Say you hate Photoshop

A cosplay image before-and-after retouching. (image source: komica)

I was looking at some amazing before-and-after shots of celebrities on this funzblog article and it reminded me we have the thing in the cosplay circle too.

Digital photography makes PP (post-processing) of photos so much easier. Photographers no longer need a fancy darkroom to edit their image. Most photographers these days PP their own images after shooting. The degree of processing ranges from minor exposure/color adjustment to major retouching of the model's skin/bodyshape/face etc.

Although most of the time the photographer did the processing. However, if a job wasn't well done most often the cosplayers get the blames. Cosplayers certainly don't want a reputation of "over-shopping" their faces. That's why so often you will see people arguing violently on cosplay.com and other forums about PP and cosplay photo.



Photo retouched by master photo retoucher Amy Dresser (image source: photoshopblog.net)

Do realized that post-processing is a necessary part of the creative process. Telling your photographer to not process your images will greatly limit the creative potential of the shoot. However, if you do have concerns on the degree of processing the photographer might apply to your photo by all mean you should
discuss with your photographer about it.

Another thing you can do is to talk to your photog to see is it possible to get a copy of the unedited images along with the edited photographs. Be sure to talk to your photographer before editing any of the unedited images as there might be a particular look/style they want in all of their photo and you might ruin their reputation if you didn't do a great job on the editing.

That's about it, happy photoshopping (or not) XD!