portrait retouching and Airbrushing

[lonni]

I had an enquiry today about some portrait work and they wanted some magazine style airbrushing done, to smooth out the body, slim it down.

I siad no, i feel like air brushing is cheating or lying, even when i do portrait retouching i do it subtly. No super white teeth, glowing eyes or impossibly smooth skin, I still let the wrinkles show. I will however take out the majority of a clients acne on a close up.

So it got me thinking, retouching is not too far away from magazine style airbrushing, why do i draw the line?

Who here does airbrushing or would you do it if asked? What are your thoughts on the issue?

[candidrachel]

I agree with you. It's one thing "reducing" the lines and wrinkles and posing to hide the bits and pieces that folks don't like eg double chins, protruding ears, large nose etc but a completely different thing to create alien eyes and plastic skin, dayglow teeth and airbrushing to create a tiny waist lol!

I'm not a pro so can't comment on how I would react if a paying client asked me to airbrush to the max but I'm sure some of the others have had some requests!

[BigFuzzy]

*puts on flame retardant coat before stepping into this one*

The thing I think needs to be considered is the goal and intent.

If your goal is to capture a portrait as accurately and 'real' as possible and claim it as such, then yes, some of that post-production work can be considered disingenious.

If your intent is to do "fashion" and by fashion I mean the stuff that shows up in magazines/ads, not doing so pretty much means you will not achieve your goal and no one will hire you for that.

I believe that labeling all images that do this sort of airbrushing and slimming as being a "lie" or a "cheat" is not fully understanding the intent/purpose of the artists intent who chose to do this.

For you it doesn't work, for those photographers making a ton of money, doing it in an industry that requires that, it works quite well.

Also, what it seems like to me that you're more against is when people do that sort of work poorly instead of those that simply do it.

In the end, instead of simply slamming it for being a "lie" or a "cheat" I'm glad to see you're asking why others do it and the answer is, simply, because it fits their idea/image of what their work/art should look like. There is no right/wrong answer on this one, never will be as it's a stylistic issue as opposed to getting something wrong. I just think you'll be drawing unneeded hostility by those that do do it because you've called them liars and cheats without knowing what their intent is.

And to be clear, I don't do any of that stuff to the extent you describe, but not because I'm against it as some sort of scam, but because it doesn't fit my vision of what I want my images to be.

EDIT: Also, if your goal is to be a pro with clients, you need to be able to provide what the clients want, or be in a position to turn down the job. I CAN do that sort of work and WILL do it if that's what's agreed upon when we agreed to work together. But I have a feeling that you're also somewhat against this sort of work because you technically can't do it very well either? Me, I believe in knowing how to do it so that I can choose not to. Same goes with flash vs natural light, know how to use both so you can choose to not use one or the other.

[mshockley]

Thank-you Fuzzy! I really didn't want to get into this one, it feels way familiar to a recent thread about Photoshop use.
So, to respond to the question: I agree with Fuzzy, and also would add that I have done lots of re-touching if it is what my client is expecting. I will tell you right now, women especially like to look as beautiful as they imagine themselves to be! It sells prints and keeps the phone ringing....

[lonni]

Thanks fuzzy.

I guess my main problem with it was that she seemed to really hate her body and was eager to have some shots to send a "friend" she met on the net. I wont get into the fashion mags are evil and are selling women false body image ideas etc debate cause quite frankly i love those highly airbrushed couture photoshoots. They are works of art, in my mind.

I do prefer to capture real images, i do not edit my images a hell of a lot and do not use all the current vintage style tints etc very often, so this amount of editing is a little against my grain.

I also had a big problem with the fact that any poses and locations that would allow for a background that would make that amout of slimming possible just wouldnt go with my style. She didint want a studio shoot with white bg.