If it’s your first time getting your professional headshot taken, you might be wondering what “retouching” or “airbrushing” means on our pricing page. In fact, some people come into our studio without knowing that the service is included with their session.

Simply put, “airbrushing” or “retouching” is the process of enhancing a photo by removing distracting elements that lower the overall quality and impression that photo leaves on viewers.

In the context of a headshot, that oftentimes means removing unflattering and unnecessary imperfections that are more obvious in high-resolution photography than in ordinary life. Acne, yellow teeth, or stray hairs are the most common examples.

Now, many of us wish we could be 5 years younger, 10 pounds lighter, and perhaps have a bit more hair. And, while the team here is dedicated to making you look your best…here is our guiding principle:

We want to make you look like the best version of yourself…

…without the average viewer being able to notice that editing was done.

In our experience, you only see the benefits of editing if the viewer doesn’t realize the photo has been edited. There’s nothing worse than a poorly-done/tacky editing job.

How to Customize Your HeadShots Editing:

After every session, we will send you a preview gallery with the images from your session.

At that point, you’ll also get a link to the HeadShots Inc Editing Form, where you can request which photos you’d like us to edit along with instructions on how you want us to edit the photo. You can select the specific “retouching services” you’d like us to use on your HeadShots, along with providing us some overall guidance on how natural/retouched your final photo should look.

For every set of headshots, you can give us a number between 1 and 5 which indicates “how retouched” your final photo should be. On this scale, a “1” will have ZERO retouching besides overall photo lighting and contrast. A “5” will have beauty/fashion style heavy retouching work that minimizes textures on the the face.

Most professionals choose somewhere in between, but feel free to select whatever you want!

For your reference, here are the editing services we provide with each airbrushed photo.

Retouching Services Included:

Retouching Service #1: Remove facial shine

Retouching Service #2: Remove acne

Retouching Service #3: Remove stray hairs (Video coming soon)

Retouching Service #4: Whiten teeth

Retouching Service #5: Lessen visibility of bags under eyes

If requested, we can also remove permanent marks (ie moles, scars, and freckles – we do not touch these by default), reduce facial skin wrinkles (age masking), and brighten eyes.

To help you find the right retouching scale # for you, take a look the examples of a “1”, “3”, and “5” below:

These editing services add a ton of polish to your final airbrushed HeadShots. But, remember, if you’re worried about us “over editing” your photos, you can also mark a “1” or “2” on the editing scale to make sure you get the perfect headshot for your preferences!

Thanks for reading! If you’re ready to book your session, head on over to headshots-inc.com. Comment below if you have any questions. If you want a quick answer, please email us at smile@headshots-inc.com.