Josh Rossi is a photographer and retoucher who specializes in really stylized photos. He uses compositing and special FX to make his photos look incredibly unique. Over time he developed the Josh Rossi technique – a method of creating a “painted” look on photos.
Read our interview to get some retouching tips and tricks from Josh.
(PS. If you want to learn his retouching techniques in-depth, get his photoshop retouching tutorials on sale now at PhotoWhoa.)
How did you develop the “Josh Rossi effect” and were you inspired by the works of any other retouchers?
I developed my style by studying my favorite photos, trying to recreate what I saw, and then adding in other elements to create my style.
A few of the artists that really inspired me in my style were Eric Almas, Dave Hill, Tim Tadder and retoucher Christophe Huet. I would spend hours trying to get my images to look similar to theirs.
After I felt satisfied with how the photos looked, I stopped studying their photography and started developing my own style. I started creating images that came from my imagination. I think that is important when you are trying to find or create your own style. You will get inspired by others, but at a certain point you need to come up with your own ideas.
What are three tips you’ll give for someone who wants to improve their retouching?
The three tips I would give to improve your retouching would be to:
1. Don’t think about HOW you are going to create the image just think about WHAT you want your image to look like. If you think about the HOW you will feel limited because of your abilities. Just think about the image you want to create and let your imagination run free. Don’t worry about the retouching until later. You will push your retouching skills and come out with a better concept in the end.
2. Find your favorite retouchers and try to do similar things they are doing. Even if it looks difficult. Always be pushing yourself, and you will become good at what you are practicing.
3. Focus more on the small details. The small details take the longest. Even though you’ll want to skip that step because you’ll think no one will notice. The small details will make or break an image.
What retouching technique do you think is overdone?
Dodging and burning. You can do a lot of dodging and burning and make an image look good, but if you do a lot in the wrong area it will make the image look bad.
At what moment did you know you wanted to do photography and/or retouching professionally?
The moment I knew I wanted to be a professional photographer was when I saw the amazing work of some of my favorite photographers that I named previously. I fell in love with this new style of photography that I had never noticed before and wanted to do what they were doing.
Tell us about how you get the cover of Advanced Photoshop magazine.
How I got the cover of Advanced Photoshop magazine was interesting. I posted my work on Behance.net and a few weeks after I got an email from the editor of the magazine. Originally they wanted to commission me to make a tutorial on an image I had already created. After looking through my full portfolio they thought it would be cool to have me create the cover from scratch. They gave me a concept and certain things they needed in the image and then let me run with it.
Describe how it was to work with Lindsey Stirling?
Lindsey Stirling was very fun to work with. One of the reasons I loved working with her is because she is an artist and has a creative mind. We came up with some concepts and then she opened it up to let me interpret however I wanted. At one point I made a joke about an irish jig and out of nowhere she came up with this awesome irish jig on the spot. We danced to her music for about a minute then got back to shooting.
Check out more of Josh Rossi’s work online.
And remember, if you want to learn his retouching techniques in-depth, get his photoshop retouching tutorials at PhotoWhoa. (Only for a limited time).
