Over the past 2 days I have decided to browse all the photoshop retouching tutorials I could find online and in Borders to be sure I'm up-to-date. In doing this I ran across quite a few comments from people insulting ones way of doing things. Seems like every retoucher has their own opinion on what the "best method" is.
Since I have joined Twitter I have also seen quite a bit of insulting to various re-touchers work out there. Now, anyone who follows me would know that I can be just as critical and love to give my opinions towards peoples tutorials or blog posts when I feel I have something to say about them. So I'm certainly not putting down others opinions. I'm just trying to get down to the nitty-gritty here and that is... What DOES make the best retoucher or retouch job?
Now, I can hear what your thinking at this point. A good retouch job is one that you can't tell is retouched... and YES! Absolutely true! BUT, does that mean that the retouch professional did a BAD job on an image that is obviously retouched? Absolutely not! Although it may ruin the image for most critics.
Lets see, I'll use myself as an example here. I know the large majority of retouching styles. I know how to smooth skin with advanced blurring techniques (no, not just using gaussian). I can take a few hours more and do a terrific dodge n burn job on them using curves. I can create my own skin files to use to bring texture back to things. I know all the ways to shape, rattle and roll. In all honesty, at this point I haven't found a retouch job that I can't match. Point not being to brag, but show that I have knowledge of the necessary techniques.
My beliefs are that a good retoucher has knowledge of all these styles so they can employ whichever one is needed to achieve what the visionary has hired them to do. When you are hired from a photographer to retouch their photographs then it is "their art". Unless your are given creative freedom to do what you want to the image or open a photography business for yourself then you need to be able to achieve exactly what THEY want for their images. If they employ you at $xx an hour or $xx an image then you need to be able to achieve their needs in a timely fashion while still making sure that the pay is beneficial to you.
So when you see a photograph that has a style of retouching done to it that you may dislike, don't necessarily believe that it was the retouchers choice. Its not his image and he's not the one responsible for it anymore then if a photographer offered a lame pose or lighting in that image. The important thing is that the retoucher did his job to the best of his ability in a way that was going to get the photographers thumbs up for the final image.
There is an exception to this. If you own your own retouching business and are in a position to refuse your services unless done in a style that you are comfortable with... then more power to you. Thats ultimately where everybody wants to end up. But if your retouching portraits for the majority of photographers out there then you will learn that the "best retoucher" is one who can offer any style that their employer envisions with their art. Remember that most photographers base offerings off of their clients desires. Some have clients that are about "all natural" and they are paid high dollar for it. Some have clients that want to look "pixel perfect" and shaped as if they are a supermodel. Some photographers are able to market themselves for hundreds of dollars an image allowing them to employ retouchers to do excessive amounts of retouching. Some focus on cheaper prices and only want minimal retouching. Either-way, the best retouching to an image is one that meets the photographers vision which in turn is meeting the clients vision. Doesn't mean the retoucher couldn't achieve pixel perfect retouching... just means they did as they were asked to do.
I'm not encouraging ones to retouch images for photographers if they absolutely hate the photographers style and feel its degrading their own reputation. It might. Its best to work for as high of profile photographer you can. But sometimes that requires climbing the ladder, swallowing your opinions and respecting the photographer that employes you. Remember the keyword "respect" because working for them currently or not, you should keep your opinions of images you retouch CONFIDENTIAL.
How many designers out there spend hours designing the perfect layout for something... then get spear-headed by the client and have to redesign things to their clients wishes. The retouching business is no-different. Praise the retoucher when you see an image that has an amazing job done to it. Or blame the person that green-lighted an image that you feel is poor. If it was a bad retouch job then they allowed it. Otherwise it was the style they chose that is the blame. Not the retouchers.
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