It is my pleasure to be with you here today.   As we embrace what I hope will be an informative journey into Advanced Retouching, I thought we could start with a few personal thoughts.

The ultimate objective of Advanced Retouching is to have one’s work be invisible. If one’s work is obvious, the viewer’s experience is no longer with the photograph’s statement, but rather on the skill of the retoucher. This isn’t to say that one couldn’t see differences between the original and the retouched images. But if presented only with the final image, one’s work could not be seen.

 

Not all photos warrant the same degree of effort. For example, my friend Sylvia and I went on the 3-week long expedition to Antarctica, where I shot nearly 12,000 images. Without a doubt, Antarctica is one of the world’s most amazing places. But at 2 hours or more of post per image for Advanced Retouching, one has to be selective as to which images are truly deserving of such attention.

There are exceptions to this rule. If one is doing commercial work, every photo (or a large % of them) might be important. In those cases, one has to plan - and budget - for the time it is going to take to master the photographer’s vision and ultimately the viewer’s experience. Which brings me to my next thought....

 

Even if you are both the photographer and the retoucher, one has to rigorously prioritize. I have had the great privilege of watching master photographers at work. They instinctively know when a shoot is working, and can distinguish between good and exceptional work. What distinguishes Greg Gorman and Annie Libowitz from the rest (at least from me) is their ability to conceptualize in 2-dimensional space that which literally reveals the individuality of the person being photographed. I have seen many wonderful photos left on Lightroom's® cutting room floor, simply because the “eyes weren’t alive.” The point of all of this is that the very best photographers religiously use professional retouchers: they know better than most how the camera constrains their vision, and the objective of the retoucher is to help complete that vision statement. 


 

As a retoucher, I am not working in the realm of photo-journalism where the rules of post are carefully scripted. I consider my efforts more in the realm of commercial or fine art photography, where a vision is being communicated. In portraiture, that vision frequently comprises beauty of the human condition, and as such, I personally have a couple of rules of my own. Unless the job is for commercial purposes where the intent of the retouching is to sell the sponsoring product, I do not believe that one should ever modify a portrait subject such that the result reinforces negative stereotypes about portrait subject. What do I mean by that? How many times as retouchers are we asked to shed a few pounds or eliminate those wrinkles? Said differently, how many magazine covers are so over-the-top retouched that no human could ever achieve such levels of “beauty?”   (Is it really beauty?) 

My personal rules may include, for example, minimizing the contrast of wrinkles, but never to remove them. It gets back to having one’s work be invisible. I like to show my retouched images to people who know the portrait subject, telling them that the image has been retouched, and asking them to describe the nature of my modifications. If they cannot, then I have accomplished my task. Ultimately, I want the portrait client to go home with the photographer’s image feeling good about themselves and thinking, “Gee, I took a good picture,. ,As opposed to, “Yeh, I look so bad, they had to take a meat cleaver to my picture.” I see myself more as an artist and psychologist than as a literalist.

There is a downside to being known as a retoucher.  I have also experienced friends wonder what I did to their faces, when in fact I did nothing at all.

In future episodes, I will look at retouching equipment and will occasionally describe my technique. But since Patti Scultz is already doing such a tremendous job at describing the techniques associated with her retouching, I will focus more on the WHY’s and less on the HOW’s.

Before I sign off, one final comment. At times, you may agree or disagree with some of my techniques or comments. I say, GREAT. I know that my 5-year-old friend, Aidan, sees the world differently than I do. His art and photographs are his vision.  I am frequently amazed by his capabilities., and I love the fact the he could use the sliders in iPhoto® before he could read. I look forward to seeing how Callum, his 3-year old brother, will see the world through his camera. Isn’t photography awesome?

Thanks everyone. See you soon!