how much to edit… or should i say, to “not edit”

Feb 14

“can you fix my…”

“you can just edit that, right?”

photoshop has been around for 30 years - as a noun, but it’s become A VERB: “photoshop it”

We think of retouching as being a very modern topic, but photos were being retouched LONG before the program Photoshop even existed.

image manipulation dates back to the 1850’s.

I am a huge fan of all things OLD HOLLYWOOD GLAMOUR… and the photographer, George Hurrell. His ability to capture and create the glamour, allure, and celebrity of his subjects was unparalleled.

Photograph of Joan Crawford taken by Mr. Hurrell in 1931.

After the shoot, the negative was sent to professional retoucher James Sharp who spent SIX HOURS retouching it. Before Photoshop, a machine was used to backlight and vibrate the negative while the retoucher used a pencil to remove lines, wrinkles, and blemishes; resulting in blurred, smoothed ‘perfection’.

Isn’t it interesting how we look back on these beauties of yesteryear with their old Hollywood ‘filters’ that conveyed the illusion they were perfect… and we believe THEY were?

TODAY, THE PROCESS IS CONSIDERABLY EASIER.

Although I admire beautiful images and the many methods and layers of artistry used to create them; my take on the subject of retouching client images aligns with how I view many topics in my life…

Less is more

Perfection is an illusion

This is my personal opinion. It is the perspective I work from, have chosen to adopt as a core value in my business, and one I openly express with all of my clients to set a level of expectation.

I understand that everyone wants to look their best and I work to achieve this, for the most part through lighting, posing, expression, and attention to detail rather than extensive retouching.