The images on this page are all designed to be viewed by rolling the mouse over them; if they don't change, just give them a few seconds to load properly.

These images are just a few examples of the many different ways that photographs can be altered after a shoot to better meet a client's needs. If you have any questions about how retouching might be used to enhance your assignment, drop me a line.

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This first image in an example of beauty retouching. No model - unless one's sitter is an infant - has the kind of perfect skin represented in fashion photographs. How much one changes what the camera records depends on the needs of the client: sometimes not at all, sometimes a little, sometimes a great deal (and sometimes to the point of obliteration). This is a moderate treatment that retains some flaws to help avoid a sense of unreality; and note that the retouching techniques used here avoid the blurriness usually associated with more quick and dirty techniques.

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My client wanted to use this photo but said to me 'what a pity you didn't ask the man in the white jacket to move first' (of course, in a way they weren't wrong, but this couple had been a little reluctant to pose and I hadn't wanted to stretch their patience any further than necessary).

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The image below is an example of using Photoshop to bring an image closer to what our eye sees, rather than to create something unseen.

The right side of the split shows the basic, 'correct' exposure for the subject matter, which is the diners. Unfortunately, this has resulted in the conservatory ceiling being overexposed or 'blown out'. A second image was created (left) and the two combined.

This technique is often relatively straightforward, but this image has a number of detailed, awkward areas as well as problems arising from chromatic aberration (a type of distortion produced by camera lenses). As a consequence, the final, reasonably seamless image took several hours to produce.