How far is too far when it comes to editing?
A few weeks ago, news broke that a high school yearbook staff had edited out girls cleavage. Now, as someone who went to a private school, I can attest to the fact that schools can be pretty strict when it comes to dress code. Pulling out a ruler and checking skirt lengths, for instance, was a regular occurrence at my school. Completely. I was a high school yearbook editor myself, and I cant remember an instance where we had to edit photos in this fashion. Sure, we had a dress code  and if someone didnt follow that for their school photos, they had to get retakes. This is a before and after yearbook photo taken of Bartram Trail 9th grade high school student, Riley OKeefe. She says it was deemed inappropriate by the school and photoshopped in the printed edition. Parents and students are now asking for a major change. @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/f8MjkZMDOw  Ben Ryan (@BenRyanANJax) May 20, 2021  But the fact of the matter is, these edits were blatant and covering up something thats deemed a natural part of a woman or girls body. The same school was perfectly fine with putting the boys swim team photos in the yearbook, which had them in speedos. Theres a double standard here thats not right. A lighter brush is always best  Over the years of photographing, Ive used having a natural style to my advantage. As someone who photographs events, I want my clients to remember the events as they were. That doesnt mean the images are perfect, but theyre representative of the event. The same rule of thumb can be taken when editing portraits. A lighter brush is always best. If the person has acne, brush some of it out, but dont go overboard and smooth their skin to an extreme. If a person is a little heavy, dont take 50 pounds off so that the person looks completely different. Likewise, dont make their eye color super bright (or even a different color). Our responsibility as photographers  As photographers, were there to capture the moment. It doesnt matter if youre an event photographer, wedding photographer, street photographer, landscape photographer or any other type of photographer. Youre there to photograph what you see in front of you, as it is (unless your intent is to create digital art). While some edits might be necessary  for instance, you might take out a person from a wide landscape shot  most of the time, I find myself enhancing my scene, not completely altering it. This is one of the reasons Im so excited for Adobes investment into the Content Authenticity Initiative. This makes it so that youre able to write any edits you make to your photographs, which can then be viewed by everyday people on the web. It makes it so that photographers can track usage of their images, but that consumers can also tell if a photograph is legit or fake. Next time you edit a portrait, think about your process. If so, I suggest you rethink how youre going about your portraits. Your clients will thank you for it  and ultimately youll be capturing what you see. Not what you think might look best.