Re-Touch

I recently got a great question from a bride-to-be.  She asked what touch up, or retouching or something of that nature meant. Why didn't I think of that?  Anyway, here's my answer:

Touch up can be a variety of things but, for me, it is the practice of making good photos better.

Basically, I use software (Photoshop or a product called Lightroom) to make sure that the pictures are straight, cropped correctly, lighten or darken, color corrected (light is funny, inside lights are often very green or orange, that can be partially corrected) or many other things that a photographer can't always get perfect in the heat of the wedding.

That's particularly true for photojournalistic style photography where you are not directing people to the perfect light and position. Most of us (photographers) prefer to get it right "in the camera" but, sometimes some wonderful is happening and you just have to take the shot.

Beyond that type of retouching, there is another whole realm of 'beauty' retouching where the photographer can de-emphasize physical features (a blemish) or hide an ugly feature (stain on a dress) using the same tools.

Typically, the latter costs extra due to the time involved . . .  I do it for a select number of photos that are important - like your portrait.  

Here's some "before" and "afters" examples:

Anna & Noah - a quick snapshot that Council (aka Dad) requested - cropped tighter, lighten, straighten slightly & a tiny bit of 'smoothing'...

Emily & Skip - shot just as the ceremony started and I was being ushered to the back of the church ("no photography allowed!").  However, Emily looked so great, I had to grab a shot.  It's cropped tighter and color balanced...see anything else?  Well the boutineer on Brian's jacket just had to go....

Generally, these kinds of touch-ups are to be avoided but when the picture is more important than perfection, it's worth the effort.