A common question I’m asked by clients and other photographers alike is, “What does your retouching
involve?” Although each and every image is assessed and retouched on a case-by-case basis, my answer
to this question is “My retouching involves whatever the image needs for me to feel that it’s
finished.”

“A photograph is not an accident, it is a concept” as well as, “You don’t take a photograph, you make it.”
- Ansel Adams

I love those quotes and I couldn’t agree more. After film photographers shoot a picture and bring the negative into a darkroom, a completely new process begins that involves dodging and burning, filters, paper choices, and development processes to achieve the final print. This same kind of care and follow-through should be happening with digital photography. People don’t expect to receive a “Mona Lisa” from a caricature artist at the carnival, so how would you expect to get a masterful portrait from a photographer who doesn’t finish his/her images once they come out of the camera?

Snapping my shutter is merely part of a long and thought-out process. I envision my final image as I compose it during the shoot, then create the camera settings, subject placement, and exposure to make
that image possible in the end. I love my digital darkroom, and it’s purpose is to help bring the image in my mind’s eye out and onto my screen, and then on to be seen by everyone else.

I hope this has been insightful into why I feel that post-production is so crucially important and standard on all of my shoots. Photography is a process, and my clients deserve to see and experience the end result.

***********************************************

Finishing an image through retouching can have many different meanings and methods, and for a lot of
different reasons. To give an example of my case-by-case basis, I’ll provide a few sample images
below that I’ve recently finished:

Perhaps I’m just trying to achieve the right contrast and color:

I could want more emphasis on the subject instead of the background:

Maybe I want to focus on a subject’s features, and minimize flaws:

Does the image just need a little boost?

…or do I want to tell a deeper story?