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Retouching Business Headshot Selfies

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Before cellphone cameras, if you wanted a selfie, you had to use a real camera. This picture is from 1991 when bungee jumping without a second safety harness was thought to be safe. The camera was duct-taped to my hand so I couldn’t drop it.

This is another view-from-my-office photo.

Is it common for a company to require its employees to supply their own business headshots? Most of these self-supplied headshots are, of course, cellphone selfies.
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On Photography – 50 Years Later

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If you don’t like what you see in front of your camera, you can often wait a few minutes and a better picture might come along. These two skyline pictures were shot less than 20 minutes apart. In those few minutes, the wind blew in the clouds and the automatic lights in many buildings turned on.

This is another view-from-my-office photo.

It’s the 50th anniversary of the publication of US author Susan Sontag‘s essay Photography (link to PDF) which was later re-edited and renamed “In Plato’s Cave.” This renamed essay became the first of six essays in her book, “On Photography.” In Plato’s Cave is probably the most well known of the six essays.
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Pragmatic Photography

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Pragmatic: relating to matters of fact or practical affairs often to the exclusion of intellectual or artistic matters. Practical as opposed to idealistic.

Acrobats have to be pragmatic. They may have planned for some fancy manoeuvres but it’s much more important to get the job done and not fall or drop anything.

Left: Gary Borstelmann, aka Gary Sladek, aka the Amazing Sladek, performs at an NBA All-Star game in Toronto, 2016.

Right: Rong Niu, aka Krystal Niu, aka Red Panda, performs at an NBA All-Star game in Toronto, 2016.

This is another view-from-my-office photo.

A pragmatic photographer is more concerned with getting the job done rather than making an artistic statement.

Many people who take pictures with their cellphone camera are pragmatic photographers. They want a photo without any fuss and without much thought.
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A Good Example Of Bad Public Relations

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A 1950s public relations photo to publicize Dairy Queen’s banana drink in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. This Main Street ice cream shop still exists today but it’s no longer a Dairy Queen franchise. (US Library of Congress)

Public relations photography is, or at least should be, much more advanced today.

Today I received an unwanted press release from a Toronto public relations company. It was a good example of what not to do especially if you’re claiming to be a professional communications company.
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Retouching Family Photos

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Family photos can be retouched to remove blemishes and other distractions. Colour and tone can be enhanced to make the a photo look its best.

Imperfections and distractions in family photos aren’t often a big deal and can be easily overlooked. But if a picture is going to be printed large and hung on a wall then you might consider photo retouching to fix any technical errors, remove blemishes and enhance the image to look its best.

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Window or Mirror?

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Some selfies can work out very well. This woman got a good experience being close up with actor Ryan Reynolds, a nice photo of the two of them together and, because of the first two, she undoubtedly has a good memory of the event. But many selfies turn out to be duds.

The purpose of a selfie with a celebrity is the brief(?) illusion that you and the celebrity are connected. You can bask in the reflected glory of the celebrity and the selfie is a trophy you can show others.
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