In this day and age, and the world that we live in, nothing is what it seems anymore, what we see in advertising is it really that your skin will improve if you use that product? Will your wrinkles disappear after 4 weeks, money back guarantee? I used to page through magazines in my younger days - ok ok, a couple of years ago and want to look as perfect as the ladies in the beauty spreads. They were gorgeous, sexy, and flawless. All of the above, I was lacking somewhere, but as the time rolled on, I found out that people made them look like that, if it's not the personal fitness trainer, or their private salon for hair and make up. There’s the photographer will lighting that will hide the double chin and make you look 10 years younger and if that’s not good enough, then they still get photoshop'd, "airbrushed" as some folk say, and luck was on my side and I had the opportunity of being part of an amazing team that was lead by an incredible master of tools, Trevor Behrens showed me the ropes to improving a photograph, not by making it look fake, but making it look great, believable and realistic. Not over the top, or under done. Thanks to his guidance and support I truly enjoy every day at work since I've start in the magazine trade... The down side, the deadlines and short tempers. The up side, is seeing the smiles on the faces of editors and art directors’ sigh of relief when they thought that something wasn't able to be done and you were able to perform a miracle and bring life to a photograph and bring joy to a picture.
This one goes out to all the ladies; the example above is my best friend Natalie Storey, and a fantastic stunning gorgeous model. Natalie asked me just to sort out a couple of her photos that a photographer did for her portfolio, he didn't retouch them at all, which is sad, cause usually, most good photographers do all the retouching before handing back to the models, there might be time that the lighting is not correct, or that the make up that the artist used was the incorrect colour, or there was a hair out of place, and the list of impossibles can go on. I'm not changing the way that Natalie looks at all, one request she had was to loose the freckles, what I did: I just reduced the shine on her skin, taking the blue cast out of the photograph, thought I change her eye colour for fun, give the background some punch to spice up the vibe, and presto, nothing major and Natalie still looks naturally herself.
I'll try and find an example of a photograph I put back together, that was torn apart and ruined, and presented back to the person as a stunning photograph as new, well almost.
Have a fab day, and take photos, have no regrets!
