Questions about retouching that I’ve heard: Should I retouch before the proof goes to the client?
Answer: NO!
Here’s why: part of album design is creating something from digital negatives, meaning in rough format images right from processing. In saying this, when you export your files from InDesign to jpegs or eps or pdf, keep them in a rough format until the album is approved. This way you’re not investing additional time into retouching images that may not go into the final album.
You can however edit your images right in InDesign should you choose to do this. I don’t recommend it, but if you feel your images need a little sprucing before sending to your clients, you do have the option to retouch or edit images while working in InDesign.
To do this, with your document file already opened and working on your desktop, go to Window–Links, then the links palette should appear. Once the links palette appears, select the image you’d like to edit by using the direct selection tool, that’s the little clear arrow in the toolbar. The image will then be highlighted in the links palette, and below the image, you’ll see something at the bottom that looks like a little pencil and paper. Click the pencil and paper, and voila, photoshop will open and your linked image will open in the window allowing you to edit the image. Once you’re done editing, you’ll need to close the image in photoshop and return to indesign. Once back in indesign, you’ll notice a yellow triangle arrow indicating that your link has changed or been updated, so simply click the little link image at the bottom of the links palette to relink the image once again and it will automatically update in your file. Very easy and very quick once you get the hang of it.
Which ever route you take, the great thing about InDesign is that once your album is approved, you can open up your exported final jpegs, eps or pdf files in photoshop and retouch them without any lapse in quality. This will save you a lot of time in the long run and it’s how we do it at Studio ATG.