Cleaning Up Around the 917

It’s always a treat to scroll through Bob Tilton’s posts on Werk Crew. He has a wonderful eye for design and photography and he uses his blog to showcase some of his process both as an artist and as a glimpse behind the scenes of his Porschephile nirvana books and calendars. This post on his photographic retouching process was particularly insightful recently.
I know that there are some that decry the use of any retouching; that the photograph should only exist as it was when it left the camera. If you’ve ever shot at a race weekend though, you know that the environment doesn’t always play nicely with your composition. This isn’t a magazine shoot we’re preparing for here, it’s messy. There are parts and tools and trash in the way. There are other racefans and onlookers and gawkers cluttering up the background. Bob’s relatively light touch on the post-processing here is a good example of doing retouching in a tasteful way.
On top of that, the craft of his retouching effort is on full display here. He’s pulling people out of the background and filling in the scene behind, including the proper reflections in the paintwork. He’s cleaning up the garage floor without obvious clone stamping from other sections of the concrete. There is absolute artistry in doing this properly. I’ve seen some bad shops in my day but when done properly this is very arduous, meticulous work and this is an excellent example.
Click on through to the Werk Crew post for the details on the retouching work. Keep at it, Bob. Love your stuff.