I want to introduce a new format to this show. To begin with this episode, Kai, please give us a very quick overview of who you are, what you do and then we will dive deeper into all the good and interesting things later on.

Kai got into retouching quite some time ago. His ambitions came after realizing he was not doing much with his life. He wanted to change but did not yet know what this thing might be. Starting with videography and YouTube he got involved in the creative field. Later got interested in photography too yet realized his photography was not on the level he wanted it to be. However, his love for Photoshop was fueled and he was getting much better at it than with photography.

From there on Kai focused on mainly retouching and was getting better and better. Focussing on only retouching and putting all his efforts into becoming better in the craft allowed him to take on clients and retouch for photographers and magazines.

Kai mainly enjoys detailed work. Therefore his focus has become people. Mainly working on beauty images and fashion. He prefers close up skin work over anything else.

As a man, it might rare to be into makeup but Kai loves it and he is super interested in the application in makeup and the current trends. This surely helps him in retouching images in the field of beauty.

Kai usually starts with capture one and exports his processed files without any sharpening applied.

He only does sharpening after exporting different variants for his clients. He also adjusts the images color profiles in export depending on his client’s needs.

The best tip he can give to others and what has helped him grow the most is learning to zoom out.

He does explain this in more detail in our podcast!