Ethical question? re: boudoir & retouching

[jowensphoto]

If balance is decided - go up, not down....

This is good advice. I went the other way. Will rework following this tip

 

[jowensphoto]

where is Jessica these days anyway?

Here. LOL.

 

[runnah]

Man I was expecting some heavy ethical quandary.

Even them out, if she gives you guff knock over her mailbox as you drive away.

 

[TCampbell]

If these images are intended for private use then I don't think there's an ethics issue. You mention that in some shots the difference is noticeable and I might argue that it can still be noticeable at a subconscious level. If you do a senior portrait and the person has acne, the client is generally hoping that you will magically make that acne disappear in the final product (and we did this even in the days of film... when it took more effort to fix.) The point is... people want to be viewed as attractive in the final product.

It's somewhat well-established that most people don't have symmetric faces... one eye or ear (or both) are higher than the other and if you were to take a straight-on shot, cut it in two down the center of the face, and then flip (mirror) one side over the other -- with a bit of transparency (opacity at 50%) then you'll notice the eyes and ears don't match up.

What's more interesting is that much of the time if a person is looking for the symmetry they may not notice that the face isn't really symmetric -- not at a conscious level. But when they show the "real" face vs. the "photoshop'd" face (one side mirrored onto the other) then test subjects will claim that the person is "more attractive" when it turns out they were mathematically symmetric. This seems to be true even though the test subject doesn't claim to notice the asymmetry at a conscious level - it seems there brain does notice the difference and makes a subjective judgment in the attractiveness of the person based on their level of symmetric perfection/imperfection.

Throwing away all of the "ethics" around the edit or the idea that you are somehow manipulating the mind of the person viewing the image... the tests seem to indicate that if the symmetry is perfect then a person viewing such a photo will believe the person is more attractive as a result of the symmetry. And since the client is generally hoping to be portrayed as attractive, then they're probably happy to have you apply the edit that achieves that result.

 

[randymckown]

Ask yourself .. Could I have posed her differently or used another lens, camera angle, etc. that would have corrected the issue at the time? If yes, feel free to modify her. If not and what you want to do is essentially perform digital cosmetic surgery .. get permission. The client might not want you to. It's best to ask these things before during a pre-consult. It's also best to word things carefully .. for example you ask "Do you have any body modifications that you want made in Photoshop or do you want to be 100% natural?" .. not .. "So I notice your boobs are really off. You want me to align and balance those girls in Photoshop for ya?"

 

[PersistentNomad]

I would say that retouching and re-shaping is within bounds, provided it still looks like her. I had a client that we photographed and there was this one roll that we really didn't see when we were there "live" and shooting, but then once we were in post process it was way obvious. So, we minimized it and it looked more natural and like how the client looks.
So, my advice is if it makes it look awkward and not like how you see her in real life, adjust. If not, then don't.

 

[photo1x1.com]

When talking to our clients about retouching, I always tell them that we retouch the pictures to get them how we see the client. Cameras are incorruptible, the human eye is not. Very, very often different eye size, a crooked nose, etc. are much more visible on pictures, than in real life, because usually you don't stare at somebodys nose, boobs, etc. But with a picture you can and you will stare, Imperfections attract the eye.
So I'd retouch it, especially if it's not as visible on all your other shots. Maybe your friend hasn't realized a big difference by now and once she sees the unretouched image, she might find it more disturbing.
Just my 2c.