How much do you de-wrinkle older brides. Pictures within

Just thought I would put it out there.

Does too much de-wrinkling look unnatural? I like to see wrinkles as apart of a persons character and a natural part of aging. Here is one example of a wedding I did on the weekend. Normally I leave the wrinkles but reduce clarity and increase exposure in them. This time I got rid of the wrinkles completely and I like the result, however making every photo look the same would be a tedious task.

What would you do?

Don't totally remove them, client will notice. Reduce opacity of retouched layer just to soften them.

That's what I'd do, anyway.

I like what you did because it still look pretty natural. Tastes may vary but as long as they don't look over processed, should be good

Josh Young wrote in post #16550502
I like what you did because it still look pretty natural. Tastes may vary but as long as they don't look over processed, should be good

That only looks natural if you live in LA or only ever see older people on TV.

As above do a clean layer then reduce the opacity, I like to vary the opacity inline with their age (ish). Smokers need moe care as smoking ages the skin, as does sunshine.

In my experience the client will notice. They are looking at themselves everyday in the mirror just like we are so theyll notice.

if you turn on image editing ok, im sure myself and a few others would show you some examples of other methods/results

The key in making sure it's not over-done is never showing the original.

I think your edit is just about what I would do--but only for a selected set of images focusing on the portraits that were shot during the 1)getting ready portion 2) bridal portraits 3) B+G session (ie, those that will be in albums and may be printed large). It's true that sometimes there are candids that are close enough to 'give away the game'--I might do a few of these as well; but to be honest, once I'm at the reception I'm generally not really filling the frame with a given face.

Honestly I go all out and whiten teeth and everything. If it can be done with an excellent spa, dental, and makeup artist treatment, I'll do it in post.

In other words, I'll make her look like she paid more for her look than she did.

And for those photographers wondering about all of the additional time required to accomplish this, I'm sure you can easily point to long trail of referrals that were resultant from your work. Making people look hot, as you know, goes a long way.

cdifoto wrote in post #16588052
Honestly I go all out and whiten teeth and everything. If it can be done with an excellent spa, dental, and makeup artist treatment, I'll do it in post.

In other words, I'll make her look like she paid more for her look than she did.

The more you do it, the easier and faster you get. So eventually it's not even all that time consuming. I even add blush.