If you’ve ever seen those celebrity “before and after” shots online, you know that Photoshop can be like a Jedi Mind Trick for photographers. It seems like just a few hours of work can make practically any average person look like a supermodel.
But the truth is that this is the Dark Side of Photoshop. Because it isn’t going to help you make more contacts if your first impression looks nothing like you.
Instead, you want to look like you on your best day. Not your best day from 1987 but your best day this year.
We all want to look younger, thinner, taller, tanner. We want more hair, less hair, better hair. But all that does you zero good in the end if your headshot looks nothing like you.
Realtors are the number one perpetrator of this. How many times have you seen a realtor’s headshot only to find out when you met them that the shot was 10 years old? Not only is their hair style different but its also a completely different color. And now he has a beard. Do you feel tricked? Fooled? What else are they hiding from you?
With proper posing and expression coaching, along with the proper lighting, your professional headshot photographer can make sure you look like you, having your best day this year.
Photoshop is a just a tool. Don’t think of it as more than that. The retoucher’s job isn’t to create a new you. They are there to assisted you. They’ll catch those stray hairs we missed during the shoot. Maybe they will help with the dark areas under your eyes from the late nights with the baby. Get rid of that pimple we all get the morning of our shoot.
Matthew Hamilton, a Philadelphia photographer, asks “Are you displaying the best version of yourself online for the world to see?” If your photographer over used photoshop then you are not.