Portrait and headshot retouching

How much retouching

Every photographer draws the line in a different place, so we ask you to draw it once and then hold to it. Most portrait work fits one of three levels.

We leave permanent features alone unless you tell us otherwise: moles, freckles, scars, tattoos and the shape of a face or body stay as they are. If a client asks for more, that is a conversation between you and them, and we follow the instruction you send.

Backdrops and studio cleanup

Paper backdrops crease, rolls show joins where two sheets meet, and a backdrop that was too narrow for a group leaves light stands in the corner. We smooth wrinkles, extend backdrops to fill a crop, remove stands and cables, and even out light falloff so the background is the same in every frame of a session. For headshots shot on location, we can replace a busy background with a plain one that matches your studio look.

Color and consistency

Skin color is where portrait edits go wrong most often. Mixed light from a window and an overhead fixture can turn skin green or orange in part of the frame. We correct to a neutral base and then apply your look, so the whole gallery matches. For team headshots, every person gets the same background tone, brightness and crop, including people added months later from a second session.

Headshot days and full galleries

A headshot day can produce a hundred selects in an afternoon. Send them as one batch with a list of names and the crops you need, and they come back named and ready to deliver. For family and event galleries, we can handle the color and exposure pass on the full set and detailed retouching only on the images you mark.

Questions