Sunday, April 18, 2010

Why I Photoshop

I think a lot of people have issues with the existence of Photoshop, and especially in the case of fashion / magazine photography and their unattainable versions of perfect people I can understand why.

But I edit photos, and I do use Photoshop. Not necessarily extensively, but sometimes I do create what Pat calls a "fake reality". I don't consider it that, though. There are a few different ways I use photoshop. One way is to create art - to make something on a canvas that matches a vision in my head, or in my client's head.

The other way that I utilize Photoshop, is to forgive the ever seeing eye of the lens. When you take a photograph, sometimes you see too much - more than you would notice if you were looking at the same subject in person. For example, if you were looking at me while I was taking my self portrait, you probably would not be focused on "Holy Cow - her eyebags are horrendous" or "Sheesh, she's got a lot of sun damage and freckles". Hopefully, you would be seeing me as a friend, a mother, a wife and a general all around nice gal :) I can transform what the camera sees, into what others see, and make an amazing image.

Does that make sense? Maybe I'm not explaining it well enough.

Anywhoozers - here's an example of pushing the envelope a bit...more in the style of fashion photography (but not *quite* as extreme). In actually, the original photo isn't half bad.....I had a TON of make up on....

Self Portrait 2010 - Retouched

Like I said...a bit extreme. I probably spent about 2 hours or so on this edit, where as a portrait touch up might only take about 30 minutes or less. I've been trying to improve my Photoshop skills and tools, and have been taking courses online - so what better way to practice than on myself! Want to know what I did here?

  • Removed stray hairs on face
  • Brightened eyes
  • Highlighted catchlights in eyes
  • Sharpened eyes
  • Removed dark under eye circles
  • Enhanced eyelashes & eyebrows
  • Enhanced hair highlights
  • Minimized bright spots on skin
  • Removed blemishes
  • Smoothed skin
  • Enhanced make up
  • Made a small smile from my weird half smirk
Extensive? Yes. Overdone? Perhaps....especially in the eye department. But you know what, I like it :) Its pretty. It makes me feel pretty - and if it takes a computer program to make myself feel pretty even for just a few moments, I'll take it :) I still feel like its the real me - so no false reality here, but its the best me that I could possibly be. Except for the smile. My mouth always does this weird frown thing when I try to close mouth smile. Its driven me nuts for YEARS!

What are your thoughts on retouching in general? I'm curious to know public perception!

1 comment:

dmf said...

i like slightly frowny karin better.