I was under the impression that headshots should not be retouched that much. I was looking as Dennis Kwan's website and he has a retouching section: DK Retouching Examples So, is this amount/kind of retouching okay? Is slimming someone's face/body typical? I'm not trying to attack anyone...I really just don't know.

Put simply, retouching should enhance, not change a person. Thanks for posting that link. The link actually demonstrates subtle and natural retouching very well. Notice how the contours of the faces and pores of the skin are still left in tact. The images are just cleaned up a little and not altered dramatically. Eliniating shados under they eyes is fine. Eliminating crows feet- not so much. Notice on the brassy blonde female, the stray hairs and lines have been softened but not erased completely. As long as it still looks like YOU and natural, it's all good. Go online and look at hundreds of headshots. You will get the hang of it after a while.

Thanks miss stone-- that was very insightful. With my untrained eye, I thought some people's faces were actually thinned. But it's good to know that this is generally acceptable retouching. Thanks also for the suggestion of looking at tons of headshots; I've been doing that this morning and it's already helping. I appreciate it.

quote:

Originally posted by lisag1:
Thanks miss stone-- that was very insightful. With my untrained eye, I thought some people's faces were actually thinned. But it's good to know that this is generally acceptable retouching. Thanks also for the suggestion of looking at tons of headshots; I've been doing that this morning and it's already helping. I appreciate it.

I don't think you're just seeing things with an untrained eye. In a lot of these pictures, I noticed that he DID slim down some of the peoples' bodies and faces.

miss stone, I noticed that you mentioned subtle and natural changes were good, but would something like taking off body fat be okay? If you look on the first page...

actually, if you look all throughout his retouched pictures, I see that he took off quite a few pounds with a lot of them. I'm not really an expert on headshots, though, so maybe that's okay??

quote:

Originally posted by Courtney Cae:

quote:

Originally posted by lisag1:
Thanks miss stone-- that was very insightful. With my untrained eye, I thought some people's faces were actually thinned. But it's good to know that this is generally acceptable retouching. Thanks also for the suggestion of looking at tons of headshots; I've been doing that this morning and it's already helping. I appreciate it.

I don't think you're just seeing things with an untrained eye. In a lot of these pictures, I noticed that he DID slim down some of the peoples' bodies and faces.

miss stone, I noticed that you mentioned subtle and natural changes were good, but would something like taking off body fat be okay? If you look on the first page...

actually, if you look all throughout his retouched pictures, I see that he took off quite a few pounds with a lot of them. I'm not really an expert on headshots, though, so maybe that's okay??

Yeah but it's not dramatic- it's flattering and truthful. It's not something anyone would notice when the actual actor walked in the room after being called in from that shot. Photos often add weight and are unflattering for some people so a little bit of trimming I think is fine.

Again, nothing too dramatic.

Alright. That does make sense, and it's interesting to know, too. Thank you. [:

Hey guys!

I just noticed this post. Thanks for posting my retouching gallery!

I know the issue of slimming down faces, etc is a pretty controversial one, so I just wanted to put my retouching philosophy out there...

Retouching is important because a still photograph captures a face in all its detail. When you're interacting with someone face-to-face (or even just admiring them from afar) there's so much more to take in - voice, smell, mannerisms, movement, personality, etc. But when you look at an unretouched photograph, you have a single moment frozen in time, and it is purely superficial. Thus you will notice eyebags and stray hairs and wrinkles and blemishes that you probably would never notice on a person in-person.

People form impressions of a person within seconds of meeting them. You might not grasp a person's full personality right away, but your immediate superficial response as to whether or not they look nice or mean or gorgeous or cute or homely or tired is pretty immediate.

So when I'm retouching an actor's headshot, my ultimate goal is to present an image that is true to that first impression.

The last thing I want is for someone to walk into a meeting and have a casting director immediately say "This isn't you!"

So if I notice freckles or a mole or scar on someone's face while I'm photographing them, I'll leave them in the photo. If I didn't, then they can go.

If I notice that a client is on the heavier side...I might trim them up a little and adjust little things (extra rolls/armpit fat, etc), but I still want the photo to convey to the viewer that this is a larger person.

Similarly, if someone walks in and I think, "Wow. They are really handsome/beautiful..." (example: Dax, Aly) then taking a few pounds off, balancing their hairline, or giving their jawline a little extra chisel, isn't going to change their initial in-person impression on someone drastically. (Aly is 6'2" and when she walks into a room people NOTICE.)

Additionally, a percentage of my clients are corporate/wedding clients (for instance, "Santa Claus", Vitri/Felix) and for things like that where their photo is just being used for personal use or on a law firm's website/for speaking engagements etc, I have no issue with making a person 50 lbs lighter and the absolute best possible version of themselves - straightened teeth, perfect skin, tiny waist and all.

Sorry for the long winded-response. It's basically everything Miss Stone said in about 2 sentences, but I just thought I'd elaborate!

P.S. I haven't added stuff to that gallery in forever so look out for new additions coming soon!