Digital Photo Restoration and Enhancement

This post will be on digital photo retouching and enhancing, mostly what I think about it, and about starting a photo retouching business.

About 4 years ago I started an online photo retouching business, I designed and developed my own website. It was called Magic Retouch (.co.uk), and I started it just to make some money before I started at Brunel Uni. 

 

After designing my website and hosting it I started trying to advertise my business. I won't go into how I went about that in this post, as it will then be too long. But in the next few posts I will talk about ways to advertise your business.

I mostly did makeup retouching for clients, this included: wrinkle removal, full make-up (eyeliner, eyeshadow, lip colour, concealer, foundation, and blusher.), eye whitening, change of eye colour, teeth bleaching, and even enhancing hair colour.

While I did enjoy "fixing up" clients photographs it did leave me feeling like "No body looks like this" I know everyone wants to look good in photos, but I think the media puts a lot of pressure on women, and men to look a certain way. And this is only going to get worse; children as young as 4 should not be worrying about how they look. I know I certainly didn't when I was a young child, for me, personal image only became important about the age of 14.

I don't want to add any of my clients photos so below is an old photograph of me and my dog that I retouched quickly for this post. I did this to get my point across, because it is only after seeing my "after" photo that I start to have doubts about how I look. Even the pooch had her teeth and nose brightened.

The next type of work I did was photo restoration, this included: restoring old photographs that may been torn, worn out, and getting rid of unwanted marks, like dust or scratches et cetera. 

And this for me was the best type of photo retouching, as I felt it was like restoring someones memories. I know my dad was pleased with the photo I retouched for him (he is the baby in the photo, and the man is his father).

 

The above photo took quite some time to restore as the creases were quite severe.

And the final service I provide was adding colour to black and white photos, which was enjoyable but it took the most time.

So to sum up, I am okay with photo restoration, but I think digital makeup retouching puts the wrong type of image and thought into peoples heads, especially young adults and children. 

On my website I had numerous pages and they included the home page, examples of my work, a price list, a page dedicated to how the business works, a page to submit your photos, frequently asked questions, terms & conditions, testimonials, and a contact us page. And of course included was a paypal button, so that my clients could pay me.

The reason why I stopped was not because of how I felt about digital makeup retouching but because firstly I was about to start at Brunel Uni, so all my time and focus was going to be taken up with that. And secondly because I found that my clients were decreasing week on week, and I think this was down to high street stores offering the same service.

As I've already said, one of my next posts will be on ways to advertise your business/website. 
What are your thoughts on photo retouching?