Having Fun with Examples of Photo Retouching – Before & After

So I’ve had this idea for a while now.  Everyone asks me (especially wedding clients) what does ‘retouched’ mean?  It’s harder to explain than to show, so I’m showing you!

Who doesn’t enjoy watching make-overs, so here you go – three images that were significantly enhanced by retouching.  Please be aware, however, that this level of retouching is not common place (meaning most images actually only require more basic retouching only – just like a painting you can keep it simple or go as far as you like and it’s still a beautiful image) but these were really transformed in their own ways to convey a certain mood, and I’m very happy with the results.

This first image is from a Boudoir session I did with Sarah.  She wanted a retro feeling to her images and so we utilized her Dad’s beautiful Corvette and Sarah’s fab hair and make-up to create this image, but it wasn’t quite there yet.  I wanted to age it in post-production to give it a 1960′s feel.  I loved the end result.

This image was taken of my Step-Dad Steve this Summer.  I used late day sun to give it a little natural drama and it was a nice image as it was, but I wanted to really push it to the edge.  Several different techniques were used to produce the image below the original, which I think makes Steve look even more like a cool biker, and really plays off the nice hi-lights on his bike.

It’s Sarah again!  We totally went in the other direction (during the same shoot) and gave her a ‘ retro doll-like’ appearance (well, Sarah’s amazing hair and make-up stylist Nicole did).  I used fine retouching here on her skin and little pieces of fly-away hair (which can be tough to work with sometimes) to create the final image shown below.  Again, a cool throw-back portrait with an antique feeling to the final piece, which actually hinges on pin-up photography of the 1950′s or 1960′s.

I hope you enjoyed this entry – comments are always welcome!