Retouching the photographs



Retouching the photograph means photo editing and postprocessing. The term retouching refers to the physical improvement of the photographs, removes the flaws and any other error which may degrade the quality of the photographs, may leave a bad impression on the viewers. Retouching the photographs help to improve the appearance of the photograph. One must understand that you always need to retouch the photograph once the shoot is done, sometimes you correct photographs 10% and sometimes you correct the photographs 50%. No one should underestimate retouching feature or editing etc. It’s the backbone of photography.

The purpose of retouching is to present your photographs in a very professional manner to your clients or any photography community etc.

I must write here, Retouching or post-processing is equivalently important as pressing the shutter button to capture photographs. We must ignore those alibies who remarks like this real photograph is without editing or editing kills the photographs. It is advisable to all beginner photographers, never pursue any photography course without retouching classes. It is very important.

All photography genres required post-processing elements like travel, product, wildlife, architectural, Industrial, fashion etc and anything which can be captured. Every photographer does mistakes when they view their photographs on the big screen and notices the mistakes. It is a part of our photography so please come out of that fear like what happens if photographs go wrong. Retouching and post-processing skills will always give you the confidence to correct your images correctly. Believe me.

Retouching help to adjust the important things in the photographs mentioned below

• Brightness and contrast
• Exposure adjustment
• White balance adjustment
• Correction of colours
• Correction of the light
• Removal of dust spots, unwanted object visible in the photographs
• Removal of glare
• Removal of scratches
• Cropping, resizing etc
• Portrait rectouching (lines moving, Whitening Teeth, Skin Smoothening etc)
• ISO/Aperture/speed Cannot be correct please keep this thing in mind, please capture with correct ISO, speed and focal length etc

It also depends upon the software that gives you more freedom to correct the image to bring out more good quality of the photographs. It is advisable for a beginner photographer to capture the image in the RAW format if you are having good post-processing skills.

Conclusion – Retouching, post-processing and photography are the two sides of one coin. No one is perfect without other element support. Sometimes I have met few beginner photographers who are struggling a lot without having strong post-processing skills. Please include the post-processing element into your photography passion which really brings a miracle. All the best.

Keep experimenting! Have a wonderful and Happy photography life to you all.
Photographer and Blogger Prasenjeet Gautam (www.prasenjeetgautam.com) has captured the above-posted image. Herons Bird, India.