I really have no idea why some people interested in this.  But for me, Its pretty hard to learn anything from speed retouchings.  Do you guys think that you can learn something?

I have no idea why this has gained any kind of popularity. My only
idea is, it's to show off.

I for one like them, and learn something if i find a good one to watch.

If you like what you see in high speed tutorials...realizing that you will  "Never be able to analyze what they did"  to get that effect... then I guess high speed tutorials have some kind of value, for some types of people, with different kinds of needs than I usually have.

For me...I want to "Learn Something" that will enhance my own retouching skills... when ever  I invest 14 minutes to an hour of my life with a video.  Its hard enough to catch the concepts and processes shown in normal speed sometimes...let alone at 25 times normal speed. 

I might watch or skip through a high speed video or retouch example for maybe 3 minutes at most  "For Entertainment"...  but after that I start to feel that im not catching much of value. Sure the retoucher can retouch fast and with a lot of unrecognizable steps.  I guess sometimes high speed videos can be used to prove that there is a lot involved in a retouch process from beginning to end...I can see their value in that.  But after that... Id rather be spending my free minutes in life enhancing my craft... and maybe taking away something understandable and valuable for my time investment.

So yes...if you like high speed...Enjoy it.  For me... I want the details!

For some, money, and efficiency is the most important factor, for others, the quality of the image is. Art vs. commercialism. Two different purposes.
-Don

Time lapse art / speed art is a great way to showcase your skills.

I'm sure most of you who are into commercial art encounter clients who ask: why does x cost y. Can't you just press that "retouch" / 'draw"  button? Can't my secretary do it in microsoft office? etc
Sending a link with a video to show the process means a chance to explain a project.

Although it's not intended to be a tutorial - you can learn a few trick about overall process / workflow.

Hi everyone,
Speed Retouch's / Timelapse whatever you want to call them are not meant for learning, of course, you can learn something from them it's just hard for people to follow. Their main purpose is to show the process from the moment you get the RAW file to the final.

There are a few other reasons someone would want to do a "speed retouch" maybe to show potential clients their workflow or just simply to show off their skills and knowledge.

Also, they are not a tutorial or a lesson as some people think they are.They are simply just a video showcasing the retoucher's process.

BTW I have only seen a few high-end retouchers do these types of video's like my colleague Elizabeth Moss(Rare Digital Art). Not many of the high-end retouchers make these types of videos, so the quality of the before and after videos online are pretty bad and not at all representative of what normally goes into the high-end campaigns and other high work etc...

Hope people who don't understand why people do it, get somewhat of an idea why some retouchers do these.

- Dylan

Also, to add to what has already been noted, another reason why some share those time lapse/speed videos is as a teaser or promotion for a full normal speed version of tutorial that they may be promoting for sale. So the speed version is designed to work similar to a movie trailer, where the message is "Want more ? Go rent the video or buy a ticket to see in theaters nearest you !"

they are not meant as technical (beginners) tutorials
but firstly they are a good way to show the overall process and the extent of work that is done (also to clients or retouching beginners/amateurs)
and if you're a pro who is familiar with the techniques already, you will recognise most of them even at pretty high speed, and it's still interesting to see which ones other people use for what

I used to think the same thing. I know now the speed videos are not meant to teach. If they were they would slow them down and show you one or two techniques that they do really well to give you that wow factor. After that your hooked. Then comes the dvd or video you will pay for. Speed videos just make me move on to the next artist faster but I enjoy them for every second they give me. Can't say I remember what they've done ten seconds after the next video starts. Lol!

I learn a lot from speed videos. I can often recognize exactly what techniques are in use. "there's a carve, oh, he's doing the de-grunge now; wierd. Ah, I see this guy's attached to the Amy Dresser curve blobs."

I don't need to see every pixel of every mouse movement to see what techniques the retouch is employing.

Check this one out.. Learned a few things.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1E0AtWVKmw

From what I see, many of them do it to advertise their services or to sell retouching tutorials/DVD's.