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Digital imaging enables Average Joe to do some truly amazing photo retouching. Software such as Adobe Photoshop allows you to easily zap zits, whiten teeth, wipe out wrinkles, remove fat, ditch scars, and well, just about anything. The ability to misrepresent yourself and others in photos is a real possibility. This has arguably led to some social problems in today’s society. Surely you’ve heard this before: teenagers everywhere (especially girls) feel increasingly self conscious given the flurry of perfect images thrown at them every day.

This issue was highlighted on July 16th when Jezebel wrote an article on how Redbook magazine retouched the hell out of Faith Hill’s photo. They even paid $10,000 for the original picture, and show it to you next to the retouched version.

Here’s a short film from Dove. With the help of makeup artists, hairdressers, and a Photoshop guru, the star of the video makes the transition from attractive but average woman to billboard diva. It’s an interesting little flick and I recommend you take the 70 seconds to watch (if for no other reason than seeing cool photo magic).

So this begs the question: should you use software to improve photos?

In my opinion, yes you should. Don’t get me wrong, I agree that today’s society is littered with perfect images that misrepresent reality. And I also agree that it’s likely having some negative impacts on our impressionable youth.

But the good news for me (and likely you) is that I’m no magazine photographer and I have no intention of becoming one. I take pictures of people for people. People pay me to take their pictures so that over the years they can look at them and think back to that time fondly. If I don’t retouch photos, every time they see their picture, they see defects. This subtracts from the joy they get by looking at the pictures. If they don’t get any joy, then what’s the point in having pictures?

Many people hate seeing themselves in photos, and anything I can do to make that process a little easier is worth it. Some people are self conscious of their crow’s feet. Others their eye bags. Some have large scars that they would rather not print onto 11×14 paper. They see these things as defects, but they are what makes that person unique. So what do you do? Do you retouch defects out completely?

My rule of thumb is to remove any temporary blemishes such as pimples since they don’t define the person. Then the idea is to soften other defects to make them less obvious. Wrinkles stay put, but they’re softer and less noticeable. Eye bags: softer. Teeth go just a tad whiter. If the subject’s friends and family look at the picture and love what they see but can’t put their finger on why they like it, then you’ve done your job well. Don’t try to fool the subject, you’ll never slip one by them.

Of course if someone wants more retouching done on their photo, who am I to disagree? I am running a business, and if they want more, they get more. Simple economics.

In the coming months you’re going to start seeing a lot of really great tutorials on digital retouching techniques here on Sublime Light. You of course are free to do what you want with them and will need to make your own decisions about retouching. But before I start teaching all the tricks, I thought I’d give you a little something to think about.

Just for fun, here’s a great parody of the Dove film, transforming a model guy into a slob thanks to lots of beer, cigarettes, pizza, and pastrami sandwiches. Mmmm…beer. I’m going to end up just like him thanks to my love of beer!