There’s a tendency in retouching to make things as invisible as possible, and that often means we spend too much time on elements that could be dealt with more simply. For example, many retouchers may try to address each individual hair to preserve as much of the background as possible. Why?
Look at the before and after images, and you’ll see that the background changes quite a bit, but so what? The essential purpose and look of the background is preserved, and unless you have this kind of before/after comparison you’d probably never notice.
In the January issue, we’ll deal with the messy look in the bulk of the model’s hair as well. What are your favorite tricks for dealing with messy hair?