One of the reasons you hire a photographer is to represent you in an authentic way and make you look your best. I'd love to share with you what I offer in regards to photo retouching. I usually speak with my clients and talk with them about how much they want their skin retouched. Some people want to be au naturale and others want the full service!
This is me! Most clients probably wouldn't want me to blow up their pictures and point out these areas, so I decided to use myself.
Photo 1: Totally unedited, just raw picture.
Photo 2: This second photo is my personal photography style that I use on my photos, but still no touch-ups or enhancements to the skin.
Photo 3: This third photo I removed spots/scars from my skin and slightly enhanced the color and depth of my eyes.
Photo 4: This photo has spot removal, eye enhancement and skin-softening (what some people refer to as airbrushing).
Photo 5: This final picture has spot removal, eye enhancement, softened skin, crows feet softening and brightening under the eyes.
Here's a side by side of photo 4 and photo 5 so you can see the changes to the under eyes and crows feet.
Here is photo 2 and photo 5 (the original vs final).
There are some photographers that do much more than this. But personally, this is as far as I will go. I understand *enhancing* but think too much is almost like false marketing. I offer skin retouching at no cost to my photography experiences.
I think how far you want to go with skin retouching is something you should consider closely when representing yourself to your audience. At the point I'm at in my life, I really want to present my audience with an accurate view of who I am. Additionally, I want to unconditionally love and embrace myself exactly where I'm at so I choose to not do more than spot removal for my photos.
So next time you book a shoot, talk to your photographer about the level of skin retouching you're comfortable with.
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