How much retouching is used in maternity photography?

Retouching is used on every photograph I deliver, and it is used lightly. My working rule is that retouching completes a photograph without erasing the person in it. In practice that means I remove the things that were only present for one particular week, and I leave the things that are permanently and recognizably you.

I do not apply one heavy treatment across a whole gallery. I work photograph by photograph, and the amount of work varies. Some images need almost nothing at all, and others need a few minutes of careful attention. The intention is that you notice the photograph first and the editing not at all.

What I remove without being asked

Some things belong to a single week rather than to you, and those are the things I take out. Nothing on this list changes who you are in the photograph.

• A blemish that appeared in the days before the session
• Redness or temporary irritation on the skin
• A stray hair lying across the face, the shoulder or the belly
• Marks pressed into the skin by clothing, such as a strap line or an elastic mark
• A loose thread, a stubborn crease, or a clip holding a gown in place
• Dust, lint or a scuff on the studio floor or backdrop

The test I apply is simple. If something would be gone on its own within a month, it may go now. If it would still be there, it stays, unless you tell me otherwise.

I also correct color and light across the whole set so that the images look as though they were made in one afternoon, because a gallery that drifts in tone is distracting even when every single frame is fine on its own.

What I leave alone

Your skin keeps its texture. Freckles, moles, scars, stretch marks and the darker line down the belly stay where they are, because they belong to a real body carrying a real pregnancy. I do not narrow arms, reduce the belly, lengthen a leg or reshape a face. Once a body has been redrawn, the photograph stops being a record of this pregnancy and becomes a picture of somebody who does not exist. Years from now you will want to look at these images and recognize yourself in them, and that is only possible if you are still in them.

You choose which photographs are retouched

Unedited proofs reach your private gallery in approximately one to two days after the session. You look through them at home, in your own time and without me sitting beside you, and you choose the images you want finished. The number included depends on your experience: Light includes 10 retouched images, Comfort includes 20, and Premium includes 30. Additional retouched images are $20 each and may be added while you are making your selections. Retouched photographs are delivered within 21 business days of the day you send me your choices.

If you want something changed, tell me

Restraint is my starting point, not a rule I impose on you. If there is a bruise, a healing mark, or something that has been on your mind since the day of the session, tell me when you make your selections and I will attend to it. This is your body and your record of it. Some women want everything left exactly as it was, and some want one specific thing softened, and both answers are correct. What I will not do is make that decision quietly on your behalf.

What happens during a maternity photoshoot