Thought I'd put a working job in the forums so that visitors could see what a retouching job can entail. Hopefully it helps to illustrate what might be required and what you might consider for your own projects. Hope it helps and I'll answer any questions relating to the work. Unfortunately as I don't have permission to use the models I've edited their faces and obscured anything relevant to the client, hence the yellow bits The original image was taken with 2 models, however one was to become a 3D figure so he needed to be removed. As is the way with photo shoots the image with only 1 figure wasnt good enough to be used on its own so one model had to be removed and montaged with another. Elements within the image needed to be removed and improved to help legibility of type and to reduce distrations away from the subjects. Before looking through the image think what you might do to improve the image and see if it follows through my efforts (which are unfinished at mo). Pic 1: The original shot plus yellow bits Pic 2: Clean up of grass (remove tufts and burrows, remove fag butts and litter, adjust colouration on lighter areas) Pic 3: Remove sky and replace, remove building, reduce amount of bush and lower, darken small bench, remove man on hill plus pole.
It might be useful if you gave an indication of the amount of time you would expect to spend on this retouching - start to finish.
Lets zoom into the bench for the next set of editing. Pic 4: The model in blue needs to be removed completely. The bench from another shot needs to be placed over the top but the difference in colour due to light and exposure means some colour adjusting is also required. The grass where his feet and legs are will also need replacing. Pic 5: The new bench is in place, it doesnt quite match up due to movement in the lens so some editing is necessary. The client at this point sought a slightly lighter bench and more distinction between the bench and the grey trousers of the remaining subject. The grass shows the problems mentioned so a curve layer is used to help match the tones. Pic 6: Retouching done subject to client comments Pic 7: Final full image. The image isn't complete, more definition would be required on the trousers and more contrast between the subject and the bench. However, the image will now be re-shot so its no longer live, oh well, that's work I guess!
Time, mmm! difficult to remember as there was quite a bit of other work involved which unfortunately I can't show. But as a guide: half hour for retouching grass 1 hour for removing horizon, moving bushes and building etc plus creating new sky and cloud 1 hour for removing subject and replacing bench and grass 1/4 hour for altering replaced grass The image is 300dpi and the file size is around 500mb