Retouching Headshot to Show Your Best

Compare two images in the panel above, the same shot before and after retouching.

Custom retouching is essential for the modern audience

Just like a perfect dish is always prepared from the best and freshest ingredients in skilled hands, a perfect headshot starts with a perfect in-camera image. During the studio photography sessions, we pay close attention to details such as makeup, hair styling, expression, lighting work, and camera angles to capture images that are as perfect as possible in camera. This is, however, only analogous to the best and freshest ingredients, and not the perfect end product.

Modern people are so used to seeing a better-than-reality portraiture that perfectly captured reality is often not good enough. Headshots for commercial use, such as business headshots, glamour shots and creative professional headshots are prime examples.

Two pictures above depict the difference between the "reality" and what we are used to seeing. The unedited picture was taken with our usual setup for business headshots, and this picture looks good, but only until you see the edited one!

During editing, we pay close attention to the following details:

  • skin should look soft and healthy tone
  • hair should look crisp
  • eyes look lifelike
  • blemish and imperfections should be diminished
  • clean up other details for clear-cut look

Some people may think that Photoshop can fix almost any faults in the image, and there is no need to spend effort in taking the perfect in-camera images. This is entirely false. The best, natural looking results are almost always produced from best raw image with the minimum of editing. It is true that there are many editing techniques that can be used today, but what is less known is that the heavier the editing, the less naturally the image may look.

 

Note: casting headshots (theatrical, TV, commercial) should be retouched only very lightly, and we adjust the retouching to appropriate levels, unless the client has a strong opinion. This is because the primary purpose of such headshot is to show exactly how you look. While the retouching is applied very lightly, extra care is used during the shoot.