🔥 Retouch&Chill Highlights: 05/19 – Retouching, Gear, and Community Feedback

🎯 Life & Work Updates

• Summer photography bookings are slow (only 4 so far vs. usual 100+ per semester).

• Majority of current time is focused on caring for dad and creating content.

• Not editing post-stream: “I’m tryna hop on the game after this.”

📸 Photography Talk – Shoots, Lighting, & Techniques

• Germany’s Shoot:

  • Used 3-light setup: big umbrella overhead, two backlights, one softbox fill at bottom.

  • Shot in RAW using TTSenre's studio light setup.

• Retouching Approach:

  • Prioritized vibrance over saturation for realistic color pop.

  • Added clarity to hair and clothing for more depth.

  • Adjusted shadows and highlights individually per shot using Evoto + Photoshop.

• Studio & Natural Light:

  • Encouraged experimenting with off-camera flash: “Natural light cool, but flash gets critical.”

  • Explained how to feather lights to avoid hotspots or harsh shadows.

🧰 Tools & Workflow Tips

• Editing Tools:

  • Uses Evoto for retouching skin, clothes, and backgrounds.

  • Photoshop for detailed beauty edits and composite fixes (e.g., background expansion).

  • Pixieset recommended for high-quality photo delivery.

• File Handling:

  • Shooting RAW uncompressed (Sony A7R V) = 125MB+ files.

  • Now only buying 256GB+ SD cards to handle file sizes.

• Presets:

  • Planning to drop a preset pack with:

    • Man/Woman skin retouch

    • Studio

    • 2–5PM outdoor

    • Sunset

    • (Maybe) Nighttime

🎬 Client Work & Community Lessons

• Wedding Reel:

  • Made a full reel in 1.5 hrs for LGBTQ+ couple.

  • Encouraged others to stay open: “They pay and they spread the word fast.”

• Client Q&A:

  • Doesn’t choose client shoot locations: they must come prepared.

  • Uses reminder emails/texts through Acuity but admits he's lax on pre-shoot comms (“Don’t be like me!”).

  • Has editor recommendation inside Patreon (Stefan).

🧢 Merch Update

• Hat order hit a production delay due to color minimums (50 per color).

• Paid out-of-pocket to get them printed — estimated to ship early-to-mid June.

• Will have extra hats on-hand for purchase after pre-orders are fulfilled.

📷 Community Engagement

• Reviewed dozens of user-submitted shots live:

  • Gave real-time feedback on lighting, editing, composition, and realism.

  • Celebrated creativity and growth: “Y’all high-key doing better than me right now.”

• Encouraged experimentation, especially with light setups and retouching techniques.