To fix, or not to fix

Nimai

Here's a shot of a girl at yesterday's swim meet. It's a candid shot (my favorite) but that often means conditions are not ideal. I had to get the shot while her pose lasted, and the other girl and object in the foreground had to be lived with. But, that's not my quesition here.

Would you have touched her eye-brow?

ORIGINAL:

Nimai

Processed
Here's how it looked after some Photoshopin'

ScottMcLeod

Yes.

That was a nice clean edit.

System

I'll be interested in hearing responses on this-

at what point do you whiten teeth, retouch skin blemishes, etc.-

at some point you are pointing out those imperfections by fixing them and possibly offending the subject-

I would just have to go by my intuition, which, when it concerns other people's sensibilities, is not too impressive-

ian408

I'd think if it was distracting, fixing it would be ok. But remember that
fixing doesn't always mean removing.

I'd probably fix that line that drops from the subjects left eye though.

Nimai

gefillmore wrote:

are pointing out those imperfections by fixing them and possibly offending the subject-

That was my basic concern- yes, we will see.
I often lighten teeth and fix obvious, transient blemishes, especially in teens.

ScottMcLeod

Nimai wrote:

That was my basic concern- yes, we will see.
I often lighten teeth and fix obvious, transient blemishes, especially in teens.

Ask though. Some "blemishes" may actually be beauty marks, etc...

firedancing4life

That was a pretty good clean up. It's not like you could just delete the whole thing.

Scott_Quier

My thought, for what it's worth, is the following:

• For photos that will be shared with the subject and, possibly, retained by them for a long time, I clean up the transient skin blemishes, stray strands of hair, whiten teeth, whiten the whites of the eyes, enhance/insert catch lights in the eyes - whatever it takes to make the picture more "valued" by the subject. An example: Last Thursday, I visited a lady who raises goats. The lady also invitied some friends and their kids to come and "help" feed the new born baby goats. One of the young ladies, a very shy High School junior, has some of those minor, transient skin blemished that most of us suffered with at that age. Before I offer to the parents the images I took, I will be cleaning up her facial skin.
• For photos such as this one, I would have done everything you did in post, except fill in the eyebrow, the concept being "it is what it is". The exception here, for me, would be if I knew the subject and I knew she did not really appreciate the break in her eye brow, then I would close it up as you did.

So, if I had taken that image and since I don't know the young lady, I would have left it the way it was.

Nimai

Scott,
I agree with everything you said. I feel kind of guilty, but what pushed me over the edge to decide to fill in the eyebrowe was the challenge to see if I could do it. That's a lame reason, I know.
Also as you mentioned, the descision is based on what the image is for. If it's for a magazine, "fix" anything and everything. If it's for the family or individual to treasure, then it is what it is.

Scott_Quier wrote:

has some of those minor, transient skin blemished that most of us suffered with at that age. Before I offer to the parents the images I took, I will be cleaning up her facial skin.

Would you (or they, I guess) mind if you posted a before and after in here, or is this forum too public?

Thanks.

Halliday

Leave it alone. Changing the eyebrow does nothing to make the photo "better."

Scott_Quier

Nimai wrote:

Scott,
I agree with everything you said. I feel kind of guilty, but what pushed me over the edge to decide to fill in the eyebrowe was the challenge to see if I could do it. That's a lame reason, I know.
Also as you mentioned, the descision is based on what the image is for. If it's for a magazine, "fix" anything and everything. If it's for the family or individual to treasure, then it is what it is.

Would you (or they, I guess) mind if you posted a before and after in here, or is this forum too public?

Thanks.

Sorry, can't do it. The photo is of a young lady, a legal minor, whose parents I don't know. In that circumstance, I don't post pictures without express permissions. Besides, the work I did wasn't that complicated or impressive, mostly just spot healing brush and some cloning. No big deal.

goodcrna

Senior Pictures

Scott_Quier wrote:

Sorry, can't do it. The photo is of a young lady, a legal minor, whose parents I don't know. In that circumstance, I don't post pictures without express permissions. Besides, the work I did wasn't that complicated or impressive, mostly just spot healing brush and some cloning. No big deal.

I took some pictures of my daughter for her senior portraits. She has asked me to remove some of the facial blemishes on her forehead and chin. I am not familiar enough with PS to do this. ANyone care to post a tutorial on this?

Greg

leebase

I have no problem with touching up portraits. But snapshots? Who has the time?

Lee

douglas

I like the eyebrow natural. I think it adds character, and plus anyone who knows her expects to see it like that. I do like how you sharpened her eyes in the 2nd. I think I would of sharpened her eyes like you did in the 2nd and left here eyebrow alone. Other than that the retouch in # 2 for this shot is a TAD bit over done for my taste but over all very good.