portraits

Retouching Business Portraits

If something doesn’t work as it’s supposed to, you might be able to fix it. But if it’s beyond repair then you’ll have to replace it. (US Library of Congress)

If your business photos don’t function properly, retouching might be able to fix them. Otherwise you’ll have to replace them with better quality images.

Business headshot photography has been part of my business for about 30 years. Over the years, I’ve learned that some companies understand the function of business headshots and some don’t.
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A Close Shave

Removing a small amount of facial hair is usually easy to do. But realistically removing a beard, moustache or a lot of stubble can be impossible.

One of the more difficult, if not impossible, retouching tasks is removing facial hair. Removing a beard or moustache can be impossible to do because the facial hair has to be replaced by realistic-looking skin that matches the person’s face. Also, the photo retoucher has no idea what the person’s jaw and mouth look like under the facial hair. The retoucher can only guess and the results will not be accurate.
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Retouching Business Headshots and Other Portraits

Of course I’m going to retouch my own headshot and make myself look as good as possible.

Almost all business headshots and other professional portraits need to be retouched. This is often done to fix mistakes the photographer made or to repair something that was overlooked such as a crooked tie. Appearing neatly groomed will make you seem more competent.
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Prompt For Business Portraits

You don’t have to look too closely to notice that there’s something wrong with these business portraits.

Artificial intelligence image generators are so much fun. The above images were created using a simple text prompt of “business portrait of company CEO.” Every time the prompt was run, the Stable Diffusion image generator kept creating very similar looking images of white males.
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Retouching Business Headshots

Prison mugshots from Kingston Penitentiary in Ontario, 1913. (Library and Archives Canada)

I’ve retouched a lot of business portraits, a few actor headshots and even some family portraits. Common retouching requests include removing stray hairs, brightening eyes and teeth, minimizing facial wrinkles, eliminating double chins, fixing skin issues, and repairing clothing malfunctions.
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Retouching Business Headshot Selfies

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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Retouching Family Photos

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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