Retouching is a beautiful thing.  It can remove a blemish, it can get rid of glass glare, it can diminish the wrinkles you have spent years giving yourself.  Notice I used the word diminish.  Not completely remove.  You’ve earned those wrinkles from years of hard work, laughter and in some cases worry.  They define your face and who you are.  Now I am not saying they should not be softened or toned down, just not completely removed.

In today’s digital retouching world there is a new phenomena called the “Barbie Effect”.  It is where every wrinkle, pore and imperfection is removed leaving the person’s face to look like a Barbie doll instead of a real person.

Many people will say, fashion magazines have been doing heavy retouching for years.  Very true.  They’ll air brush 20 lbs off a model or completely remove the bags that exists under a person’s eyes.  But the purpose of a fashion magazine is to sell an idea not reality.  You can explain that your 12 year old daughter.  But how do you explain it in a local magazine?  Or in your family portrait? Or business portrait?  It makes kids, especially young teenage girls – feel like that Barbie Doll effect is reality.  Causing many young girls today to strive for the perfect look – which is not reality.

I recently found a blog called Digitally Beautiful (http://digitallybeautiful.blogspot.com/) that shows the original photo and the after effect of some serious photoshop work with celebrities and fashion magazines.  You’ll be shocked to know the “Dove – Real Women”, campaign was retouched by one of the premier retouchers of fashion photographs.  If the campaign was suppose to be real women, retouching should not have been needed.  Since there is no before and after we will know what is reality and what is the image Dove wants you to see.

So when has retouching gone to far? Removing a blemish, softening a scar so it is not prominent, removing the shine caused by a person with oily skin.  Fine.  You should see pores, you should see laugh lines in the corner of a person’s eyes, you should see freckles.  All of these things are what make up your image of who you are and how people see you.

In today’s world, image is everything.   Let your image and that of your family be the real image of who you are and not some fake reality caused by photoshop retouching.

Next week – Ode to a Photographer.

We are super excited by what you can do with photographs now a days.  There are so may programs out there to help you make great photographs and create fun pictures using free or inexpensive software like Photoshop Elements, Picasa, iPhoto (for my Mac friends) and Picnik.  But just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

Wait – didn’t I just say I am excited about what you can do with a photograph?  With A photograph is the keyword.  Not every photograph and that is the twist.

I know the current trend of “over saturated” or “bright, poppy color” as my friends call it looks cool in a photo, but it should be done for a single picture as something fun and not every picture you take.  Just imagine, 10 years from now your child will need a picture of themselves for a school project and all you have is these over saturated photos.  You might get this question from your child “Mom (or dad), when did Gainesville come under a nuclear attack?”

Another popular trend in filters is the old photo look.  We do restoration at the studio and get people bringing in precious photographic memories from the 60’s & 70’s so we can restore the color.   Again, this is good to apply to one or two pictures, but it should never be done to every photograph taken.  And it should not destroy the integrity of a well-lit & exposed photograph.

So what am I trying to say – EVERYTHING in MODERATION.  Make sure when you are taking photos or having them taken for you by someone else that you make sure to get straight natural color photographs as well as the ones with some special effect done to them. Photographs give us the ability to hang on to a moment in time.  Let that moment in time be a true memory and not something with a lot of fancy filters.  You’ll thank me in 10 years.

For many people the largest problem they have with photography is not know when it is okay to introduce artificial light, such as a flash.  I hear this comment all the time, “Flash looks so harsh, natural light is better”.  This is NOT true.  Using flash properly looks natural and gives an image life.  To better understand what I mean, let start by talking about what natural light really is…

Natural light can be defined as what ever light falls on your subject.  It can be beautiful and it can be super ugly.  And the really issue is to know when to use it and how to use it.

Let’s look at a picture using natural light and adding flash.  I have to give a huge thanks to Erin Sellers – who let us use her pictures for this example. Erin is a client as well as a student who took our “Taking Better Pictures” class.  She was proud to show me that she knew when to turn the flash on and when not to.  Great job Erin!

Photography can be defined as the sculpting of light.  Without light, there is no picture.  With bad light there is a bad picture.  But with good light, it is a memory you can cherish forever.  Whether it is natural or artificial, using good light for your pictures is an important part of good photography.

Next week…Filters, fads and trends.

Okay, so for the last few weeks I have been talking about what makes a good picture.  Most of my examples of bad photographs have been from other photographers.  Many people may be asking why?  Do I never take a bad photograph -of course I do!

The difference, if I have the wrong setting on the camera when I take a picture I delete it.  Then after I have downloaded the card I immediately get rid of anything unacceptable before I back anything up.  In short – I THROW BAD PHOTOGRAPHS OUT!  A bad photograph – is not worth wasting my time on.
I have images where the flash didn’t fire, the light bounced wrong, it is over exposed or under exposed because I had the wrong setting.  All of those things happen to me, I just don’t keep them.

Also, how do you ask someone you know – can I use your photograph for an example of bad photography?  I like making people happy and this series will help people see where there images may have gone wrong without being embarrassed.

Someone else asked me why I don’t photograph bad examples for the blog series.  After all I am a photographer.

To really show you, I’d need to have friends and clients come in to the studio and spend hours making bad pictures.  Plus, how do I say, can you come in so I can photograph your child or family badly.  I don’t think people would be lining up outside my door to help.

Here is some examples of my bad photographs-

A good photographer know what to keep and what to throw away.  A good photographer is not going to use filters or spend time in Photoshop trying to fix an image that is badly exposed.

See I am not perfect, but as a professional I know when to keep an image and when to throw it out.