I consider myself primarily a portraitist, though not exclusively one, and retouching is a subject I've given much thought over the years. I read about Edward Weston and others swearing off retouching of any kind in response to their judgement of the excesses of others, like William Mortensen. I've anguished over my inability to retouch with hardware as I can with software and it's played a major role in my decisions about my workflows. I can't commit to a 100% non-digital workflow because I can't give up digital retouching. I even bought an Adams retouching machine to try to close that gap, but aside from restoring the device and reading several books on the subject I've spent exactly zero hours learning physical retouching. None of this is to say I'm always happy with my digital retouching- in fact, it's the aspect of my portraits that most often disappoints me. It is SO EASY to overdo it!
With roll film formats I think it'd be almost impossible to physically retouch the negatives without them looking awful in the enlargements. I also mainly retouch my images digitally because of the ease, and because I'm either showing them online in digital form or printing them out as digital prints. What I've taken from the historical texts are those lessons in restraint, not overdoing it, and just eliminating distracting flaws or adjusting things like shadows in faces that can't easily be fixed with dodging or burning.
Some years back, when Mark Osterman was running regular workshops at the George Eastman Museum, he offered one on historical retouching techniques for glass plate negatives. I never found the time to take it and kind of regret it even though I have everything I need to do it at home.
I consider myself primarily a portraitist, though not exclusively one, and retouching is a subject I've given much thought over the years. I read about Edward Weston and others swearing off retouching of any kind in response to their judgement of the excesses of others, like William Mortensen. I've anguished over my inability to retouch with hardware as I can with software and it's played a major role in my decisions about my workflows. I can't commit to a 100% non-digital workflow because I can't give up digital retouching. I even bought an Adams retouching machine to try to close that gap, but aside from restoring the device and reading several books on the subject I've spent exactly zero hours learning physical retouching. None of this is to say I'm always happy with my digital retouching- in fact, it's the aspect of my portraits that most often disappoints me. It is SO EASY to overdo it!
With roll film formats I think it'd be almost impossible to physically retouch the negatives without them looking awful in the enlargements. I also mainly retouch my images digitally because of the ease, and because I'm either showing them online in digital form or printing them out as digital prints. What I've taken from the historical texts are those lessons in restraint, not overdoing it, and just eliminating distracting flaws or adjusting things like shadows in faces that can't easily be fixed with dodging or burning.
Some years back, when Mark Osterman was running regular workshops at the George Eastman Museum, he offered one on historical retouching techniques for glass plate negatives. I never found the time to take it and kind of regret it even though I have everything I need to do it at home.