How to retouch like the pros

Limited Edition Sydney Dogs and Cats Home
Advertising agency: M&C Saatchi, Australia
Photographer: Julian Wolkenstein
Talent: Rufus, Rhea and Milo
Retouching: Limehouse creative

Campaign background

The idea behind this campaign, to raise awareness for Sydney Dogs and Cats Home, was simple, but brilliant. And got leading photographers, production companies and art directors all working together. A community activity to not only raise awareness of the shelter itself and the work they do, but more importantly, to find new homes for the featured dogs and cats. The animal portraits were exhibited at an event for the industry but also put up on donated media all around Sydney to gain public support. Rufus (playing pool) was selected to front the campaign, exhibition and press releases sent out. All the animals were adopted, finding good homes, and the campaign won a number of awards, from D&AD to a Cannes Lion. A huge amount of photography and retouching went into making the executions realistic, without which neither would have been possible.

Limehouse creative also worked with another photographer, Jonathan May on three other images for the same campaign. The two cats and dog also happily found homes.

Pro retouching tip

This image was created entirely from photographed elements, with no CGI. A lot of images had to be used in order to create the poses and give the talent expressions and characters. This meant distorting the images so as to combine them effectively, and this is often key to a large comp.

Distortion tools should only be used in increments. When using the distortion tools, including liquify and warp, the first step is to duplicate your layer. Then, applying on a copy, use a soft approach and apply incrementally. Enlargements and warps work much better in 120% jumps. It is better to Liquify many times, rather than one over-all jump, being mindful, of course, not to degrade the image.

Watch all the magic come together here: https://vimeo.com/41824752

James Lucas is a senior retoucher and partner at Limehouse creative.
www.limehousecreative.com