The business of photography and retouching
I’ve recently been retouching a lot of photos shot by other photographers. Some were really good and needed only minor edits or some compositing. But others, not so much.
A lot of my retouching work involves fixing photographer mistakes and trying to salvage images marred by poor posing, bad lighting, or weak composition.
I recently worked on two sets of outdoor family portraits shot by different photographers.
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Here are eight reasons why you should consider retouching for your family photos:
Professional retouching can correct issues such as poor lighting, shadows, or dull colours, and bring out the true beauty of your photo. This will help the image look vibrant and sharp, especially when printed.
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Here are a few reasons why you should have your business headshot or other professional portrait retouched:
Retouching can correct uneven lighting, minimize unwanted shadows, and adjust the colour balance, contrast and saturation. This will create a more visually appealing portrait that will draw more attention.
This is more than correcting the colour. Colour correction means whites are white, greys are neutral grey, and blacks are black. Colour balance, also called colour grading, is adjusting the hue of each colour. Should your skin be a warm tone or a cooler tone? A warm tone suggests friendliness but a cool tone implies authority and strength. What shade of blue works best for your blue shirt: navy blue, cobalt blue, a warm blue, a cold blue? Colour affects our emotion which affects our perception.
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A recent customer didn’t like the retouching I did on his business headshot. But he also admitted that the retouching was exactly what he had asked for. When compared to the original picture, shot by another photographer, he said the retouched proof photo made him look too good!
He said he paid $125 for the original photography. At that price, he felt the portrait must already be good. So retouching shouldn’t have to change much.
When I asked him to look only at the retouched image, he admitted it looked realistic and natural. I asked if the retouched proof made him look his best. He laughed and said it made him look his best but only on a good day. Despite this, he chose to cancel the retouching.
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If your wedding photos will be important to you, then hiring a professional photographer is essential.
I received an email from a woman who wanted her summer wedding photos retouched. She was planning to create a wedding album in time for Christmas. She wrote that her pictures “need work and maybe a lot of work.”
After reviewing her photos, it was obvious she was right. Her photos needed a lot of work.
Instead of hiring a professional photographer, the couple had friends with cellphones take the wedding photos. While that might have seemed like a fun and budget-friendly decision at the time, reality has now set in.
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The four steps a business marketing photo has to accomplish in one or two seconds:
1. Get the viewer’s attention. You need good photography to accomplish this. If you fail to get the viewer’s attention then the rest doesn’t matter.
2. Once you’ve got the viewer’s attention, the image must lead the viewer through the photo so they can “read” the information you’re presenting. A good photographer knows how to compose an effective image.
3. The information you’re presenting must trigger an emotional response in the viewer. If there’s no response then the viewer’s attention and interest turn off. If you didn’t use a good photographer then you may have lost your connection with the viewer.
4. After reading the photo and having some sort of emotional response, what do you want the viewer to learn? What’s your message? What’s the takeaway? Hopefully you thought out the photo beforehand and used a good photographer.
Earn attention -> provide useful information -> create emotional response -> involved viewer = build trust and enhance your brand value.
Do you notice how important a good photographer is for your business marketing?
Young people, particularly teenagers, often want to look older, while as adults, many wish to appear younger.
This paradox of age and appearance has been explored in literature, notably by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1922 with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. In this tale, a man ages in reverse, born looking like an old man, he becomes progressively younger until his death as an infant. A 2008 film starring Brad Pitt loosely adapted this story.
Time, however, only flows in one direction. Any attempts to reclaim youth are fleeting and superficial.
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