Inspired Photo Blog

One of the services I offer my clients is retouching. I try to keep this to a minimum, simply because it’s overused and abused by so many photographers to hide sloppy technique. For the most part, retouching is saved for art prints which will be framed and wedding album prints. For my commercial clients, retouching has become a necessary aspect of the industry.

For detailed retouching, I use a Wacom Tablet. This marvelous device allows me to use a pen with touch sensitivity on a special tablet mimicking pencil and paper. The level of control is unparalleled with the added benefit of substantially reducing repetitive stress injuries. Wacom is a local company, based right here in Vancouver, Washington. I decided to call them and find out about replacing the plastic tip of the pen, called a nib.

Nib is the pointed end part of a pen, which distributes the ink on the writing surface. A pointed or projecting part of an object.

They had two new replacement nibs that caught my attention. One has two springs, which gives the tip a responsive feel, similar to a brush. The other tip has a felt piece on the end, for enhanced retouching techniques. As soon as my spring tip arrived, I replaced my hard plastic nib and started working in Photoshop. Unbelievable does not begin to describe the new freedom and responsiveness. Now you’ll have to pry my tablet from my hands, because it’s never going to leave my workstation.

Here is a print I was working on this afternoon for Holly-Kate and Kyle. Wonderful couple from Seattle who were married in Vancouver and had their reception at Vancouver’s Pearson Air Museum. This image will go into their wedding album and they asked if I could retouch the hanger doors so they were open. Luckily, we had an image of the hanger doors in the open position that I could draw from for my project. Here are the before and after images.

Image before retouching

Image after retouching with hanger doors opened and walls cleaned up

This is where my years of retouching at a commercial advertising studio in Los Angeles have really come in handy. Today’s photographer not only has to be well versed in digital cameras, shooting and lighting techniques, but post production retouching skills that look natural. My new nib from Wacom certainly made that job more pleasurable and I hope the results show it!