Begin retouching the lifestyle image by creating balance in the RAW file. Use a smart object workflow to create flexibility in raw changes. Enable profile correction and correct lens distortion. Leverage the power of Adobe Camera RAW. Create an image with the highest level of detail in data, that will serve the entire retouching workflow and yield the best fidelity image. Adjust the horizon and begin to integrate separate shoe exposures to replace the show wardrobe in the original capture. Leverage smart objects, scaling and opacity to visualize the replacement shoes as possible elements for compositing. Using transform and warp, manipulate the new shoe elements and adjust for a rough composite. Work from macro to micro level, gaining a clear visualization of the bigger picture and then the specific details. After building a rough composite and confirming the shoe elements, move forward into a linked workflow.
With a linked workflow established, begin honing the replacement shoe elements for compositing into the main lifestyle base image. Shape and refine the shoes with the Liquefy tool in Photoshop. Use silo clipping to create clean mask, cutting clean, flexible paths for compositing. Leverage the kno...
With clean clipping and isolation of the replacement shoes, integrate these elements into the main lifestyle base image. Utilize Liquefy to tweak the shape of the replacement shoes, using the original shoes as a base target. With the shoes placed, develop a process to integrate them with the athl...
Move through retouching the lifestyle image in Photoshop. In this next section, focus on isolating all of the elements in the athlete. Completely deconstruct the athlete, with the same process applied to the shoe. Separate shirt from skin, shorts from athletic tights. Learn to break everything ap...