I am editing some photos from a shoot I did a few days ago, and they’re for headshots for an actor, she has requested that I remove some blemishes, mainly the acne scars she has, I removed them but it’s quite a drastic edit, and it makes it look a lot less like her, I told her this and she still wants it removed.
Part of me just wants to get the job done, but also, I feel like it’ll be bad for her as a headshot as it doesn’t represent her fully, and personally I think she looked better with the scars left in, not because the edit was bad but because it gave a bit more character to her face and they weren’t even unattractive.
I’m deciding whether to send her versions with blemishes and without or if that’ll annoy her enough to not work with me again as she seemed quite offended that I even suggested leaving them in.
What does everyone think?
This might be an unpopular opinion, but I let my clients know they can go to a professional retoucher to do things that either I don’t have a lot of experience in, or just can’t do. I would give the retouched photo and a less retouched photo, so if she’s not happy, she can send it to another retoucher
I don’t know why this got downvoted, I think it’s a perfectly acceptable option if you’re not willing or able to do the work for one reason or another. Referrals, especially, can build a decent network in a community.