With all our corporate headshot commissions in London, we offer free post-production work which includes retouching or as it used to be known airbrushing. Most post-production work is adjusting levels and making sure backgrounds are consistent and reformating files which is simply a process. However, when you come to retouching a headshot you are faced with more options and potential outcomes.
Clients are keen to have their headshots retouched but it is the degree and amount of retouching that is a grey area. We ask individuals to pick a favourite from approx 30-40 headshots and ask if they want a specific retouching done. It works well when they tell you exactly what to remove or tidy up. The tricky bit comes when they request that we retouch what we consider to be suitable.
Our stance with post-production work is that you should never be able to see that a headshot has been photoshopped. Subtle understated photoshop work and keeping the person recognisable to the original headshot. Some clients want the full works which can include removing double chins, making faces appear thinner, increasing lip sizes and filling in receding hair. It depends on the individual and how they wish to appear and the one thing we are careful about is to ask the person to compare each stage of the retouched headshot back to the original and not just to the last version we retouched. As if they come back with further requests to retouch an all ready retouched headshot then each time we do work it is moving further away from the original.
We enjoy post-production work on corporate headshots and with experience comes a better understanding of how to achieve the very subtle tricks just to freshen up a face without making it look unnatural and overworked. When commissioning a corporate photographer in London always ask to see their headshot portfolio and ask what degree of retouching has been done on the headshots. Clients will be committing time and money to the commission and it is important that the retouching is carried out to their liking as it is an integral part of the corporate headshot process and not just a free add on to be overlooked.
See our post on
Executive Headshots And Portrait Photography
