Commercial

Kansas Department of Agriculture at KSU

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Have you ever curled a 1,000 pound lead dumbbell? That’s basically what you are seeing on the first photo stacked on the foreground pallet. Theses are lifted by the crane and set onto a scale to calibrate loads of stuff, or something, I can’t remember the details. It was unreal to see 9,000 pounds sitting in such a condensed package. Shot for PGAV, most shots were to show the overall design of various areas of the agriculture lab’s interior and a few exteriors. We also got a few quick shots of Hale Library’s finished areas since our last visit.

Hawaiian Bros - Lee's Summit

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Another Hawaiian Bros has opened in Lee’s Summit, Missouri! This location’s overall look and feel will be a sort of standard for their future expansions, based off some brief conversations while on site. HBros has become immensely popular locally, drawing crowds and lines on a regular bases. The crowds were a challenge to work around, so shooting early was the best bet. Even arriving earlier than the staff and working around the food delivery trucks were a part of the challenge. The morning golden light made for some great exteriors. Timing is key when shooting hospitality! Shot for Clockwork AD.

The Yards

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The Yards Apartments, an industrial inspired multifamily community in the KCMO West Bottoms was one of my first shoots after the COVID-19 lockdown. The client was looking for a mix of main-area images as well as a few details to highlight the uniqueness of materials. My personal favorite is the shot at the “sky deck”. I met some cool dudes chilling with some drinks during prime golden hour. I was able to capture them in their natural state! Shot for MMC Corp.

Hiring a Retoucher

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Today it's easy to confuse a photographer with a retoucher. After all, photographers retouch images to suite their client's needs. So what's the difference between a professional retoucher and a professional photographer? After taking the pictures it is the photographer's job to enter into post production. This is where they perform general adjustments on the images such as brightening shadows, toning down highlights, adjusting colors, straightening, cropping, and various other techniques to get the image in the ballpark of acceptable quality before delivering the photo to their client.

After general adjustments the photographer might bring the image into Photoshop to make pixel-level adjustments. These types of adjustments usually consist of cloning out objects, adding effects to certain areas, selective sharpening, and other final touches to make the image final.

A professional retoucher picks up what the photographer can't handle in Photoshop when necessary. Advanced Photoshop edits is what a retoucher is hired to do. In this case I used a retoucher to finish some images for a client that needed to emphasize the floors of a warehouse. My client is an inustrial flooring finishes company. The job here was to photograph the floors in a warehouse setting. 

The before images have forklift tracks on the floor that distract the viewer from seeing the floors. The warehouse looks empty but I was constantly dodging automated robotic forklifts and waiting for them to move out of the picture to get the right shots.

You can see the retoucher did a fantastic job at keeping the floors looking natural while minimizing the forklift tracks. This level of editing and adjustments is beyond my expertise in Photoshop. I'm pleased to share the retoucher's information here. He did a great job and I would recommend him for any project that needs advanced edits.

Retoucher

Alex Hart

alex@360start.com