The business of photography and retouching
This business portrait (above) has several problems. The top-half of the head is overexposed, the lower hair is underexposed, the hair is a little messy, the teeth are a bit dark, and the eyeglasses are too low on the nose which puts the frames too close to the eyes.
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The original portrait (above) is a mess. The white shirt is very overexposed, wrinkled, and distracting. Big reflections in the eyeglasses obscure the subject’s eyes, and one eye has an odd, extra catchlight. The background is too bright, poorly lit, and wrinkled. On top of all that, the pose looks awkward.
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A wide-angle lens in a small space always means distortion. This distortion can happen in many ways. Vertical lines no longer appear vertical. Horizontal lines slope to one side. Objects in the background appear smaller, compressed, and farther away than they really are. Objects in the foreground appear bigger and longer.
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Exterior photos often need corrections for exposure, colour, and contrast. Sky replacement is another common retouching request.
When photographing buildings or architectural structures, vertical lines must remain vertical. Tilted verticals make a building appear as if it’s leaning or falling backward and this creates a distracting and unprofessional look. No architect, builder, or real estate agent wants to showcase a crooked property.
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We all know that retouched portraits are everywhere: most advertising, fashion magazines, entertainment magazines, billboards, Instagram, LinkedIn profiles, and many business headshots. Sometimes the retouching is very subtle and sometimes not. We may criticize the retouching of portraits, but research shows that we’re still drawn to them. Why?
The answer lies in the neuroscience of beauty. The combination of psychology, biology, and visual perception reveals just how deeply our brains are wired to respond to certain aesthetic cues.
Even with all this retouching, the person’s appearance is not perfect, and that’s intentional.
“Chroma keying” is a common technique used in photography and filmmaking for replacing a background with another image. “Chroma” means colour, and “keying” is the process of removing that colour—usually green or blue.
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Retouching the beer bottle (above) required a second photo from which the label was copied. This technique—copying elements from another photo—is common in retouching. Ideally, all necessary details are copied from the original image. But when elements are missing or unclear, using one or more secondary photos becomes essential.
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