How far will You go in different scenarios?

[psoiree]

Hello Ladies and Gents,

at the moment I'm in the process of mastering my retouching skills to become at least decent pro retoucher to diversify my income. I'd like to open the discussion of "how much retouching is too much" in different scenarios/jobs to learn Your private opinions. The topic is - of course - a never ending story and this is why I'd like to invite You to the table.

Just grab some coffee, take Your time and enjoy the conversation.

How far would Your retouching go if Your client would be:

1. A big professional company - need the portraits for magazines like: Forbes, Bloomberg, Fortune, Wired or Inc.;

2. An NGO - need the portraits for general press purposes (could be anything from NYTimes to local newspapers);

3. A small company - need the portraits for their website;

Some of you will say - it depends on client's needs. Some would argue that we are the photographers/retouchers and we make a statement with our approach to photography as well as retouching. From my experience I can tell - I always "interview" clients about everything I need to know to nail the job BUT I'm the one who choose how far should the skin be retouched - should we stay with more "film" look or go to almost beauty level.

With this particular example in mind, I told the client that IMHO we should go with totally natural portraits, the ones that look like they were shot on Hasselblad and no retouching was applied. Now, would You - for example -
get rid of the bags under eyes or just retouch them slightly?

Also, give Your examples of limits one should no exceed in Your opinion, in these scenarios:

1. Commercial/Advertising/Sports
2. Beauty
3. Fashion
4. Business/Corporate
5. Famous/General purposes/Strong potraits

Mine would be:

1. https://www.timtadder.com/New-Work/36
2. http://www.lukaszpecak.com/thumbs/10...16r.5019-c.jpg
3. https://i.mdel.net/i/db/2017/7/733226/733226-800w.jpg
4. http://www.danwintersphoto.com/COMME...thumbs-caption
5. https://www.marcogrob.com/h4ur9mtfkg...a1c0rg16o634hp

(!) DISCLAIMER: By "retouching" in this post I mean SKIN TEXTURE + SKIN TONES + DODGE&BURN, not the overall look which always depends on the assignment

Paul

[Sabrina81]

Re: How far will You go in different scenarios?

I think you're trying to turn a visual problem into a word problem. It doesn't work. You can't adequately describe your editing of any image. You just have to show it.

As for the image you linked to, I wouldn't edit it, because it's a terrible photo. The focal length is too short, making the subject's face look bulbous and weird. It needs to be shot from a greater distance with a longer lens. (Unless, of course, the purpose is to make the subject look weird, such as for a magazine cover photo of a political candidate not supported by the magazine.)

[psoiree]

Re: How far will You go in different scenarios?

I think you're trying to turn a visual problem into a word problem. It doesn't work. You can't adequately describe your editing of any image. You just have to show it.

As for the image you linked to, I wouldn't edit it, because it's a terrible photo. The focal length is too short, making the subject's face look bulbous and weird. It needs to be shot from a greater distance with a longer lens. (Unless, of course, the purpose is to make the subject look weird, such as for a magazine cover photo of a political candidate not supported by the magazine.)

I see clearly You didnt get the point of the whole thread It was my intention to show this particular photo as an example as we dont talk about the photography as such. Would You tell Your client You wont do the job because You dont like how the photo was made? As You said - there could be a purpose in taking it this way (and trust me - I'm far from taking the ciritic personally, I know the photo is terrible!)