It's really crazy what we can do with our images in this day and age! If you can dream it up then it can be done. It takes practice learning the various tricks and it also requires developing a sense for when to keep going and when to stop. We've all seen the picture where the digital artist just went way to far. When you overdo digital retouching, you end up with people that look like mannequins. "Too far" is a matter of taste too and not something that everyone agrees on. Some people disagree with retouching as a whole.

Like everyone else, I have my own ideas about how much is too much. My goal is to make you look just like you, but on a really great day. I would never want someone to see the image and make a comment about it. It needs to look natural.

Today, I thought I would show you a pretty typical example of the kinds of things we do to my images. Here is an image straight out of the camera with NO retouching or cropping.

Overall it's fine but there are a few issues that we need to address.

The biggest issue was how the woman's earring looks like it is attached to the man's nose. That had to be fixed for sure! I removed the earring completely. Next, I removed some of the stray hairs along the man's neck above his collar. I also removed some stray hairs on the woman's face between her hairline and eyebrow. I also cleaned up the stray hairs right where the tops of their heads met. I removed the doorknob hole on the doors in the background as well as another dark spot. Then I removed the second catch light in the little girl's eyes and brightened the irises very slightly to show off their pretty brown color. I used a filter to smooth the skin tones overall. Lastly, I finished it off by adjusting the crop. Here is the final version:

I know that some of these issues were small and I could have let them go but I definitely think the details matter. I think it is part of what people are looking for when they hire me to create photos for them. I like how the little bit of polish makes the message stronger and allows your eyes to move around the image without hanging on little distractions.

What about you guys? Do you have any opinions on how much is too much? Do you have any before and after images that you would like to share? If so, please leave your thoughts and links in the comments sections below. You can also add your images to my Monday Lesson Flickr Pool. We'd love to see them!