SHOULD THE PHOTOGRAPHER
PHOTOSHOP YOU?

Key takeaway: Yes. Professional retouching evens skin tone, removes temporary blemishes, and polishes the final image while keeping you looking like yourself. Good retouching is invisible. You should still look like the person who walks into the meeting.

After 14 years of shooting headshots in Phoenix, I can tell you retouching is part of the job. Not the loud kind that turns you into a different person. The quiet kind that catches the things you stopped noticing in your bathroom mirror years ago.

Inevitably a huge zit will show up the day of your photoshoot. A stray hair across the forehead. Shiny foreheads under my studio lights, which happens every session. These are the things I'm fixing while you're at home wondering what I'm doing.

The goal of a headshot is to look like the best, most rested version of you. Not a magazine cover. I edit toward that line and stop.

What do editing and retouching mean after a headshot session?

What kind of retouches can your photographer make?

Skin Retouching

I even out tone and remove temporary stuff like a blemish or a shaving cut. I don't touch wrinkles, freckles, moles, scars, or anything else that makes your face yours. If a client specifically wants more than that, we have the conversation before I start editing.

Teeth Whitening

A subtle whitening pass. The goal is to remove the yellow cast from indoor lighting and bring teeth back to the color they actually are when you look in the mirror. If your teeth end up bluer than the whites of your eyes, the photographer went too far.

Color and Exposure Editing

Studio lighting usually reads warmer than reality. Color correction brings your skin tone back to natural across every screen the image will end up on, from LinkedIn on a phone to a printed business card.

Stray Hair Removal

Flyaways at the top of your head. Hair that moved between frames. On women's headshots this is probably 80% of my retouching time, just chasing stray hairs out of the frame.

Levels of Retouching

Different career paths and industries may require different levels of editing and retouching:

Knowing when to stop during the editing process

The hardest part of retouching isn't doing it. It's knowing when to put the mouse down. The single biggest mistake new photographers make is over-smoothing skin until it looks like plastic. Once a viewer notices the editing, the headshot has failed its job. Test it for yourself: if your first thought looking at the final image is "I look great," the retouching worked. If your first thought is "wow, that's a lot of editing," it didn't.

Common retouching mistakes to avoid

Importance of communication during the headshot session

Most clients don't know what level of retouching they want until they see options. Before the session, tell your photographer:

• Anything you specifically want left alone (freckles, character lines, scars you've had your whole life)
• Anything you specifically want fixed (an active breakout, a coffee stain that morning)
• Glasses, if you wear them (reflections are their own retouching task)
• Tattoos that need to be covered for work but kept visible for personal images
• How dramatic or low-key you want the final to feel

After I show you proofs, you can also ask me to dial the retouching down. I'd rather hear "do less" than have you feel like I went too far.

Questions to ask your photographer

The Bottom Line

A great headshot looks like you on your best day. Not a different person. Not a younger version. You on your best day.

When the retouching is done right, no one notices it. They just see you, looking sharp, ready to be hired.