How much skin perfecting is ok?

[kelleyrie]

I recently done a shoot with a client who had a few skin issues. Neither he or his wife vocalized any concerns about it but as a photographer I feel it's my job to make the client look like the best version of themselves.
So I did some spot healing and I wonder if it's ok...I wanted it to still look like him, just a bit more refined...
(no they aren't the exact same, I grabbed the wrong one when I was resizing)

[Rentham]

Originally Posted by kelleyrie

I recently done a shoot with a client who had a few skin issues. Neither he or his wife vocalized any concerns about it but as a photographer I feel it's my job to make the client look like the best version of themselves.

My rule of thumb is to remove anything that isn't permanent. The shot isn't about the subject's pimple, burn from the curling iron, etc. Deep acne scarring is a bit different though. In this case it's probably worth asking how much retouching they're comfortable with. I know it's a tough conversation to have.

[Matthias099]

I think you did a beautiful job making them look their best without changing them too much. Sometimes I shudder when I see retouched pictures and the people in it (mostly women) look like barbie dolls. There is nothing natural left anymore. You removed just some blemishes in his face and left everything else, like some scarring in his face, just as it is. I think they would be very happy with the result. (IMHO)

[kelleyrie]

Thanks you two.
I am one of those people who hates that plastic barbie face look so I definitely didn't want to go that far and I didn't want to remove so much that they felt self- conscious about what was done, either.

[BigFuzzy]

I think Mike's (Rentham) advice is what you should follow. Though I don't think you've gone overboard (in the plastic skin way), you have significantly changed how he looks by removing permanent features of his face (ie the acne scars).
I think he will notice this. Will he care, that I don't know, but it's why it's worthy of a conversation.

If he is offended, ie he sees them as part of who he is and you've said that's not good enough by removing them, you might have a very upset customer and as they say a pissed off customer will do your business more damage than 10 happy ones. It's really worth asking as, to me, it's noticeable. And don't read into that as me saying you did a bad job, quite the opposite, but seeing the before and after the work is obvious and who knows his face better than him? He will see you removed the acne.

Good luck, this is NOT an easy thing to deal with.

[kelleyrie]

Yeah that's my concern, he knows his own face!
He didn't seem confident and definitely did not want to be in front of the camera (I also did this as a free shoot, to fill up my portfolio...if it matters)
Gah, I do not want to talk to him about this...ok I guess I need to gather my nerves

[SusanH1970]

What I've said to clients in the past is something along the lines of "I do very basic editing to all of my portraits. Is there anything in particular you'd like me to do on yours?" I've had people say "Oh, can you slim down my chubby cheeks a little?" Another woman wanted me to get rid of a scar on her son's face. When I did, she ended up asking me to put it back because it "didn't look like him".

Approaching it that way and leaving the answer open (as opposed to saying "Do you want me to photoshop out your scars?") is a much easier and more tactful way to handle it, IMHO.