Week 4: Image Retouching

This week are going over image retouching. We will be looking at different images to assess what can be done to improve them. We will also talk about the different audiences for photography and what degree of retouching suits each. Fashion and beauty retouching is much more in depth than the retouching that goes into a private portrait session. You must always ask what the needs of your client are. Also, a photographer must be aware of the rules that govern photojournalism. Look at the articles below to get an idea of what is technically allowed (NPR) and what is actually done:

Articles for reference:
Pixel Perfect
Pascal Dangin’s virtual reality.
by Lauren Collins
New Yorker, May 2008

3 Magazines Are Accused of Retouching Celebrity Photos to Excess
By ANDREW ADAM NEWMAN
NYT May 2007

L'Oréal Denies Lightening Beyoncé's Skin for New Ads
NY Mag blog, The Cut

One Gap Ad’s Tragic Photoshop Error
NY Mag blog, The Cut


Do you care if the photographs you see in your newspapers and magazines, or on the Internet, have been changed? If only slightly? If so, why? Click here to hear a radio show on NPR's Talk of the Nation on this topic.

In class, we will go over all the steps of retouching one portrait together.
Here is the before and after of an image we'll work on. It was taken by my friend, photographer Kelly Neal.



After all your basic retouching (cloning, healing, cropping, levels etc.) is done, follow these steps for skin finishing to achieve a airbrushed magazine finish. Click on this image to see the instructions: