For Photographers: Gry Garness Retouching DVD
Gry Garness is a photographer and retoucher based in London, in my home country, England.
Gry is also an educator, with a range of e-books, and one-to-one personal training on Photoshop and retouching. I have owned the e-books for quite a while, and can highly recommend them. I’m a soak when it comes to education, constantly seeking out new methods and skills. I’ve taken many courses, workshops and seminars on Photoshop technique and retouching, but Gry’s output really shines for its quality high-end, non-destructive methods. Retouching is so much about finesse and subtlety, and having an armory of skills that maintain quality.
The two DVD set reviewed here is a refresh of the e-book material, using Photoshop CS5 as the retouching environment. Whilst there is a nice section on configuring CS5 as an optimal environment, the DVDs and techniques are wholly relevant to all CS versions – I’m still using CS4…
The DVDs contain 54 tutorials, from RAW conversion, through tone and color manipulations to outputting work with best quality for print. I personally got a lot from the sections on color management, and the Camera-RAW workflow was probably the best I’ve seen, as Gry talks through why she is adjusting what. This section is obviously relevant to Lightroom users too – and shows the power of shooting in RAW.
It’s hard to fault the DVDs – so I apologize for a gushing review – but it is so refreshing to find material and a trainer with a clear technical understanding of the medium, and a flow that maintains quality in a digital image from capture to print. For instance, there are sections on color management, discussing controlling color gamut – and how having a non-destructive, layered flow provides a safety net for correcting the image. I await the day that proofing is added to Lightroom…
All the techniques use re-editable layers and smart objects. I like the fact that simpler, faster methods are also shown – something we can appreciate when retouching hundreds of wedding images!
To summarize, the DVD is relevant to virtually all beauty and portrait photographers. I find I’m already using some of the techniques on my fashion and boudoir images.
One of these days I hope to take a class with Gry on a trip back to the UK.
e-books and DVDs can be purchased on line at www.grygarness.com
I’ll leave the last word to Maria – DVD has great material and Gry has a lovely voice 
