Portrait Editing Ettiquette (for want of a better word)

Hi all,

Was up all night, and was quite bored, so trawled through boards and some old photos and started playing with photoshop, etc.


Did a bit of editing to a photo I took of a girl before (posted it on here before). I edited away pretty much most of her imperfections, in the form of spots, blemishes, etc.

Here's a quick before/after;





Full size:
http://photos4.media.pix.ie/17/87/1787A04F9F234381A68CF64AD5444C80-0000333410-0002267471-03890L-CB636751D36047AF9AE80ECEA6A40962.jpg



So I remember talking to Cagey on here, and I was saying that I didn't like editing people much as I felt it could be a thin line between complimenting and offending someone. Now; I do think the "after" looks a lot better, but I do wonder; if I had to have edited the photo like that from the start, and gave her that image, would she have been happy or sad.


So I'm wondering what others think? Should you leave the person be as they are? or is it a nice thing to get rid of those imperfections that people have (provided you don't go too overboard?

I've always felt that, as a fat, ugly prick, I'd be insulted if someone "fixed" me in photoshop, but looking at the images above, and their difference, i do think that the overall photograph is improved by not having those extra "obstacles" for your eyes to travel across?

melekalikimaka

its different for everyone, tbh if you have done a shed load of editing, and it looks good and the model looks great, you have done your job. I'm not mad on it tbh, and honestly its because I havent done enough, its expected by most models, all have requested it from me anyway, a degree of touching up (no pun intended). Problem is i'm not the greatest at it, and from experience from people in college... the 'purists' are usually the onces who can't. I've actively been tackling that recently tho... retouching is a skill, almost an art in itsself

Rainbowsend

I dont think there is anything wrong with cleaning up an image, after all no one likes to be seen "warts n all" a few spots cleaned up is ok, but I would draw the line at airbrushing I dont even like the skin smoothing I think it looks plastic.

Hugh_C

I do shed loads of editing, as Mel puts it, and I remove spots as a matter of course, they're pretty easy in pshop, and sometimes I remove moles, birthmarks etc - but I've had feedback once or twice - where's my mole gone? Put it back!

So yes, there's no hard and fast line for, uh, touching up I think the preferred term is retouching.

I use a plugin called portraiture in pshop, it's expensive but worth it for the kind of beauty/fashion stuff I do. It can give a plasticy look to skin if overused but I always fade it back on a higher layer to about 50% which allows texture through. You can see the results all over my Flickr stream if you're interested. See sig below.

H

squareballoon

i wouldn't take out moles but I would do a very light skin smooth if I thought the subject was going to feel bad about how their skin looked. Sometimes the super sharp lenses we use pronounce imperfections so it really just making the skin softer again. If you have photoshop and don't want to buy Portraiture try this method.
http://www.matthainesphotography.com/photoblog/archives/212

oshead

I try to go by the rule, but sometimes broken, if the mark is a permanent one like a mole then it stays. Unless asked to remove it. I use portraiture in photoshop. Well worth the spend if you have a lot of images to work on. I usually apply it with the very lowest setting and dial the opacity down to about half way.

Trying to not over-do any retouch is nearly always a challenge. Keep the skin looking real with texture, the eyes not too sharp and whites of the eye not too bright.

tommyl2010

i think it varyies person to person, 90% of people i do photoshoots with be it models or people that just want a few decent photos generally ask me can i photoshop them.

im sure there is people out there that dont want it, but i think the majority want to look perfect in a picture or there is no point paying someone to do it etc, you could just get a friend with a decent camera

Borderfox

Guy Gowan's retouching technique is the best I have seen, I have Portrait Porfessional and Portraiture and it leaves the way behind. One thing I would note when I retouch a portrait my girlfriend tells me to do more than I would be happy with

bullpost

If its fashion/beauty stuff then I supposed its expected, otherwise those imperfections are part and parcel of capturing the character of a person.

magicbastarder

i've never really bothered. i do take candid portraits of friends and family, but the only editing i'd really do is dust removal.

DotOrg

KKV wrote: »

I do wonder; if I had to have edited the photo like that from the start, and gave her that image, would she have been happy or sad.

THe truth is, if you only give someone the edited version of themselves, they'll look and go 'oh, what a great picture of myself'

if you give them the raw image, they'll generally either say, could you not do something about those wrinkles' and laugh about it

i have only been on the recieving end of this nce, in some wedding photos i was in, i could immediately see what had been done but obviously i like seeing an 'ideal' version of myself so i don't really mind.

In saying that, in 30 years when i look back at the pictures, i'd prefer the raw shots

so, in short, there is no right or wrong answer, you can only make some of the people happy some of the time, so just do what you want to do

magicbastarder

DotOrg wrote: »

THe truth is, if you only give someone the edited version of themselves, they'll look and go 'oh, what a great picture of myself'

if you give them the raw image, they'll generally either say, could you not do something about those wrinkles' and laugh about it

not everyone will react like that though, hence the quandary.

Mountainsandh

KKV that's a tough one, my first reaction would be to say : "don't retouch me !" but then, I bet you I would be much happier with a retouched pic if I didn't know, in other words, if it wasn't too obvious, and was well done.

But you know what's strange ? I have psoriasis, pretty bad, and my hands are covered, and of course come out really red in pics, like I had been burnt... it looks awful, and yet, it would be so weird to see a pic of myself without it, that I think I'd like to keep it there. We got a family portrait done a few years ago, and the clever photog had my hands mostly hidden in most shots, without me even noticing while the photoshoot was on. That's skill and professionalism for you.

smelltheglove

I would take out a spot, scratch, cut etc but not a mole, birthmark or tattoo. I would let them know I could do the others though in a nice way, in passing.

On myself, I remove freckles, and about half my body haha:D

Mountainsandh

Oh yeah, digital liposuction ! like ! like !

smelltheglove

Haha I call it thinify! A friend who couldnt make my 30th commented on my pic afterwards asking how did I lose so much weight, was I secretly dieting, I said no, secretly photoshopping, I had a jawline to die for, literally I would die trying to get that slim!

DK32

I would only remove very small imperfections such as spots & scratches.

9wetfckx43j5rg

Personally, the only photo retouching I do is to remove shadows under eyes, spots and shine. I wouldn't ever remove someones freckles, birthmarks or wrinkles, unless expressly asked to.

Personally I think the girl looks just as beautiful in the before shot as in the after shot. The after shot is not real, and has clearly been edited.

The best way in regards to etiquette I would say is to ask the person if they want if retouched before you even look at the photo. Explain to them what this invovles ie improving skin tone ect ect and see what they say.