There are so many photo editing wordings that are widely used today. I found it could be quite confusing sometimes. While the photographer is trying to communicate something, the client could be expecting another.
I had a client request me to retouch a whole gallery once. I asked, "What do you mean by RETOUCH?" I soon realized that their definition is quite different than mine. When people say retouch, it could mean just removing something on the image that will only take two seconds, or it could also mean spending an hour to manipulate the size of someone's nose. Editing is such an important part of postproduction. But only with clear communication and understanding will it provide the outcome both the client and photographer are expecting.
I listed below how I define editing terms. I hope this post will help us be on the same page when we start our creative journey together.
Term 1: Soft Edit
For soft edits, I correct the lighting and exposure, color temperature, crop the image if necessary, as well as adding my own personal editing style. All the photos the clients receive for choosing would have been soft edited.
Term 2: Fine Edit
For soft edits, I correct the lighting and exposure, color temperature, crop the image if necessary, as well as adding my own personal editing style. All the photos the clients receive for choosing would have been soft edited.
Term 3: Advance Edit
In this phase, there will be more photo manipulation (alternating elements that are in the photo) involved, like carving body shapes, changing sizes of things, adding or taking away bigger elements like people or backgrounds, or transplanting elements. There will also be a deeper level of the things done in the fine editing phase because now the images are going to be seen by more people and more closely. The image below I removed all the hair that is in the white background, hair on the face, skin retouch on the face and neck, smoother the skin, remove the bra stripe that was revealing.
If you are a commercial client, this will be included in your package. If you are a loved ones client, we will have an additional charge for this service unless you purchase a print from me. Then I will do the advance editing on the image you are printing for free.
I hope you now have a better understanding of the different levels of editing. Hope we can be on the same page on this as we enter the creative journey together!
