Editing policy

Every photographer is different when it comes to how they edit photos and what they will and will not do. So below should give you an idea of how I edit photos, what I'm willing to do, and what I absolutely will not do.

So let's start with what I won't do.

Not happening

For starters, I will NOT do any kind of body modifications. I was once asked by someone I photographed whether I could modify the photos so she appears thinner. Yeah, absolutely not.

Now I'm not a body positivity extremist - e.g., "healthy at any size", people who think obesity isn't actually a medical problem or, worse, view it as part of the "white supremacist capitalist patriarchy" to avoid any semblance of accountability, self-control, and, in the end, self-respect... I've photographed several plus-size women and openly published those shots here. And, as those women show, I have no issues photographing plus-size women so long as they otherwise look healthy and attractive.

So to make this obvious, I will NOT edit a shot of a woman so she looks thinner, to make her bust bigger or smaller, or to make her butt look bigger or smaller. And I also will not attempt to re-contour any part of her body.

Tattoo removal is an option, but I will absolutely not make any guarantees that such will be successful. If you're concerned about your tattoos being visible in a photo, it's best to compensate with your attire rather than asking me to edit them out.

Otherwise I will not edit your appearance in any shots beyond what I express herein.

Cropping, leveling

I almost always crop. It's very rare that I don't. Along with trying to level a shot since I typically do not use a tripod or any kind of camera mount, so the shot is almost always off-level. Sometimes by a little, sometimes by a lot.

I typically deliver 4x5 aspect ratio for portrait orientation, so cropping is happening anyway - as the above animation shows. (The camera sensor is 3x2.)

With landscape orientation, I typically deliver 3x2, not 4x5. But sometimes I'll deliver 2x1 for landscape, such as this shot with Elizabeth at Antioch Park because she's tall, and 2x1 emphasizes that:

And my philosophy on taking photos is always planning to crop.

What you see on the camera screen, what I show you during the shoot, is not how the final shots will look. Which is why when Sofie asked if she could just... take a picture of the back of my screen with her cell phone when I photographed her at Antioch Park, I instead offered to send the final edited shots to her. (I do that with everyone, she just preempted me with her request.)

Scene cleanup

This kind of goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway: I will clean up the scene. The intent is to clean out distractions to create a much more appealing final product.

This is one of the more... extreme of scene cleanups, though... Thankfully most scenes aren't anywhere near this bad.

On occasion, I've had to remove large objects from a scene - e.g., this shot of Angie from her cap & gown shoot at her high school:

Color and exposure correction, color shift

As the above animation with Meranda shows, I'll on occasion decide to shift a photo to black and white. In her instance, that was because we were shooting on a sunny late afternoon in a place where there was no shade. And since she was moving around on a skateboard, there was no controlling for that. So black and white made sense.

But for the most part, I do basic color and exposure correction. Every photographer does this to some degree. Most photos don't require anything more involved than that.

Let's revisit the same shot of Angie above since the "out of camera" wasn't actually out of camera. It was this:

And, again, this was the final shot, with the final crop and the trash can removed:

Face and skin cleanup

This I know is where things can sometimes get controversial...

Acne. I will always edit out acne as best as possible. No exceptions. I know this is something I haven't always done in the past, but it's my standard going forward. Thankfully this typically doesn't involve all that much and it's rare that becomes very involved. Miraldy, Shea, and Kaitlyn definitely stand out as the exceptions.

Scabs, cuts, bruises, etc. Like with acne, these will get edited out as best I can. But if you can cover them up, it's best you do so. Especially since getting rid of bruises in a way that looks natural, like they were not there to begin with, can be challenging.

Scars. Whether I go after scars is going to vary on the circumstance. Most scars are likely getting spot healed simply for being mistaken as scabs or acne. Scars that are very apparently leftovers from self-harm or a suicide attempt or other significant event like a surgery will NOT be edited out unless an explicit request is made to do so. If they are visible, I will presume that is your intent and that you are comfortable with them being visible in a photo unless you tell me otherwise.

As an example is Crystal and the scars on her legs which appear to be leftovers from having pins in her bones to repair a fracture. I debated on cropping in closer or editing them out in shots where they're visible. But ultimately I decided that if Crystal is comfortable enough showing off her legs with that plainly visible, it isn't my place to override her. And.... she has great legs, too, so it'd be wrong not showing them off here.

Requesting additional edits

So given everything above, this does not mean you have to live with what I give you. I am only human, humans make mistakes, so it's possible I miss something I otherwise would have edited out. Same with those who review my photos before I send them out.

So if you notice something in the photos that you want edited out - an errant distraction I overlooked - then point it out and I'll take care of it per the above policy.

For example, if Crystal had asked me to edit out the scars on her legs, I probably would've pushed back initially - citing my above statements - but probably ultimately delivered on her request. Same with anyone depicted here with visible scars that appear to be leftovers from a suicide attempt or self harm.

So feel free to request any additional edits on what I've delivered and I'll do my best to deliver on it, but I do reserve the right to refuse to do so for any reason, whether already stated herein or not.