How our headshot retouching makes a difference

We pride ourselves on authenticity. In everything we do, we capture the “real” you. Our value promise is to “capture your brand.” And that is just as important in our post production and headshot retouching. Our goal in your final image is that it looks like you, not a plastic Photoshopped version of you. All images go through our post-production processing, and in the end, you will still look like you — just a more polished version of you. Many studios go over the top with retouching. The final image looks plastic and artificial.

Our retouching process

I have personally and carefully selected our retouchers from the best in the world, and I hold them to our rigorous standards of authenticity and polish. I’ve learned over the course of my career to stick to what I am good at, and hire professionals who are good at what they do. That is why I have hand-picked retouchers who are masters at their craft.

Here are a few examples of recent clients. Use the slider to see the image before retouching and after.

What’s included:

• White balance adjustment to correct color tone.
• Color calibration to correct for environmental color distortion from ambient light.
• Lens and camera calibration to correct for lens distortion.
• Removal of extraneous objects like lighting diffusers.
• Clean up fly-away hair.
• Evening out the background, whether a solid background or environmental.
• Removal of obvious blemishes. Our guiding principle is “if it will be there a month from now, we don’t remove it, for example, moles and beauty marks stay.”
• Moderate teeth whitening if desired.
• Moderate skin smoothing if needed, for example, rosacea.
• Removal of glare from eye glasses.

Why it matters

To quote my mentor and world-renowned headshot photographer, Peter Hurley, my job is photographer and psychologist. I spend most of my time making my clients comfortable to bring out their genuine personality. I have learned that is what I’m good at—perhaps 70 percent psychologist and 30 percent photographer. Nothing is more gratifying than when the client leaves saying, “wow, that was so much fun. I had no idea I would enjoy myself so much!” It is that combination of variables that captures the true essence of our clients. The second half of the equation is bringing your image to life with our premium retouching.