Retouching - A Touchy Subject
What is retouching?
Retouching is when you enhance a photograph making small alterations and additions. It used to be done physically by hand, but now we have computers and computers have Photoshop.
Adobe Photoshop was an incredible gift to the photography industry. It's one of those universally understood terms that has turned into verbs, like Google (to search for something on the internet). If you say you want to Photoshop something, you are saying you want to retouch it. This says something about how important photography and more specifically, retouched corporate photography, is to the headshot process.
Some people associate retouching with being a bad practice. It almost feels like a dirty word. It can be used to create something that doesn't truly represent the subject. It can be overdone. It can be used with or without permission to make someone look like someone they are not. But when used properly and with standards, it is a wonderful tool to make the best photographs even better.
As New York executive headshot photographers, we mostly do headshot photography, so for this blog post, we will focus on how retouching can help our human subjects.
We love good retouching not for it’s transformative powers, but how it can help our subjects look their personal best in their business headshots. We believe in using the least amount of retouching that can add polish and elevate our subject's outward presentation. People come to us wanting to look their personal best, not like someone else, and we happily use retouching as a final step towards getting this. This aligns well with why people hire us in the first place. They want to elevate their professional business portraits presentation and retouching is the best final step to achieving this. It’s the cherry on top of the perfect sundae.
Because retouching is a powerful tool we have a list of do's and don'ts that we try to stand by.
Our goal is to make you look your personal best
This is a clean up, not an overhaul.
We don't change anything significant about the subject's features.
We only change things that would naturally be gone within 2 months (i.e. blemishes, dark circles from a particularly bad night's sleep, glare on glasses).
Here are some of our typical focus areas:
Color correction – we will always correct skin tone or overall color balance. Color balance is everything so we have no problem correcting skin tone that is too much in one direction. If our light exacerbates a red-leaning skin tone, we are going to bring it back into balance.
In the original photo, left, the color temperature felt too warm/yellow. We balanced the color to a more true and flattering look.
Eyes – this is a big one and, done right, can add a brightness that will really elevate a corporate portrait. We will almost always lighten dark circles and soften lines around eyes. We never erase or remove these details. Erasure of specific details can make the photo look unreal and retouched. Subtlety is a must.
Above is an example of a portrait where we de-accentuated under-eye circles. The lines were not completely removed, but they were softened a bit.
Glasses – Glare on glasses can be a big problem and it is hard element to retouch, for which reason, we try our best to notice a glare during the photographic process. Should the best shot have glare, we will remove it in the retouching process.
There is some major glare happening for this gal and it is very distracting from what is otherwise a great looking and stylish headshot. Our retoucher magically removed that glare and turned what could have been a completely unusable image into an overall stellar photo.
Flyaway Hair – Flyaway hairs happen to even the best-coiffed subjects, especially in dry, wintery, or rainy locations. We add significant polish by removing these unruly strands of hair.
This subject is looking sharp in every way but in the executive portrait on the left, we noticed a halo of flyaways ready to be tamed. In the photo of the right, you can see where we removed those wisps, creating a smoother and more finished look in keeping with a professional business portrait.
Blemishes – We remove blemishes since they fall in the 'gone within 2 months' time period. It's a real bummer to do all the preparation for your headshot and then wake up that morning with a big blemish. With the click of a mouse we can fix it.
The above left is an example of a subject who had a combination of blemishes, freckles and other markings. We carefully removed the blemishes and left all other skin markings. The goal was to remove unwanted temporary markings and leave all of those gorgeous identifying elements that made her, her.
Clothing – We often take out distracting details on clothing, such as lint, spots and stains. Wrinkles or other fabric issues, is one of the more difficult things to retouch, so fabric and draping is something we pay very close attention to during the shoot.
We love the subject’s pose in this photo, but it caused his suit to pull around his upper arm. Take a look at the puckering of the fabric on both sides. We smoothed the area to give the overall look polish turning a pretty good photo into a great photo!
Mistakes Are Made
We love what retouching can do for our subjects, but, in our option, there are so many no-no's when it comes to retouching.
The number one mistake we see after New York business headshot photographers complete the photo, is that they or their retoucher overdoes it. They remove EVERYTHING, leaving the subject without any markings, lines, pores, etc. It looks otherworldly (not in a good way) and makes the portrait feel unconvincing. If a peer sees your photo on LinkedIn, they should recognize you when they see you in person. In our opinion, if the changes are too drastic, it can cause a lapse in trust. It’s also a good rule of thumb in understanding the experience of your retoucher. An untrained eye will do more harm.
Retouching – A Touchy Subject
Retouching is a sensitive topic. The goal is to make people look great, without pointing out or correcting issues that the subject never saw as problematic. Tricky, right?
It helps to know that your New York corporate headshot photographer has established guidelines that he/she will always address for his or her subjects. This way, people know we address those issues in everyone, not just them.
One particular rule has been very helpful for us in our retouching practice: If it will be gone in 2 months, we will fix it. If it is something more permanent, we will leave it. The easiest, most practical example: will remove a blemish, but we will leave a mole.
Because we are so very very careful about how far we will go with retouching, we are sometimes asked by subjects to take care of elements we saw as just fine. They might request a heavier hand at those bags under their eyes. Or perhaps want to de-accentuate a laugh line or two. We get it. We all see ourselves differently and if we can help someone improve the photo in a way that maintains integrity, we are happy to make those changes.
Retouching software is a wonderful tool that can make improving a photo quite simple. Like the best lights, the best lenses and the best photographers, it can be a part of the mix that is used to make the best photos even better.