One of the most common things I hear from clients before a session is: "Please don't make me look weird." They've seen retouching gone wrong — the waxy skin, the poreless faces, the uncanny valley effect that screams this photo has been heavily edited. I get it.
Here's the truth: professional retouching isn't about making you look like someone else. It's about making you look like you on your best day. The version of you that slept well, had great skin, and everything just happened to fall into place.
After retouching hundreds of headshots, I want to pull back the curtain on what this process actually involves — because there's a big gap between what people think retouching means and what it actually is.
What Retouching Includes
Every retouched headshot I deliver goes through a careful, multi-step editing process. Here's exactly what I do:
Skin Smoothing (Not Skin Erasing)
This is the big one, and the most misunderstood. I reduce the appearance of texture inconsistencies — things like enlarged pores, rough patches, and uneven skin tone — while keeping your actual skin texture intact. You still look like a real human being with real skin. You just look polished.
The difference between good retouching and bad retouching is that good retouching is invisible. Nobody should look at your headshot and think "that's been retouched." They should think "they look great."
Blemish Removal
Temporary blemishes — a breakout, a scratch, a bug bite, a shaving nick — get removed. These aren't permanent features of your face, so they don't belong in a headshot you'll use for the next 2-3 years. Permanent features like moles, birthmarks, and scars stay unless you specifically ask me to remove them. Those are part of who you are.
Under-Eye Reduction
Almost everyone has some degree of under-eye circles or puffiness. I reduce these — not eliminate them entirely, which would look unnatural — so you look rested and alert. This single adjustment makes a bigger difference than most people expect. It's often the edit that makes clients say "wow, that looks so much better" without being able to pinpoint exactly why.
Stray Hair Cleanup
Flyaways happen. That one strand sticking straight up, the wisp across your forehead, the hair falling over your ear at a weird angle — I clean all of that up. The goal is a polished, intentional look where every element supports the overall impression.
Teeth Whitening
If your teeth are visible in the shot, I apply subtle whitening. Not blindingly white — just clean and even. The kind of brightness that looks natural in person but sometimes gets lost on camera due to lighting or color cast.
Background Cleanup
Even with a professional backdrop, minor imperfections can appear — a slight wrinkle in the fabric, a shadow that falls awkwardly, a small mark. I clean the background so it's smooth and distraction-free. Your face should be the only thing anyone notices.
Color Correction and Exposure
Every image gets color-corrected to ensure accurate, flattering skin tones and proper white balance. I also fine-tune exposure and contrast so the lighting looks its absolute best. This is the foundation that makes everything else work — a technically perfect image before any cosmetic retouching even begins.
What Retouching Does NOT Include
This is just as important. Here's what I refuse to do:
Changing Your Face Shape
I'm not going to slim your jaw, narrow your nose, or restructure your bone structure. That's not retouching — that's fabrication. If you show up to a meeting and you don't look like your headshot, that photo has failed its only job.
Heavy Filters or Presets
No Instagram filters. No trendy color grades that'll look dated in six months. No dramatic vignettes. Your headshot should be clean, timeless, and platform-neutral — it needs to work on LinkedIn, your company website, a conference badge, and a newspaper article all at the same time.
Removing Permanent Features Without Discussion
Scars, moles, birthmarks, wrinkles, laugh lines — these stay by default. If you want something specific addressed, we'll talk about it. But I'm not going to unilaterally decide to erase your crow's feet. Those are evidence that you smile. That's a good thing.
Making You Look 20 Years Younger
I can make you look refreshed. I can make you look polished. I cannot — and will not — make a 55-year-old look 35. The goal is a believable, current representation of who you are right now. Clients, colleagues, and patients need to recognize you when they meet you in person.
Over-Smoothing Skin
The "porcelain doll" effect is the hallmark of amateur retouching. When skin has zero visible texture, the image immediately reads as fake. I maintain pores, maintain natural variation, maintain humanity. The skin looks great — it just doesn't look synthetic.
The Goal: You on Your Best Day
I think about retouching this way: imagine the best version of how you've ever looked walking into a room. Well-rested, well-groomed, confidence high, everything clicking. That's what your retouched headshot should capture.
Not a fantasy version. Not a filtered version. Not someone else's face on your body. Just the best, most polished, most professional version of you — the one that makes people think "I want to work with that person."
How Many Retouched Images Do You Get?
Every headshot package includes professionally retouched images:
- Starter ($349): 1 retouched headshot + full session gallery of up to 20 unretouched images
- Professional ($499): 3 retouched headshots + full session gallery of up to 25 unretouched images
- Executive ($649): 5 retouched headshots + full session gallery of up to 25 unretouched images
Need more retouched images beyond what your package includes? Additional retouched images are $95 each. Most clients add 1-2 extras — maybe a different expression for LinkedIn versus their company website, or a tighter crop for a specific platform.
Turnaround Time
I deliver final retouched images within 24-48 hours. Not weeks. Not "whenever I get to it." You'll have your polished headshots in your inbox within two days of the session, ready to upload wherever you need them.
Same-day previews are also included with every session — you'll see your unretouched images on my laptop before you leave, so you know exactly what we captured.
Ready to Get Headshots You'll Actually Want to Use?
If you've been putting off a headshot because you're worried about looking over-edited, stiff, or fake — that's not how I work. My retouching philosophy is simple: enhance, don't alter. You'll look like yourself, just elevated.
Check out my headshot packages and pricing or request a personalized quote to get started.