AIRBRUSHING: WHAT EVERY PHOTOGRAPHER SHOULD KNOW ABOUT IT.

Of all the mysterious skills involved in the vast world of commercial graphics, perhaps none is more demanding and less heralded than the art of airbrushing. In a busy production operation, the work of photographers will be altered, enhanced, subdued or radically changed as a matter of course. Airbrushing is the art of applying soft, subtle, tonal progressions through the use of compressed air or gas. Airbrushing can be divided into three major categories-production work, illustration and photographic retouching. The article discusses the subject with the aim of presenting the photographic specialist with a fundamental appreciation for the technique and an understanding of the medium's capabilities and limitations, which vary with the artist.