retouching

Retouching Rejection

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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 and, at that price, the portrait must be good. So retouching shouldn’t 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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Wedding Photos and Retouching

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An example of basic retouching of a wedding photo. Retouching corrected overall colour, exposure and contrast, a few stray hairs were removed, facial skin tone was evened out, and catchlights were added to the eyes.

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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Turning Back The Clock

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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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Why Retouch Your Business Headshot

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Your business headshot probably* won’t be hanging in an art gallery but it still has to get favourable reviews. When potential customers visit your web site, your business portrait should imply that you’re confident, competent, friendly and trustworthy.

* Many of the early painted portraits you see in art galleries were, in fact, the equivalent of today’s business portraits. Those paintings were portraits of royalty, aristocrats and other distinguished people. The purpose of those portraits was to assert status and power. Today’s business portraits try to assert a kind of status – that of being a trustworthy business person.

Congratulations, you finally got a new business headshot done. Good for you and good for your business.

But is the photo ready to be displayed on your web site?
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Retouching Business Groups

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Probably not the best pose for a group of businessmen, circa 1890s. (Charles Milton Bell / US Library of Congress)

Retouching Business Group Photos

A company last week sent me 22 group photos of its employees and asked for a retouching quote. The photos were shot by a professional photographer whose name was in the embedded Exif data. A quick look at this photographer’s web site showed that she specializes in actor headshots and fashion/entertainment events.
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Retouching Wedding Photos

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Textile conservators uncrate Lady Diana’s 1981 royal wedding gown in preparation for a celebration of her life in Toronto, 09 December 2003.

This is another view-from-my-office photo.

A large portion of my photo retouching is fixing and polishing business headshots so the person looks their best. I’ve done some commercial retouching where the work was more technical than creative. For examples: placing images onto TV screens and computer displays, changing a company’s logo in its marketing photos, and adding drop shadows to various products. I also retouch photos of completed house renovations.
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Photo Retouching To Fix Bad Photography

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I just finished retouching another batch of business headshots. The customer appears to have hired a professional photographer. I say this only because the Exif data embedded in the photos showed that a pro camera and pro lens were used. But the headshots looked like they were shot by an amateur:

• The photos were shot with an off-camera hotshoe flash in a white umbrella. I know this because the catchlights in everyone’s eyes clearly showed the reflection of a small flash, the ribs of an umbrella, and a light stand.

• It was painfully obvious that no posing advice was given to anyone. Nothing but slouchy, sloppy, awkward poses along with some poor facial expressions. None of this could be fixed with retouching.

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