~ Pure Magic of Beauty Photography & Retouching ~: Online Photoshop course: "Creative Retouching for Portrait Photographers"

I`m a professional photographer and digital artist, an International College of Professional Photography (ICPP, Melbourne, Australia) graduate and National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP, USA) member.

Please feel free to check out my Portrait work here: www.juliakuzmenko.com.

I am currently fine-tuning my online Photoshop training course: "Creative Retouching for Portrait Photographers", which includes two 2-hour sessions: "Creative Retouching Essentials" and "Creative Portrait Retouching Techniques". The course will be launched around the first week of January 2012.

Based on feedback from my students, the course is structured as a full 4-hour course, which consists of 2 sessions. Each session lasts 2 hours, and may be purchased separately. The first session will allow students to learn all the essential Photoshop tools and panels that I use in the second session with me and practice everything on their own using the materials provided (a .PDF Handout) prior to the second session. The "Creative Portrait Retouching Techniques" class - is the most exciting part. I teach the tricks and techniques that I use. I explain and demonstrate all the techniques I`ve developed and learned over the years. It is necessary that you are familiar with the tools and panels I am using, which is why the first class is very important.

There will be 2 courses a month, and the first session of each course will run on Monday or Tuesday, the second one on Thursday or Saturday. You will be able to choose days of your class according to your own schedule. If, for some reason, you are unable to attend one of the classes in your course, please let me know and we will reschedule your class - you will be able to join the following course or the one after, whichever works for you.

The course is also available in a One-on-One format (full course or an individual session). The benefits of a private online course is that both classes run a little longer (2 1/2 hours), your microphone will be unmuted and we will go over all the tools and techniques at your pace, discussing what you would like to clarify as we go.

The first session - "Essentials" class - is designed to prepare you for the advanced "Creative Techniques" class and make sure you are familiar with all the tools (and their settings) that are used in the second session.

The first class covers:

Customizing your workspace, memory usage, preferences;

File formats, Resolution & Color management;

Altering image size; Image interpolation;

Free Transform Tool; Cropping & Altering canvas size;

Photoshop panels that Portrait photographers use (overview): Layers, Brushes, History, Navigator, Adjustment layers, etc.;

Photoshop Tools that Portrait photographers use, how they should and shouldn`t use them (overview): Cloning tools, Healing brushes & Patch tool, Dodge & Burn, Sharpen & Blur, etc.; Presets;

Layers: Blending modes & Opacity, Masking, Handling, Clipping masks;

Adjustment layers: ways of applying & what works best; Levels, Curves, Hue/Saturation, Gradients, Selective Colors, etc;

History Feature;

Selecting tools;

Brushes & Brush Settings (overview);

Filters: what filters NOT to use;

Essential keyboard shotrcuts;

The second class covers all the retouching techniques I have learned, developed and mastered over the years. You will learn to use the tools you got familiar with in the previous session in direct ways and in ways that you wouldn`t imagine they could be used:

Basic editing; Color and exposure correction methods and techniques;

Cleaning skin saving texture; Human skin pores vs. Plastic surfaces;

Eyes, teeth, stray hair - touching all leaving the impression it hasn't been touched at all;

Glowing skin; Arresting eyes;

Altering forms; Slimming techniques;

Creative color cast techniques;

Finalizing images, preparing for submission;

Efficient workflow of a Portrait photographer: shooting, downloading, archiving your work;

Visual Appreciation: how to make your portraits outstanding even before post-productions;

Your microphone will be muted during the main part of the class, and there will be 10-20 minutes in the end of each session, where I will answer questions (if you don`t have a headset or microphone - you can type your questions in the chat room available in the control panel of the online class-room).

I won`t waste your time or mine filling up the classes with generic information about tools that I myself never use: there are tons of Adobe Photoshop books and online classes for that. I only teach the tools and techniques I use every day working on my Portraits. I never stop learning new tricks and improving my skills, and I will make sure I revise and improve the class program as I progress and discover new techniques.

Whether you are a novice or experienced photographer, a designer or artist, you will know how to perform digital miracles on your portraits upon completion of this course.

Before the first class you will be provided with a link to a shared folder with two sets of my Actions (image handling and color casts), a set of Gradients I use, and a .PDF Handout. I will help you to install them on your computer and organize your Photoshop workspace in the very beginning of the first session. You will get to keep the .PDF Handout with the class outline and essential keyboard shortcuts that you should know and use, so there is no need to spend the class with your head down taking notes.
Full list of Photoshop keyboard shortcuts can be downloaded here.
The brushes that I use can be downloaded here: Marta Dahlig`s Essential Brushes.

"Creative Retouching for Portrait Photographers" (two sessions, two hours each) - $169,
Either one of the two sessions can be purchased separately - $99.
One-On-One course or class - $249 and $179 respectively.
I accept PayPal payments, cash and checks.

Please feel free to let me know if you would like to receive a newsletter with all final details, the information on how to sign up and the classes schedule: contact@juliakuzmenko.com

Prerequisites:
1. Computer (laptop) with installed Adobe Photoshop (at least CS4);
2. Basic Photoshop skills;
3. Fast internet connection (the classes are run via the wonderful, user-friendly GoToMeeting.com);
4. Wacom Graphics tablet (optional, but highly recommended).
5. Microphone (optional, recommended for the One-on-One classes).

Meet your tutor: Julia Kuzmenko McKim