THE PROFESSION OF IMAGE RETOUCHER
The profession of an image retoucher is no walk in the park
It may seem so at first glance, but it demands a passion and meticulousness that not everyone possesses. Being willing to spend years in front of a monitor under someone else’s guidance to reach the level that a seasoned photographer demands is no easy task. Just as it’s not easy to execute a job that often goes uncredited and is kept secret by the client themselves. The retoucher is a person with a work ethic and, above all, integrity that must be exemplary. Indeed, too many people claim the title of “retoucher” frivolously. Our work, to be done well, must be likened to that of a high-class cobbler or tailor, with highly selective and discreet clientele. Not ready-to-wear but haute couture, made-to-measure. We must know how to highlight strengths and conceal flaws, but we cannot boast about it publicly. We must take Ferragamo, with his insatiable desire for innovation and quality, and his punctuality in offering personalised solutions, as an example. There’s no big button “make it beautiful”, you will have to work your way around it.
Which Technique?
As with a musician or a photographer, it’s not enough to know the technique or possess the latest equipment; it’s not enough to know how to “tinker” on Photoshop and be acquainted with all the tricks you might have found on YouTube. You must feel the job. You must “apprentice in the shop” with someone and learn the true craft. Like any other job, what you learn in school often doesn’t correspond at all to the working reality and, above all, deviates completely from what the market wants. The retoucher must not think of the photo as a set of pixels to be modified according to a histogram or a preordained workflow; to truly understand how to express the maximum of one’s potential, the operator must think more like a painter, a sculptor, a photographer. A photo, in fact, captures the moment and fills it with all the expectations, intentions, and soul of the one who took it, along with all the team down to the last assistant. It cannot be treated coldly, mechanically, and with standardized methodologies unless you want to achieve a standardized and mediocre effect. Each photo must be carefully observed and understood, retouched as minimally as possible, adding and removing only those details that, with experience, one comes to understand. Unfortunately, there is no way to expedite the process; it takes years, thousands of photos, and different approaches to become what photographers seek: someone who complements them and whom they can trust with their creations, their photos.
A Bit of History
The art of retouching has its roots far back in history. I’m not referring to just the history of photography, which is relatively recent. Photographs have always been retouched, if not with Photoshop, then with the application of various faded masks during the exposure and printing of a negative, or even with a pen and red directly on the negative to lighten or erase wrinkles or other details. Much earlier, and since humans began representing reality, they have always “touched it up.” They have presented it through their own experiences, sometimes even unconsciously adapting it to the narration of any episode, diminishing certain details and exaggerating others. A prime example: think of the portraits of the commanders or emperors, both painted and sculpted. Always represented as demigods, were they really all so powerful, beautiful, and perfect? There is no naked and unadorned reality; everything is modified and everything is retouched. We must therefore be very careful about what we do, do it as little as possible, especially now that we live in a society with unnecessarily abundant content accessible everywhere. Going from retouching to a “Photoshop disaster” takes only a moment of inattention.
Disasters and where to find them (and how to avoid them)
A glaring example of excessive retouching, or poorly done retouching, made headlines on March 11, 2024. Princess Kate Middleton is at the center of a mini-media storm due to a photo she claims was retouched by her; you can find it here in today’s NY Times post: [link]. This is a glaring example of how Photoshop, if used incorrectly, can create communication disasters of biblical proportions. How to avoid them? First and foremost, by enlisting accredited professionals with years of experience… but apart from that, just don’t look at the photo for what we want it to be, but for what it is. Let me explain. When Michelangelo Buonarroti painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling, he did it lying on scaffolding just inches from the ceiling. Do you think that, despite being a supreme genius, he didn’t obsessively check every detail even from the observer’s point of view, i.e., from the ground? We should do the same, with due proportions to Michelangelo. Let’s zoom out and clear our heads from what we’ve done and especially from how good we think we’ve been at it. Let’s think of ourselves as just any person passing by our monitor seeing the image for the first time. What’s wrong with it, what can I improve, and above all, what can I undo that’s too much? This simple trick, combined with saving often and continuing to change versions, for example, can save you from becoming the next gossip. If you want to have some fun, find some disasters here: [link]
