What separates a photographer from a portrait artist?

A photographer captures images with a camera and presents them to a client without professional finishing services. 

What are professional finishing services?

Professional finishing services are: artistic retouching and images produced by a professional lab.

What is retouching?

Every image purchased (those used in an album and all portraits) is examined for areas that require improvements. 

What sort of improvements?

The need for retouching is based on each individual image.  The obvious retouching is to remove blemishes, spots and stray hairs.  Some retouching is more subtle; whitening teeth, removing dark circles from under eyes, removing shine on faces and glare on glasses. 

Who needs to be retouched?                     

In my opinion, every one needs to be retouched.  Shine on faces and glare on glasses are the most common problems.

Does makeup prevent shine on bride’s faces?

Yes, initially, however as the day progresses, shine appears.

Is it really necessary to remove the shine?

In my professional opinion, a shiny forehead or nose, or chin, or all of the above, distracts from the beauty of the portrait. 

I remove all shine.  Grooms and most men are very shiny. Those who wear glasses have a unique problem with glare on them.  It is very distracting from the overall appeal of the portrait. 

Are there cases in which the need for retouching is extreme?

Yes.  Some of my clients have acne, some of my clients have extremely dark circles under the eyes and some have even developed hives from stress.

All of my portraits are retouched to achieve a flawless, beautiful finished product. 

What are professional printing services?

All of my work is printed by a professional lab on photographic paper with R-4 color negative  process. 

Is this really necessary?

Yes, to ensure a lifetime guarantee that the portraits will not fade nor become discolored.

Professional finishing services, retouching and professional printing guarantee a quality product that you will be proud of and will last a lifetime.

For examples of retouching services please see the following: