Are photo retouchers parasites in the photo industry? Retoucher Amy Dresser explains her point of view

10/28/2012 ISO 1200 Magazine 0 Comments

According to Amy Dresser, photo retouchers are parasites in the photo industry – without photographers, people like her wouldn’t exist. Yet retouching has never been more prevalent, and we increasingly blur the line between photography and illustration.

As a professional photo retoucher, Amy’s attitude is not to make any image perfect; keep the character, but remove what might be distracting.

Some examples after/before:

After | photo by Erik Almås

Before | photo by Erik Almås

After | photo by Cristiana Ceppas

Before | photo by Cristiana Ceppas

After | photo by Cade Martin

Before | photo by Cade Martin

After | photo by Cristiana Ceppas

Before | photo by Cristiana Ceppas

She creates images with nice skin tones, more volume and a great visual impact.

About Amy Dresser:

Amy Dresser is a native of Bucksport, Maine.

She graduated from Hofstra University in 1998 with a B.S. in Fine Arts, specializing in figurative and portrait painting. She started her commercial art adventures as an Illustrator and Managing Editor for Nonsense, the campus humor magazine. In 1999 she received a Post-Baccalaureate in Painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

After graduating, she moved back to New York. She freelanced in illustration before being hired by Jill Greenberg as her full-time retoucher in 2000.

Now based in Los Angeles, Amy has worked as a freelance photo retoucher and illustrator for the past eight years.

More inspiration: Amy Dresser´s website

Video via PhotoShelter.com

NOTE: Watch the second part: Portrait Retouch Face Sculpting with Retoucher Amy Dresser