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Let's Talk About Skin Smoothing

Let's talk about the out in the open, obvious to most people, but rarely discussed - skin smoothing.

In my experience, unless someone asks specifically for no skin smoothing, they will be expecting some to be applied by default. It's so "default" when taking photos of people, that those who don't want it have to ask not to have it applied. I feel like skin smoothing is just expected when someone is seeking professional photography, and is one if the things that sets professional photos apart from slefies.

Let me make this clear: skin smoothing is fine. You want to look your best in your photos, and skin smoothing will help with that. What I am not ok with is using skin smoothing while claiming to be "natural", "unprocessed", "raw" or "unedited". This sets unrealistic standards that perpetuates across social media, and overall causes more harm than good. If you are unsure if your photographer has applied skin smoothing, ask them.

There are some standard practice editing techniques that a lot of photgraphers will apply to your photos without asking you. These seemingly small touches add up to what makes professional photographer's images stand out. It is important to communicate openly with your photographer both during the shoot and after so that you both know what you will be getting.

Please know that I will not judge you for requestion skin smoothing or other photoshop services, and I hope in turn that my clients will understand that I may deny the request if I feel that the level of editing requested would cross a line that starts to misrepresent that person in a deceptive way.