Ever since photoshop and its various powers first entered the public consciousness there has been a definite trend towards that glossy magazine finish where everything looks absolutely perfect and all imperfections are airbrushed out. It’s now possible for you to look absolutely perfect in your wedding photos, so why would you want anything less?
Airbrushing is something we’re frequently asked to do on model shoots and it’s a generally accepted part of the industry. It’s not necessarily something we agree with, but is understandable in an industry where every photo is plastered around internationally on magazines and on the internet and scrutinised heavily by both professionals and the general public alike. Sometimes though we’re asked to apply the same treatment to our wedding photos and it’s at that point that we often feel we have to draw the line.
Don’t get me wrong, sometimes there are little imperfections in pictures that can easily be resolved and that make a big enough difference to the image that it’s worthwhile doing so. For example sometimes no matter how many group shots you take it’s just impossible to get one with everyone’s eyes open. Getting potentially more than 100 people to perfectly synchronise and control their blinking just isn’t always possible, and that’s where photoshop wizardry can help – allowing us the chance to make sure that you get that perfect group shot. Sometimes there are physical objects in the way that it would look better without but are not physically moveable in order to take the shot and I don’t think there’s any particular harm in removing these artificially afterwards where possible. However taking the decision to physically alter someone’s appearance I believe demands a lot more careful consideration.
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Whether documentary style, editorial, contemporary, classic, as wedding photographers it is of course our job to make you look you look your absolute best on your wedding day, and some would argue that that means we should use every trick possible to achieve the perfect look. For me though what it really means is making people look their best through great photography itself – choosing the most flattering angles, knowing how to manipulate light and shadows, understanding people’s insecurities and shooting sensitively in accordance with these. There’s nothing artificial about this process, it’s what great photographers do naturally, and done correctly I personally feel there should be little need to bring out the old airbrush and start altering people’s physical appearance.
The thing is, your wedding photos are your personal memory of the day. They’re for you, no-one else. They’re not there to be on the front of a glossy magazine and you’re not trying to be the next superstar model, they’re there to tell a story, a story of the most important day of your lives the way it happened. Yes you had a few freckles, but you still have those freckles today – they’re part of what makes you you! They’re part of the character of your face and having them artificially disappear doesn’t make you look more beautiful, it makes you look more false. Maybe you had a few wrinkles, but you still looked beautiful. They’re part of your shape, they’re what helps make your face light up the way it does when you smile. To your family, your guests and most importantly to your groom you looked absolutely perfect, and that simply doesn’t need tampering with.
So make sure when, in years to come you’re flicking fondly through your wedding album, you can look back and remember how beautiful you really were, not how “beautiful” a computer can make you look. Truth is beauty, and on your wedding day there are none more beautiful than you.
