché Man

Out of water

Those left behind

Surrender

The Calvary

King of the Road

D’ Nile

Camping Out

Cycle of Love

Failure

I’d like to talk a little bit about failure. I mean when you just blow a job. 

That devastation you feel. I had an experience recently where I really thought i’d prepared for a job. 

I thought I was ready. I tried so hard and I want to do nothing but my best for myself and for my client.

And well, I just fell on my face. I didn’t have my “A” game. 

It was devastating. I have people clients who rely on me for their  fiscal well-being - and I take that very seriously. 

The postmortem 

It’s as important as it is painful - to find out how you got in that trap so didn’t get there again.

I’m not talking about beating  yourself up. Heaven knows I felt bad enough as it was. But you know life, these sort of things circle around every now and again. Honestly it is a bit harder when you are seasoned "pro" and you fall flat.

I've come to some realizations about how I work, and what I need in order to fulfill my responsibilities on a job.

I had an interesting experience on my morning walk , running through my head how bad the job had gone. I saw this guy running down the road towards me. Full-on athlete in great shape, knew what he was doing had the stride. It was a little bit of a wet morning - nothing too treacherous. As he comes toward me I’m raising my hand to say hello and he hits the pavement. I mean he slipped and slid 3 feet on his leg and hip on the asphalt blood grit the whole 9 yards. 

Clearly he was embarrassed and hurt but he does what you do. He got up. He brush himself off and kept running. Now we could take that as a metaphor for you fall down you are a little bloody you may have a scar but you keep going. The most interesting thing for me about it was my reaction.

As a witness to this fiasco I realized was that I wasn’t jeering him. I wasn’t making fun of him.  I felt empathy and concern for his well-being and then after that I cheered up for him  getting up and moving on.

This is what I take from all this. We’re gonna mess up sometimes. Maybe even REALLY MESS UP. We may have a permanent injury, a scar. 

The client might be gone forever but you’ll be better for the next one.

Know that most the folks out there are not cheering your downfall , but are rather cheering for you to stand up and brush the pain off and get moving.

I had a fall about a year ago.  It was a decent one that left me with a lovely scare on my leg and a permanent bump under the skin the doctor says is never going to go away. No one else can see it but I can feel it and it gives me a little bit of bother now and again. What do I take from this?  I may not be able to run that same course again like that client may not come back but i’ll find another course to run and I try not to fall down this time.

I salute you others out there who have fallen on your face or slid down the asphalt and are bloodied and likely to be scarred…and you got back up and do better on the next run.

A monumental failure doesn’t mean you’re over.

Hungry for the latest, greatest, bestest new pre-sets? Let’s have a chat.

(You are not a REAL rockstar if you use AutoTunes)

You don’t need them. You don’t. Trust me. Chasing the newest pre-sets is stunting your skills. It’s preventing you from becoming the Photoshop ninja you aspire to be.  Even worse, heavy reliance on pre-sets is gonna make you obsolete.  There, I said it.

Pre-sets offer quick-fix candy for a heavy price.  Look, I get it.  In a world where you’re supposed to do everything stupid fast, speed and convenience are pretty damn attractive.  But here’s my thought, honed after decades in the business: S L O W down.

Learn to drive Photoshop yourself. If you can learn to adjust your color/contrast/sharpening you won’t need to rely on someone else’s presets. 

Besides.. haven’t you notice those presets ONLY work if your file EXACTLY matches the tone and value of the SHOT that the pre-set creator used?

Easy issues to remedy if you know how to DRIVE the color/contrast controls. But if you know how to drive them, what would you need someone else’s pre-sets for anyway?  If you’re relying on pre sets, I’ll bet you don’t really have a handle on the controls. 

The more you rely on pre-sets, the more of a toll they take.  Me,  I have trouble remembering where I left my keys, let alone where I’ve stashed a pile of purchased pre-sets.  What if you’re working on a remote location? Do you have all your cheats with you?  There’s a laundry list of ways this kind of workflow can go badly wrong.  Now where’s all that time you saved?

Heres the thing, pre-sets CAN be awesome. They’ve gotten me out of a creative slump or two when I needed help getting inspiration.  Still, they’re not ever gonna help you wrangle Photoshop into submission. Only your own skills can do that.

Why is this an issue?

I am finding that  folks don’t know how to manipulate their own images. They lack true control of the program. And that leads to… issues.  Picture this—

You have  a big campaign. You shoot upwards of 5000 images. You plan on using the latest and greatest presets you downloaded  from who knows where.

So far, so good.  The awesome new  pre-sets worked on the few images you tested on pre shoot. All good. Until life intervenes.  Say something goes haywire on part of the shoot and you have some crazy exposure catastrophe on a good portion of the images.

Buh bye matching tones and values.  That preset ain’t gonna work now. Do you have the skills to manipulate the images yourself?  Oh, and remember… 5000 images.  Can you do it fast?  Client needs a stupid-quick turn around, right?

Unless you’re a consumer shooter—a hobbyist—working for your own enjoyment, you’re now officially hosed. As a professional, your time is an issue, and your livelihood depends on your ability to nail this look.  Now.  You had better know how to control the program quickly and efficiently. Period.

Use shortcuts at your own discretion, but please, for the love of your professional reputation, invest the time and energy in learning the skills.

This is why I teach at Creative Live.  I want to help people get GOOD then GET fast. 

Master your knowledge of Photoshop.  

Here’s my list of MUST masters: 

masking/selecting

changing color and tone

layer management

file size management

clone/heal/content aware 

After that, there are TONS of quick tips/hacks you can utilize.

Just know what you are doing FIRST - you might find the process less frustrating. And a lot more fun.

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Come join me at Photoshop Week  May 14-19 on Creativelive and lets get this mastering thing down.

Photoshop. It’s inspiring. It’s intimidating.

And there’s buried treasure hidden inside. It’s my mission to help you find it.

I’m not talking about mastering every tiny, excruciating detail of PS. I’m talking about skipping right to the hidden gold. Hidden gold I’ve discovered through 25 years of relying on PS as an industry professional.

The key to unlocking the mysteries of PS is learning HOW to work in it, rather than memorizing every bell and whistle. And whoa, there are a LOT of them.

Buying PRESETS is a popular short cut, which is cool. They certainly get the job done… until they don’t. Ever had a preset stop working after a PS update?  Yeah, me too. Hope you weren’t on a hard deadline, ‘cause wow, now you’re hosed.  Once you learn the HOW of PS, you can create your own effects. Drive your own creativity. 

Photoshop and I are going through a new renaissance of discovery. I’m finding new functions and techniques and using them in new ways to create my visions faster and easier… and under MY control, in a way I can change or replicate any time, no matter what changes are made to the program.

I’d love to take you along on this new journey. You’ll finish Filters and Smart Objects (https://www.creativelive.com/class/filters-and-smart-objects-lisa-carney?via=upcoming-classes_7) along with the Photoshop Brushes (https://www.creativelive.com/class/working-with-brushes-in-photoshop-cc-lisa-carney?via=catalog-class_2) class with the skills to:

•Use older models (filter/brushes) in a whole new way as well as discover some fantastic new ones.

•Use Flame render to make hair - look beyond what the filter or brush was intended for.

•Make beautiful water scenes with nothing but plugs ins, a lasso tool, and one stock shot

I’ve been stretching the bounds of render and filter functions with amazing results. My latest project shows what you can create when you work with minimal images and focus more on the fantastic abilities inherent in the render and filter functions. Take a look at how quickly and easily you can create your OWN image. 

The new brushes, what can I say? Just wow. The crazy thing is, these functions have been in the brushes for EONS… but now Adobe has pre-set the variances so you don’t have to be a genius to unleash the power.

If I sound excited… I AM. Photoshop should be fun. Creating your own images—your way—should incite joy, not chair-tossing frustration.

Come learn how to find your own buried treasure.

Check out my two new courses starting Dec 11-12 on CREATIVELIVE.com