I think another part of this whole debate has to do with the state of photography (and filmmaking) education. Many veteran photographers who’ve spent one, two, or even three decades perfecting their craft get a little off-put at the rise of workshops by those in it less than ten, maybe even five years. So you have all of these emotions coming into play when people see a $16,500 1-day workshop.

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Not retouching is like walking outside in the morning with no makeup.

…and you’re going to a huge party.

I just saw these new behind the scenes shots from Annie Leibovitz’s new Disney campaign and I think it’s time that the question gets asked…

Should the retoucher (in this type of extreme compositing situation) get just as much credit as Annie?

Does it really matter who gets the credit as the artist?  Did Industrial Light and Magic get a  co-directing credit for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace?  If that really was the case, you couldn’t pick up a singe magazine these days without seeing a humongous list of all the retouchers who touch every pixel of every image that shows up in print.  There are a ton of photographers out there shooting for free - but quality retouchers make bank.