Product Retouching
I am a freelance product retoucher based in London, with over 25 years’ experience across a wide range of photographic briefs. My product and packshot work includes precise, detailed retouching for photographers, agencies and brands, ranging from straightforward product cleanup through to more complex work involving surfaces, materials, colour and construction.
Accuracy and consistency are central to product photography. They can be just as important as the final visual finish. My approach is to work closely to the brief and specification provided, while applying experience and judgement to resolve the technical challenges that arise during retouching.
Product & Packshot Retouching
Product photography often requires more than removing dust or minor imperfections. This can include refining individual elements of an image, correcting perspective and alignment, cleaning surfaces, removing unwanted reflections, and adjusting colour and luminosity, all while retaining the form and character of the original product.
My experience includes product imagery for a range of clients and brands, including Innocent, Vodafone, Avon, LSA, De Beers, Lancôme and Rodial. This experience was developed in part through several years working within a dedicated product and packshot photography studio, where I retouched images to precise product and client specifications.
Where required, I can also prepare products as clean cutouts for use within wider layouts and campaigns. This gives designers the flexibility to incorporate the finished imagery into their own artwork.
Commercial Product Retouching
Some product images require more involved reconstruction or manipulation. This may include rebuilding reflective surfaces, correcting or replacing packaging artwork, altering product colours, matching different product variations, or combining elements from multiple photographs.
Careful masking and detailed selections allow me to treat different parts of an image independently. I can then control colour, tone, highlights and reflections without compromising the underlying form of the product. This approach is particularly valuable when working with glass, metal, plastics and other reflective or challenging surfaces.
The objective is always to produce a convincing finished image that remains faithful to the product and the requirements of the brief. This may be for advertising, print, digital use or inclusion within a wider creative layout.
Product Retouching Portfolio
A selection of product and packshot retouching projects can be viewed in my portfolio.
View more Product Retouching Before & After examples.
Product Retouching Before & After
These before and after examples show how individual product images can be developed from the original photography to the finished retouched artwork.
This image for Debeers involved:
- fusion of several stacked exposures to ensure full sharpness.
- colour correction and grading for separation of diamond facets and gold.
- sharpness applied to small diamonds for extra pop.
- cutout to make a clean white background and reflection.
View more Product Retouching Before & After examples
Discuss a Product Retouching Project
If you have product or packshot imagery that requires careful, precise retouching, I would be happy to discuss your brief and requirements. I work with photographers, agencies and brands in London and further afield, on individual images and larger projects alike.
Contact me about a product retouching project.
All images and content copyrighted John Deaville / Photofixer.