Don’t even get me started! I have written about this before and think about it often as it relates to my work as a photographer and more importantly as a mom of an impressionable (princess and makeup enamored 2.5 yr old).

My practical advice for photographers is to know where you stand and how you feel about “modifying” your client’s images, especially if you are in the early stages of beginning your business when you are especially prone to wanting to do whatever you can to make everyone happy. I am not just talking about the the moral dilemma that it presents (what are we as photographers saying about what constitutes as beauty?) but even just practically speaking…is your bride under the impression that you are going to remove her wedding day acne out of 700 wedding images? Is mom hoping that you will take a few inches off of her in her family portraits – all 50 of them? If you do some of these more in depth edits to the “sneak peak” images that your client sees on your blog, will he/she be disappointed when she sees the rest of the images that didn’t receive that same hollywood treatment but are truer to reality? Why isn’t reality beautiful enough? Whatever options you decide to offer to your clients it is worth giving it some intentional thought and then educating your clients in a way that builds realistic expectations while helping them to see the beauty that you see in them. Learn to do the “hard work” up front of making your clients feel beautiful during the shoot which goes such a long way to getting beautiful natural images.  In addition,your compliments, coaching, outfit suggestions, lighting and posing can often do just as much as photoshop can.

On a separate note, as a mom blessed with the task of raising girls in today’s society (scary!) I want to make sure that my daughters understand the reality behind the message in this video and that they are constantly reminded of what biblical beauty looks like:

“Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” Prov 31:30

“I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, and my soul knows it very well.” Psalm 139:14

Fotoshop by Adobé from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.