Jamie Breen flies kites with her family at Joe B. Barnes Park in Midwest City, OK.  Temperatures rose to 71 degrees Wednesday, February 25, 2009 prompting many people to spend time outside in the unseasonably warm weather.  (Photo by Jay Chilton)

Nice shot, pard!

Seth Chilton, 8, wags a finger at another player during a basketball game Saturday, Jan. 10, 2009.  Children learn and play basketball in the YMCA on Reno Avenue in Midwest City.

Snowplows remove ice from Reno Avenue in Midwest City at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2009.  Metro school districts were out of class four days beginning Monday, Jan. 26, 2009.

portrait retouch

Let me introduce you to Stephen, a very active seven year old boy.  When he was younger, he fell and scarred his chin.  In this image I softened the scarring in addition a few other corrections.  

First, I removed the mole on his neck, a few freckles on the nose and cheeks and a sore under the left eye.  Next, I lightened the dark and smoothed the wrinkles under both eyes.  Then I softened the scarring under the right side of his mouth and horizontally across his chin.  Finally I subtlety brightened the eyes to make his face grab the attention of the viewer.

Notice that I left some of the freckles on his nose and the red blotch on his right cheek just in front of the ear lobe.  I tried removing all the "imperfections" but the image didn't look like Stephen at all.  In this, as in most of my photography, I want people and things to look the way they look, not the way I think they should look.