How do you handle your portrait retouch/photoshopping?

[CallibCarver]

At the risk of opening a can-o-worms, I'm curious how everyone feels about retouching/photoshopping their portraits (boudoir, senior pics, casual shots, etc.). That is to say photoshopping or retouching like magazines do with models, or the some (not all) photographers do with everyday people. They remove every hair, blemish, they change the position of a hair on their head, and or whatever else.

I know that some of this is an extreme, but I'm just curious how people feel about it, and what all they do and or don't do?

Personally I want to photograph the real person. Now I'm not saying I won't touch-up the photo, but I'm leaving the person in the shot. Oh you've got a pimple, sure I'll take care of that, but I don't like to make the person "perfect" or what have you. There is so much that can be done there isn't a way to properly describe what I mean. Rather at the moment I can't properly describe it.

All that being said thoughts, your personal style, or preference?

 

[sscarmack]

I use Lightroom for 90% of my work, including basic blemishes.

For extreme acne or extreme editing, I go to Photoshop.

I like the technique "Frequency Separation".

 

[tirediron]

I use LR for "heavy lifting"; exposure, WB, colour-correction, etc. For most actual retouching I move to PS and generally remove anything that isn't normal (acne, cuts, bruises, etc). I generally slightly reduce wrinkles and skin porosity, but avoid the "plastic doll" look like the plague.

 

[Buckster]

It depends on the purpose of the photo, and on what the client wants, when it comes to any suggestions I might make to them about retouching. Bottom line though: I do not limit myself or the client in any way when it comes to the subject of retouching.

My camera is not a copy machine for capturing "the real". Frankly, I don't even know what "the real" is, considering the hair, makeup, clothing, background, props, lighting, lens, aperture, ISO and shutter speed choices that all alter the image before the shutter even gets clicked, let alone the choices that can be made afterwards, in post production.

My camera is a tool that I set up with various choices and use to capture a starting image, which is just one step in an artistic endeavor between myself and my client to produce a final image they're satisfied with. How much the final image resembles the starting image, or doesn't, is no concern of mine at all.

 

[JustJazzie]

Women wear spanks, push up bras, makeup and professional hair to their portriat session. They don't generally use those things every day. I don't see how adding a little Photoshop is any different.

Cameras are harsh. The pick up every pore, wrinkle and blemish that no one would generally notice in real life. I'm all for smoothing those things out. I'm not saying I airbrush every picture like it's going on a magazine cover, but I do retouch almost all my portraits.

 

[webestang64]

I feel just wonderful about it, I use my skills as a retoucher to have a second income. But I only retouch to the point it does not look retouched, unlike the smooth, as I call it, "TV Guide Cover" look.

 

[dennybeall]

If the client wants it - they get it. period.
If it's work I do for me then I'll fix things that stand out like a blemish or a light pole coming out of a head.
Also, sometimes folks stand in a funny way and cause a bulge on a hip area or the lower part of an arm is hanging unnaturally. Those things I'll fix.
Mostly, I just remove the "EX" from the wedding photos or the ex-wife from the family photo when son and new girl friend are visiting his folks in Florida.........

 

[SoulfulRecover]

Im pretty light handed when it comes to editing. Some basic blemish removal, a few stray hairs, lighten the eyes a little, whiten teeth slightly and that about it.