Skinsmoothing/PP on the girlfriend/wife?

[lvidmar]

I've done some shooting of my girlfriend, and I have on occasion taken the liberty to smooth out the skin in several of them. Was it a mistake to show her a before/after? It's not an insult to her, just trying to produce a more appealing image, ideally to pad my portfolio to do some portrait marketing. Also, she gets bummed out when I cull out photos of her (and as a photographer, it bums me out when a large number of my photos need to get culled out anyways)

How do you deal with self-esteem issues when doing this kind of thing? Just do your postprocessing when the gf/wife isn't home?

[JoeyBowman]

I've done some shooting of my girlfriend, and I have on occasion taken the liberty to smooth out the skin in several of them. Was it a mistake to show her a before/after? It's not an insult to her, just trying to produce a more appealing image, ideally to pad my portfolio to do some portrait marketing. Also, she gets bummed out when I cull out photos of her (and as a photographer, it bums me out when a large number of my photos need to get culled out anyways)

How do you deal with self-esteem issues when doing this kind of thing? Just do your postprocessing when the gf/wife isn't home?

Just do it, tell her thats how it is and you would do it to anyone. The few times I have photographed my girlfriend (who is also a photographer) she has taken it upon her self to do the editing to make her look the way she wants to :-p

[tuterz]

i've been trying to figure out how to make the skin smoother.. please give me tips.. im very new at this..

[pryan9]

i've been trying to figure out how to make the skin smoother.. please give me tips.. im very new at this..

I heard Neutrogena makes some nice lotion..give that a whirl!;)

[lvidmar]

i've been trying to figure out how to make the skin smoother.. please give me tips.. im very new at this..

I've been pretty happy with Aperture 3's skin smoothing feature, with edge detection. Can use a fairly large brush and make some broad strokes.

[Mark1]

How do you deal with self-esteem issues when doing this kind of thing? Just do your postprocessing when the gf/wife isn't home?


Depends on the girl. The more smothing I do for my wife the better she likes it! And will keep giving me the " What about this... can you do something about that?" Till I tell her to go away and let me work. Other women may be offended by the slightest fix.

[Octowl]

for the most part i think women would love to see a better image of them then what they actually look like. my gf just now got chicken pox i took a few pics edited out the "blemishes" and BAM made a happy gf haha

[Edbee]

I normally do the skin smoothing and do NOT show the original. In fact I've even put a tooth in the mouth where one was missing and no one has noticed. They all like the results with no questions. Sort of surprises me!!

[00silvergt]

You should post the pics, interestingly, I found pretty much the same as you, that when you "fix" their look, some do get offended. To some, it is almost as if it was back handed compliment, as if to say they have skin problems. The key is moderation, to fix certain, unsightly blemishes and leave most of it alone. Use lighting that is not subtractive to the look of the skin. Then, and only then should photoshop or whatever tool be taken out and used. I've been using some actions in photoshop that is very subtle and I keep it at a very low opacity. Bottomline, some people really do want to look like the way they look IRL.

[RDKirk]

Depends on the girl. The more smothing I do for my wife the better she likes it! And will keep giving me the " What about this... can you do something about that?" Till I tell her to go away and let me work. Other women may be offended by the slightest fix.

I've never met any of those women. I've had women ask me for more retouching, but never less. Of course, I'm smart enough not to remove long-time character marks. I always "roll back the last five years," and I've never had a complaint that I did too much. I've never met a woman over 25 who minded looking five years younger.

I normally do the skin smoothing and do NOT show the original. In fact I've even put a tooth in the mouth where one was missing and no one has noticed. They all like the results with no questions. Sort of surprises me!!

Indeed. I've also fixed crooked teeth, whitened extremely yellow teeth...never a complaint, always a sale.

But I would never show them the original. It's much better not to prove to them that you had to do a lot of work. Yes, they know what you did...but they don't want you to force them to acknowledge it. That will annoy them.

I currently use Imagenomic Portraiture. I used to pride myself on using plain Photoshop tools--besides the patch healing tool, the Dust and Scratches filter was my secret weapon.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2305/2522136580_be671d0096_o.jpg

But these day, I use the patch healer for major work and then Portraiture to smooth the skin. I've been experimenting with Topaz Clean ...for it's price, it's quite good, but Portraiture is much better (at a much higher price).

[pcj]

I've been pretty happy with Aperture 3's skin smoothing feature, with edge detection. Can use a fairly large brush and make some broad strokes.

Seconded! I just had a woman with major acne problems, and using the skin smoothing tool, I could reduce them to the point she was very happy with the end result.

I think the key, with most things, is moderation - if you smooth things out, reduce angry looking spots to small blemishes, whiten dull teeth - they will be happy with the results. but if you start removing scars, moving or removing major features or moles - they may feel like you are making a comment.

It's a fine line!

[vipergts831]

I normally do the skin smoothing and do NOT show the original. In fact I've even put a tooth in the mouth where one was missing and no one has noticed. They all like the results with no questions. Sort of surprises me!!

I do the same thing. She loves the results. However, she knows im touching them up since she has seen my work flow. Point is every woman likes thier images coming out the best possible. If she has a pimple trust me she will be happy it was taken out in the final image.

PS. All magazine pictures are touched up.