Although many people refer to any alterations to a photograph to be "Photoshopped", there is a distinction between photo editing, photo retouching, and photo manipulation. Editing is the most basic technique of the three and often covers adjusting the white balance, saturation, and exposure of an image. Editing is done to some extent on many if not all images a photographer makes. Editing makes photos look "right" without changing the content at all.

Retouching is more involved than editing, takes longer to acomplish and generally requires more skill. Retouching a portrait may include any or all of the adjustments mentioned above but may go much further. Retouching actually alters the content of an image; blemishes, acne, wrinkles, blood vessles visible in the eyes, unwanted glare on a face, or fly-away hairs. The images on this page are examples of retouching [Click on images for larger size]. Minor blemishes in the skin are removed, creases in the neck are softened, the eyes and jewelry have just a little bit of sparkle added. All fairly minor changes intended to make the subjects in the photos to look their best WITHOUT looking "Photoshopped"! If you looked only at the finished, retouched photos you probably would not know there was anything done to them. That is the idea!

Photo manipulation may involve both editing and retouching, but it may go much further. People can be removed from or added to a scene. Entire backgrounds can be changed. Drastic color changes can be made to anything in a image. Really the only limitation when it comes to manipulation is your imagination. Manipulation is covered in more depth on the "Fantasy" page.