Retouching pizza for catalogue

Video tutorial and instructions for retouching: RAW file development, cropping, drawing masks for ingredients, colour correction, contrast and volume, retouching, removing unwanted elements, sharpness, shape and shadows.

To make pizza look appetizing and to display the full range of its ingredients on the website and in the app, we retouch the photos to make the images more attractive and detailed. Let's take a look at an example: we filmed a video tutorial and commented on the process in the guide.

1. RAW file development

The purpose of developing a RAW file is to improve the image before processing, so that the subsequent changes can preserve maximum detail and features in all areas of the photo. At this stage we do not try to finalize the image.

We want an image file with as much data as possible in both highlights and shadows is required. We get rid of stray shades by setting white balance; remove highlights and dips in the shadows, adjust contrast to preserve volume and set the necessary saturation. If the lighting in the photo is uneven, we make precise adjustments.

2. File crop and pizza clipping

Select pizza image with the instrument of your choice, delete everything else. There is usually a field of background colour 2-3 pixels width on the edge of the pizza - it needs to be removed. Make a general mask for the entire pizza blurred by 0.5-1 pixels, so that the edge would not be too sharp and jagged.

3. Drawing masks for ingredients

Draw ingredient masks manually or by using channels and/or adjustment layers for further colour correction.

The mask for the pizza edge is drawn with a brush. In the example from the video we apply a Solid Color layer to the mask with the colour contrasting to the image using Create Clipping Mask. This is made to ensure clarity: we highlight the area where we will make colour adjustment.

The mask for black seeds is made with the use of Selective Color adjustment layer and with the Absolute parameter setting. The values of the Black parameter in each of the colours are 100, for black it was set to 0. The resulting image is refined with curves, copied as a mask and drawing is finished with a brush.

The mask for the green ingredients (lettuce and pepper) is created with the use of Hue/Saturation layer in the Difference blending mode. The Hue parameter for the target colour is set to 180. Using the pointers on the colour bar we shift the colour range so that only the necessary objects become visible. We select the most suitable channel and copy it for the mask. We refine it manually. The rest of the masks are created in the same way.

If the ingredients overlap each other, for example, seeds on ham, sauce on peppers or everything on cheese, we draw masks for the lower layers of ingredients with less precision. Then, using the previously created masks, simply “subtract” the unwanted areas.

4. Colour adjustment

Change colours and saturation of ingredients according to references. Separate them from each other as much as possible by colour, saturation, texture. All ingredients on the pizza should be distinguishable, even if the photo is highly compressed for a website or app.

5. Overall contrast and precise volume drawing

After adjustment, the image may lose volume; it may also have areas with excessive or insufficient saturation. If so, we make changes locally: with the help of additional masks, brushes and adjustment layers.

6. Retouching, removing unwanted elements

Remove or correct defects, irrelevant details and other bits and pieces that we are not happy with. Changes can be made at any stage of photo processing thanks to the layer-by-layer file structure. This allows us to make adjustments several times until we get the desired result.

7. Sharpness, shape and shadows

The last step is to sharpen the picture using High Pass or other tools. If necessary, smooth the shape with Liquify, using a large brush. Make sure that the shape of the pizza ingredients is not distorted excessively, keeping the naturalness of the outline.

We use a template shadow, just put it under the pizza. There is no shadow in the video.