Actually, no indictment is needed. For one thing, the killing is figurative. More important, DigitalRetouch takes full, gleeful credit for what they have done. All of this I explain fully in an article for the last issue of AfterCapture. In “Transforming Celebrities Into Super Models,” I share the story of how fashion photographers Andrew Matusik and Stewart Price teamed up in 2004 to join the ranks of the elite retouching forces that are ensuring that regular-ole-looking celebrities have nothing to fear from would-be super models.
“If it doesn’t look like we did anything, then we did our job,” Matusik told me, which might seem like an obvious comment about retouching, but which Matusik says is a lesson that many photographers still need to learn. In the article I note that Matusik “believes strongly that any specific techniques are far less important than a retoucher thinking like a photographer and seeing like an artist.”
“Transforming Celebrities” was a great assignment. I had already written an article about Matusik for Rangefinder, and I really digged his work, attitude and perspectives. This piece gave me a chance to meet Price, and to learn about the ins and outs of retouching without getting into the ins and outs of specific techniques. Naively, I hadn’t realized there would be so much meat to the critical subject of retouching, and I appreciated the chance to learn and share.
If you are interested in retouching — for relatively light skin correction the most complex composting, of which Matusik is a unique master — you’ll likely enjoy “Transforming Celebrities.”
Excerpt on the Killing
“We contributed to the death of the supermodel,” says Matusik, referring specifically to DigitalRetouch as well as excellent retouchers throughout the industry. “Fashion magazines would always feature models on their covers. Models are freaks of nature—skinny, perfect skin, unusual symmetry.” He explains that Continue reading “DigitalRetouch Indicted For Killing Super Models”
