Sometimes I wonder about some of the retouching I see in magazines. There is some really awesome stuff out there. Images that have really had some great thought put into them right from the start. And I mean from the start with the creative director and not the retouching.

Every image has its genesis to go through, and it all has to start with the imagination. People DO get ideas and inspiration from others, but that original thought had to come from some where right? It has to go from one creative mind to another in order for it to work. Logistics always take care of themselves in the end, but creativity is usually underated, especially in the retouching world. I for one am nearly tired of hearing people say it was"Photoshop'ed" so it isn't really art at all. The computer did it. Hard to believe that it still goes on so many years after the ability to manipulate pixels came out.
Or hear celebrities pouting that the retoucher did this to me and it is false advertising. And this is true for male models as well as female models. It never ceases to amaze me that people forget why makeup was created centuries ago in Egypt, or why clothing never stops changing. People are constantly reinventing themselves for some reason.
But one thing these people have right is that the retouching is showing. You never hear anyone complain about really good retouching.

Why is that?

It's because there was a team of people that collaborated and made sure that something was created the right way. That the time was taken to go a piece at a time and NOT let time dictate how something should look. After all there are peoples careers at stake here. The photographers, the makeup artist, the hairsylist, the creative director.

The model.

Yourself.

So when I see some relatively bad retouching I have to wonder where it all began. Is it because someone decided that they could get it done cheaper with the $50.00 artist instead of the $350.00 artist? Is it because someone said that it could be done in a half hour and with 10 keystrokes instead of the 20 hours it should take? Or did someone decide that someone isn't likeable and therefore a class job isn't warranted.

I get a lot of emails from people asking me to look at their work, something that I am happy to do. And I critique it honestly and rather bluntly, but constructively. The people who are serious about learning the art of retouching always send me a revise and invariably it is better. Not because they neccesarily learned something from me, but because it was pointed out to them what NEEDED to be done. How to go that extra distance to make it better.

And that is something I have seen off and on over my career. The desire of people to go the extra distance(or lack of) to create art. Whether it be Beauty or creating imitation paintings using filters. Knowing what is wrong looking and what isn't is key to making it in the retouching world, regardless of subjectivity.

When you do your retouching think about what looks right and what is right. Will it really look awesome if you do something in 3 steps instead of the 10 you KNOW is needed?