Loupedeck again...

So I've received my Loupedeck, used it for a few days and simply put, it's awesome. 

I can see how this is not for everyone. I do most of my editing in Lightroom and while I don't really retouch my photos, since I pretty much hate that, I use Photoshop mainly for clearing up skin and cloning away things since I like the cloning tools better in Photoshop. Now and then I work in layers for some reason, but it's not very often but it happens. Otherwise I use Lightroom mainly for my post processing and when I get fully used to using the Loupedeck I can really see how much it will speed up my work. It has a lot of potential. 

Since I have a background with music recording and mixing and I still do some stuff in my home studio now and then, I like a "hands on" approach like a mixing desk and instead of using the mouse for adjusting highlights/shadows, exposure and things like that, having dedicated knobs to turn is VERY awesome. And assigning buttons for my presets, that is awesome as well. There are 8 programmable buttons that can be used for that and I can put the presets that I'm using at the moment on them and just change them out, but to apply those this fast and easily is awesome, since as far as I know, there is no keyboard shortcuts for that except for copying and pasting settings on to photos which is not really the same. 

And while there are keyboard shortcuts for many things, they are many times a combination of two or three keys, here they have their own keys and I like that. Of course there are not keys for every function in Lightroom, but for the main functions that I use, so far I think there is. For some it can be hard to justify the price since the Loupedeck is far from cheap, I totally get that, but for me it is so worth it. 

But I use adjustment brushes quite a bit in Lightroom, obviously I can't do that with the Loupedeck, that's a task for a mouse or pen tablet like some thing from Wacom, as is using the curve tool. 

I haven't had the Loupedeck for more than a few days, and I still have to look down to see what I'm doing sometimes, but am already starting to get used to it, and I already find it being a perfect tool for what I do. 

The only negative thing I can say so far is that it is another thing taking up space on my desk that already has no room left on it. But I can live with that...

Updated galleries

So, now I've only got one more shoot to post process and that's pretty nice, since as I've expressed before, editing is not my favourite part of photography. 

But I've updated several galleries, with both nudes and non nudes, so feel free to have a look. 

It's still not the most fun part...

Over a month since I made a post here. 

And I'm still post processing, And it's not any more fun than before. I've had a couple of shoots in the last month and I have finished processing a few shoots that are now posted in "portraits" and "nudes", but I'm still working on it and I still have more to post, but has to wait. 

Had a shoot the other day with Diviana, that didn't go too well. Sure, we got some really cool shots I think, but the forecast was not exactly right and during a supposed to be rain free day, of course it started to rain. And in the morning I had smashed my foot which hurt like a M-F. But it wasn't that bad when I left to pick Diviana up, but after a few hours in a shoe, walking around in the forest it had swollen up and I could hardly walk anymore.
So I had to stop shooting and post pone the part that I had looked forward to the most since I couldn't walk the distance and climb down the rocks that was needed. And also, the rocks would have been too dangerous as well when wet from rain and I wouldn't risk my model's safety for it.

But I was kinda pissed since it's not every day that I get to shoot with Diviana, since she's usually very busy and had to come to Sweden from Denmark. And though it's not very far, it takes a lot of time to travel.

So that was not fun, and on top of that I just realised that I have to re-do a bunch of photos that I've already put quite some time into. Sometimes it would be better to forget photography completely and stick with playing the PS4... 

Post processing is NOT the most fun part of doing photography

No, it is a part that kinda sucks, to me.

But it's a part of photography that is needed and it's nice when those photos are done. But it takes so much time and while I have posted a few new photos in my "Portraits" and "Nudes" sections, I still have a lot left to do. And I've also done a couple of new shoots since I got back from London, which has added even more to the work load. 

But I'll be done at some point next month...

More post processing...

Still trying to get stuff done, so I can actually post any new photos. 

But still post processing which I have only done a little since been on call at work since I got back from London (and doing more shoots). But there will soon be new non nudes and nudes posted here. Lots of them. 

Post processing

Alright, so I'm back in Sweden, back to the old boring regular life, though I have a few cool shoots lined up for the summer. 

I left my hotel in London on Saturday morning and got home to Sweden in the evening. And on Sunday morning I woke up to the news of a new attack in London. Totally meaningless. Too bad the perpetrators were shot to death, since they deserved something much worse.

But I've already started to arrange for a new trip back ton London in Septembe again. So far I've already arranged hotel and started to organise shoots, but that hasn't come very far yet when it comes to that part. 

And I've started post processing, which will take forever since I'll start working again on the day after tomorrow and be on call again and won't have much time, which will make it an out drawn process. And it's also not exactly my favourite part of the process, but it is of course necessary. All the fun is the shooting and interacting with the models, but of course it's fun to get the actual end result, but the post processing isn't. 

So yeah, time to get back to work...

Post processing and retouch.

I look at a lot of model/portrait photos. I'm a member of sites like ModelMayhem and PurplePort for example and there are many photos to look at, specially at PurplePort. 

I see many that are lit very well or with great natural which is even better, composed well and with a beautiful and/or interesting model. And it looks amazing on a thumbnail but when it's looked at in full size, it's retouched beyond infinity. The model doesn't have a single wrinkle, line, freckle or pore, just a smoothed out plastic face. This is very common but why in the actual fuck do people do this? 

On a place like PurplePort you can give "love" to photos and it has stopped me countless times from giving any "love" since I find it hideous when photographers/retouchers do this. And it's not only for headshots, it's for full body nude shots for example. And not even nudes either, any shots with skin showing. There's nothing natural looking about it and it totally puts me off if it's done like that. 

Yes, I think it's okay to do it a tiny tiny bit, I do that myself sometimes, but only if something is really disturbing so to speak. Or if the model had a pimple that day and she feels bad about it, sure I would get rid of it in post, but I would never smooth someone out completely and take away their natural look and beauty. Nope, never. And I would like to think that it's offensive to the model, it's like "you're not good enough and I'll reconstruct your looks".

I know, it's more or less the "industry standard" but it's fucked up and I hate it, but I know that many people love these type of photos, I don't understand why but we're all different with different tastes. I guess that it's the same type of people who think that over saturated photos, with nearly black unnaturally looking clouds, with huge amount of halos around edges are just "wow" and "beautiful". 
The same people might probably not like my photos, well people might not like them in general, I don't know, they might not be retouched, edited and polished enough, but that's how I do it. Of course I edit photos, but I don't retouch them, maybe that's the difference. I am a pretty heavy user of VSCO film presets for example. Presets that I alter quite heavily to make them my own and use for all images to give them a certain look that I like. But still, I don't turn my models into aliens. I shoot the models that I shoot because I think they're beautiful the way they are.