Today, most people are aware of what Photoshop is. People generally have the ability to take an image and modify it on their cell phones. We have been modifying pictures in post-processing since film and now technology makes taking and modifying images available to just about everyone. Image modification is everywhere from commercial advertisements to your friend’s profile picture. Filters are a common way to modify images, they are everywhere. Maybe you even noticed a recent trend of Disney characterizing filters. I’ve seen these filtered versions of friends’ whole families lately.
So today I thought I would share what my retouching process is and my personal philosophy.
As I have developed the business and art of photography, I have also developed a philosophy of my post-processing. Some of my images require more editing than others and this is usually planned out in advance. Generally, I have worked to become better at capturing my vision on camera, but I do edit for creative purposes.
Post-processing can be a difficult topic to talk about, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s so easy and common to modify how we look in our images, but should we? Every time I am editing an image of someone else I try to ask myself, “What message am I sending?”. I don’t want to communicate that they need to be “fixed” in any way. I want to empower people to feel comfortable in their skin. There are three main categories of how I modify my images: Subtly adjusting color, exposure, and sharpness to harmonize and bring focus into the image; Modification of the subject or backdrop; and using or adjusting creative elements.
All of my images will have the first category of editing and most will have minor modifications of the subject and backdrop.
Examples 1 and 2 show this.
Example 1
Example 2
Occasionally I edit my images with creative elements. This is something that I usually have planned out before taking the image and keep in mind what changes I plan to make in a post so that I can capture the image in a way that makes the end result easier and better. In the example below, I used a tripod and kept my pose the exact same as I took images with me throwing the dress skirt and with the fan turned up to blow my hair. This made it easy to cut and paste the fabric and extra hair from other images and put them all together to create the finished image of the below example.
Example 3
My Philosophy:
As I mentioned above, I never want my subjects to feel as if they need to “fix” themselves to be as good as their images. I want to create images that make my subjects feel good about themselves. I have definitely been guilty of over-editing my images in the past, but I think that is part of the learning curve. Once you know that you can make significant changes, you really have to start asking yourself if you should. What is the intention of the image? Is it to create a piece of refined art? or is it to show the subject how amazing they are?
My process includes some discovery questions that help me understand how my subject feels about their body and being in front of a camera. So often, my subjects have something that they feel a little insecure about. It’s usually something that doesn’t even stand out to other people, but they see it in some kinda way. It’s important for me to know what these little things are so that I can adjust styling, posing, and lighting first. Often, I can make subtle adjustments that draw attention away from the area usually fixated on and drawn to areas my subject feels more confident about.
However, I also know that sometimes it doesn’t matter how amazing my subject is inside and out, if they are stuck on something, they may not even be able to see anything else. This is where communication really helps. I consider these things we get stuck on to be distractions, if all it takes for my subject to see how beautiful they are is to get rid of some minor distraction, then let’s do it! Can’t see how artistic your body shape is because of some simple and completely natural thing such as cellulite? Let’s delicately smooth it out then. Have a scar that you hate? I can easily remove it in editing in a way that will look natural and as if it just magically healed up. My goal is to show you all that you are art, if you need to get rid of whatever thing you always see to see that, then so be it. I’ll always first try to make you feel confident without any modification in post-production first, but I’ve seen this change the way people see themselves.
My general rule of thumb for modification is what I call “The Spa Treatment”, which essentially means anything that could look enhanced through a luxury spa weekend, I’ll adjust. That zit that popped up the day before your session doesn’t need to haunt you for years, it’s certainly not what your loved ones will remember about you. This approach commonly includes pimples, bruises, whitening teeth and eyes, and general smoothing of skin textures.
I personally feel that scars and wrinkles should be celebrated as part of what built you into the person you are now and don’t remove them unless it’s my subject’s one thing. Even still, my first approach will be to light it in a way that draws less attention, because maybe that’s all that is needed.
Although I believe that the true goal is for each of us to strive for unconditional self-love and to accept and embrace our imperfections. I understand that we are all on our own journey which isn’t a straight line and it’s nobody’s job to judge anyone on where they are in that journey. I only hope that your experience with me is a positive one.
If you have any questions about what I could edit, feel free to reach out or just keep the conversation going in the comments below!
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