Retouching:

Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, but 99% of all images are retouching in some way. Perhaps the most strict of news agencies are scrupulously checking their photographers work for even the slightest hint of the healing brush tool, but even then what is considered too much editing/retouching, and what is just good table manners when it comes to editing photographs? If I'm a photographer for Reuters, and I take a photograph of a breaking news story, but I crop the photograph to make it 'a better' photograph, is that going to far? Did I crop out some small yet potentially important part of the story?

Oh well, I am sure there is a lot of room for me to dig a very large hole for myself, discussing the ethics of photojounalist retouching. I won't go there.

I retouch all my photographs. I don't have to worry about reality. So I have become quite good at tweaking 'good' images into 'great' images. And I can show you how too.

Retouching: $60 per hour.

Can you see the joins? There are five of them! (4 hours of Photoshop work for final composite image)

Restoring:

There are probably millions of old photographs in need of some repair and restoration. Time is not friendly to old photographic papers but considering some of the projects I've worked on were 100+ years old, they are doing pretty darn good by modern standards.

So perhaps you have some family pictures that are yellowed, ripped, fading into invisibility. All is not lost. With some time and patience I can bring those old photos back to life.

Restoration: $60 per hour.

Can you tell which was the before photo and which was the after? (2 hours of Photoshop work for final image)