Airbrushing and Digital Retouching – What’s it all about then?
by Allen at Peachfur Boudoir Photography
Airbrushing is a technique employed to manipulate and enhance a photographic image. Previously if a photographer needed to alter their photos they would often use a compressed air powered airbrush to spray ink over masked prints to create the desired effect – a time consuming and highly skilled process requiring deft use of scalpel and a surgeons accuracy.
With the development of image manipulation software like Photoshop, traditional techniques soon gave way to PC based retouching that we now take for granted and can all now afford to dip our toes into image retouching since basic photo editing software packages, many with instant pre-set effects are frequently bundled with new digital cameras.
With all this relatively inexpensive technology to hand is their really any point in booking a professional photographer for your boudoir portraits when you could get your best mate to take a snap of you at home and run the image through the PC software to give it that extra punch? Way cheaper and with the added advantage that you don’t have to get your kit off in front of a stranger.
Of course if you’ve ever tried this one at home you’ll already know that it’s not so easy achieving that cover girl look, no matter how many photo effect pre-sets you throw at it. The bottom line is that although airbrushing software is relatively easy to use, producing great results is way more difficult - that’s why the skills of the best airbrush artists are highly sought after in the fashion photography business.
The best airbrushing is invisible – a retouched image should look as if that’s just the way it was shot. Of course the reality is that there’s probably been considerable work done to create this natural look especially as body manipulation is only one part in the process of airbrushing a photo – all images need to be colour balanced often with background contrast adjustments or even entire background changes to enhance the overall look. Ultimately – the viewer should be impressed by the portrait, not the airbrushing technique.
An experienced airbrush artist can do everything you could ever want done to your portrait – the tricky bit is deciding what not to do – vitally important when it comes to working on boudoir portraits, considering that the majority of real women clients do not have model figures or looks but rightly want to be shot looking glamorous, sensual, provocative and sexy.
A good boudoir photographer will spend time discussing the theme and style of the shoot, suggesting appropriate poses, outfits and background combinations to ensure the end result meets your expectations. This is also a good time to chat through any particular requirements re airbrushing of the final images.
The majority of our customers expect their images to be fully airbrushed (surprisingly this includes men who are even more body conscious!) and will often list specific bits that they want altered. Body size and age seems to make no difference to airbrushing requests – young women (who have perfect bodies) fret about their tummy being too big or their bottoms too saggy (in one case one young woman believed her third toe was too long and could we please shorten it by a few millimetres!) just as much as older customers with more lived in bodies. In fact our older customers are generally way more relaxed about how their bodies look and feel much happier posing nude.
There‘s an argument that if a client has been posed and lit sympathetically then digitally enhancing the image shouldn’t be necessary. This is true up to a point and therefore its no surprise that when shooting real women who don’t have size 10 figures many boudoir photographers shoot with significant parts of the subject in darkness, perhaps with a few key features highlighted and then printing the final image in monochrome (which helps hide variations in skin colour ).
However at Peachfur we find most of our customers (regardless of size or age), when offered a choice of photography styles rarely go for the subtle dark approach. They don’t want to hide their bodies in the shadows; they want to be photographed in sexy FHM style poses with full on glamour lighting to celebrate their sexuality. And yes of course they want the shots fully airbrushed so they can look like a Cover girl.
The big question when retouching boudoir photos is how far we go. I’m reluctant to alter a customers body shape too much (although its technically possible to shrink a customer from size 20 to size 10) I prefer more subtle alterations like smoothing out bumps, slimming tummies, upper arms and thighs and generally cleaning up skin. Faces of course are always a particular challenge – the trick is to remove the blemishes, spots and wrinkles while keeping the original texture of the skin intact, otherwise the end result will look unnatural and waxy. The reaction to the finished airbrushed portrait should be WOW! but it still has to look like the customer – that’s after all is what she’s paying for
There are many photographers who can produce superb boudoir portraits who do not provide airbrushing, so if you’re sure you don’t want your images enhanced in any way then go for it. However if you consider that fashion models, movie stars and FHM babes wouldn’t ever want their images published in print without their perfect features getting the airbrush treatment, then it might be worthwhile considering a photographer that offers expert airbrushing to guarantee that Cover Girl look.
About Peachfur
Peachfur Boudoir Photography is a specialist photography studio based in the North East of Scotland. To book a studio session or simply to get more details visit the site:
www.peachfur.com
Phone 01382 774400
Email: info@peachfur.com
