See the Difference
The Standard
The Plastic Look
Fast automatic scripts blur the skin or invent fake textures. The result looks plastic and hurts your brand.
- ✕ Lost Skin Texture: Real pores get blurred into smooth, rubbery skin.
- ✕ Changed Faces: AI tools can change the shape of a face, warp the eyes and replace the smile.
- ✕ Flat Lighting: Highlights and shadows get washed out, so the face looks flat in print.
- ✕ No Privacy: Your files can end up on public servers and be used to train AI models.
Careful Hand Retouching
We work on each photo by hand, adjusting light and shadow pore by pore. The result looks unretouched, just naturally clean.
- ✓ Real Skin Texture: We fix blemishes and redness and keep the pores and texture of real skin.
- ✓ Natural Face Shape: Light and shadow are adjusted by hand to keep the face looking three-dimensional.
- ✓ Accurate Skin Tones: Color grading that respects every skin tone, with no gray cast and no fake-tan orange.
- ✓ Private by Default: Files stay on our own computers, are never used to train AI, and an NDA is available.
What We Retouch
Real Skin Texture
Blemishes, irritation and uneven tone are fixed by hand while the natural skin texture stays. Never plastic, never fake.
- Real pores kept
- Hand-shaped light and shadow
- Natural highlights
Makeup, Eyes & Lips
Clean lip edges, smooth eyeliner and eyeshadow, natural-looking teeth and bright, detailed eyes.
- Clean lip and lash edges
- Balanced highlights
- Natural skin undertones
Hair & Flyaways
Stray hairs removed, thin partings filled in, hairlines tidied, and natural volume and shine kept.
- Stray hairs removed
- Tidy hairlines
- Natural shine
Color Grading & Print Files
Color graded to match your moodboard and prepared for print or web in the right color space.
- 16-bit color workflow
- FOGRA39 / GRACoL CMYK
- 300+ DPI master files
How It Works
RAW Files & Moodboard
We look at your RAW files and any moodboard or references you send, and agree on the skin tone and look before we start.
Skin Retouching
A senior retoucher shapes highlights and shadows by hand, pore by pore. No AI smoothing and no blur shortcuts.
Hair, Makeup & Final Polish
We tidy flyaways, clean lip edges, balance the eyes, and prepare the files in the color space you need.
Delivery
You get full-resolution TIFF masters for print and JPEGs for web and social. Revision rounds are included.
Pricing
No minimum order. Send one headshot or a full wedding, family or fashion collection. One senior retoucher keeps color and skin tone consistent across every frame.
Rush Delivery
Need it faster? We move your order to the front of the line and confirm the new deadline in your quote.
Layered PSD / TIFF
Standard delivery is a flattened TIFF plus an sRGB JPEG. Ask for layered working files before we start.
NDA & Strict Privacy
A signed NDA for unreleased campaigns, prototypes and personal work.
Choose add-ons when you send your request. Everything is confirmed in your quote before you pay.
Get a Personal Quote Ready to See What Your Photos Can Become?
Send us your images or project brief. We'll review your request personally and reply within 12 hours with a price and estimated turnaround.
- 1 Send your photosor a short project brief
- 2 Get a quote in 12hwith price and turnaround
- 3 Receive masters in 3–7 daysrush and NDA on request
FAQ
We work by hand with manual dodge & burn instead of blur or smoothing filters. We even out small shadows and highlights pore by pore in 16-bit color, so every real pore, freckle and fine hair stays sharp, even when you zoom in to 400%.
AI filters guess what skin should look like, either by inventing fake texture or by blurring everything. The result looks like plastic, can change the shape of the face, and often falls apart in print. At LightHouse Retouch, every beauty image is retouched by hand by a senior retoucher, so the person still looks real.
Yes. High-end beauty retouching (starts at $50 / image) includes smoothing cakey foundation, cleaning up eyeliner wings, separating clumpy lashes, tidying lip edges and gloss highlights, and matching eyeshadow colors to your brand swatches.
We accept all proprietary camera RAW files (.ARW, .CR3, .NEF, .IIQ, .DNG, .TIFF). Standard delivery includes high-resolution print-ready TIFF and color-calibrated web-ready sRGB JPEG files within 3–7 days (with 3 revision rounds included). Working Layered PSD / TIFF files are available as an optional add-on (+50%) when requested upfront.
Absolutely. You can attach moodboards, tearsheets, or color swatches with your submission. We calibrate RAW color profiles in Capture One and Photoshop to match your creative direction while keeping skin tones natural and accurate across all complexions.
Your files stay on our own computers. They are never shared, published in our portfolio, or used to train AI without your written permission. An NDA is available on request.