Seriously, why am I fixing this?

Is it just me, or is there anything aesthetically incorrect about the following picture (aside from the obvious lower left girl not looking at the camera)?:

http://i.imgur.com/GpA​L1.jpg

The bride has requested that I fix the upper left woman's left arm as far as brightening it since it's "too dark". Nevermind that it's defying the laws of shadow and light. But seriously, does it look THAT bad?

I think it looks fine. But, she is the customer.

Is she printing it, or looking at it on her computer? It looks fine to me.

If you look at each face individually, with that arm in the peripheral vision, it out of place to me. It's like she's wearing a brown evening gown glove. Just my opinion.

I would fix it........when the bride pays for my time to do so. Had a bride ask me to remove all the tan lines from all six of her brides maids. When I let her know there would be a charge for things I couldn't control, all of a sudden the tan lines weren't a problem any longer.

Squirrel if you edit something like that the slope gets slippery in a hurry. Try it at home, then look at what else looks 'wrong' after you finish the arm. If you do it, I would try a global lift of the shadows as a starting point.

Looks like you hit the burn brush by accident on that woman's arm. But when I look at the far right woman's right arm, they have a similar shade. It does look weird to me, even if it's a natural shadow.

I see it now, but you may be opening yourself for a whole lot of new editing.

The one bridesmaid looking the other direction caught my eye before the arm did.

Looks like an uneven tan.

Its a natural shadow... shadows (and highlights) are what adds depth and dimension to a picture. If everyones skin tone was exactly the same across the whole image it would be very flat and uninteresting. I think the picture is fine. Sure if you REALLY focus on it it's a tad dark. I agree with others...edit cautiously. You don't want to end up in a situation where you are editing every shadow out of every picture.

How is image manipulation spelled out in your contract? You do have a contract, right?

Red Tie Photography wrote in post #12974045
I see it now, but you may be opening yourself for a whole lot of new editing.

This.

Explain that you do post-processing on your images -- but retouching has a fee involved. This, of course, is best explained BEFORE the wedding, but you can still take this approach. I tell my clients that only enlargements and album images will be retouched.

If you do this one for free, you can almost certainly expect about 20 more requests (which will likely sound more like demands).

quadrant6 wrote in post #12973519
Is it just me, or is there anything aesthetically incorrect about the following picture (aside from the obvious lower left girl not looking at the camera)?:

http://i.imgur.com/GpA​L1.jpg

The bride has requested that I fix the upper left woman's left arm as far as brightening it since it's "too dark". Nevermind that it's defying the laws of shadow and light. But seriously, does it look THAT bad?

No big deal but it is about a 5 minute job-

Foreboding wrote in post #12979376
No big deal but it is about a 5 minute job-

If only it were that simple...

Foreboding wrote in post #12979376
No big deal but it is about a 5 minute job-

Multiply 5 minutes by 200 and see what you get.