Photo Retouching - Where Art Meets Technology

I can remember the good old days when photo retouching had nothing to do with computers. I was working as a free-lance photographer while going to graduate school. I found that a good source of relaxation for me was to spend a few hours on a Sunday evening retouching some family portraits I had taken earlier in the week for my clients. But those days are now ancient history. Today's technology has virtually changed the photography world upside down.

When you mention the phrase "photo retouching", immediately you are deluged with many questions about techniques and tricks of a computer program named Photoshop. Practically anyone with a computer can perform basic retouching to their digital photos or even those old photographs that they scan in to their computers. But there are still some real artists out there who perform magic even with their computers.

Today's photo retouching artists can do some of the following:

• Eliminate cosmetic skin defects


• Open closed eyes


• Fix dental abnormalities


• Remove tattoos


• Eliminate cellulitis problems


• Remove unwanted pounds from cheeks, neck, and jowls


• Make corrections to asymmetrical facial structures

It is really marvelous what a true professional can do to make geezers look like middle-aged folk once again. This is called by some as 'rejuvenescence'.

Photo retouching as an art can also provide photo restoration whereby an old family photo can be brought back to new contrast and balance. A great deal of work today can be done to the colorization to old black and white photos and even some of those sepia-colored pictures of bygone eras. And then there is the fantasy work of photo montage that allows the photo retouching artist to add people to the photo, change heads on bodies, change the backdrop, and even remove an unwanted person or thing.

If you want to try your hand at photo retouching it is really quite simple digitally. You first need to acquire a program like Photoshop, Gimp, or ArcSoft. Each of these programs can provide you with the digital tools to alter practically any image that can be acquired by your computer. Some of the features of ArcSoft, for instance, are:

• Photo Cloning


• Multi-Layer Support


• Brush and Stamp


• Face Beautify


• Magic-Cut


• Magic-Film


• Various photo filters to provide the appearance of Oil Painting, Watercolor, Charcoal, Impressionistic, Solarization, and a host of other special effects to your pictures.

Who knows, you might be able to master the many techniques that these programs provide to not only edit your photographs, but you might be able to start your own digital photo retouching business. Photo retouching is not limited to an artist with a sable brush any more. It is a hobby that is open to practically everyone.