Real professional photographers need less retouch because they do most of the work at the shooting, that means; great lighting, great makeup, the right angle, a model that do not need tons or retouching.

Other hard fact is:

This post/article talks about “photographers” and that is a wrong perception, the correct approach is: SOME photographers, more those in fashion and advertising, need to achieve some results in order to sell some services, product or ideas.

So, is not that digital photographers need or is a must to retouch. Instead there are some not so good amateur photographers that need to repair the lack of talent in the digital darkroom.

A smart retouch is exactly what you really need.

Its imperative that we understand that we are not creating portraits but glamour photograph.

About year ago I come across the website of some man who is a professional retoucher and that’s really amazing. His website http://www.iwanexstudio.com/
It’s built not very good in flash, but the portfolio is amazing.

Aaron, I agree with you but only if you work for yourself. If you work for a client, you will HAVE TO change a lot to get the result client wants. And this lot you can’t do only with camera.

The came can be said for the airbrushing of hips and thighs and the painting in of ribs. It’s not that these people are fat or even out of shape. They’re human and they’re natural. If you wanted a photograph of a perfectly proportioned android, you should have photographed one. Or put the head of a celebrity on an android’s body.

I believe that photo retouching does have its place in photography, but not in completely reshaping the subjects and the perceptions that can accompany it. But overall, it comes down to the shot, how it’s framed, the artist’s rendering of the subject. I thought that was mostly achieved through the camera lens – not in Photoshop.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_of_images_in_the_Soviet_Union

It depends on the morals of the artist and the vision they have. Did Salvador Dali stay pure with his perspective and realism or did he heighten it? Did M.C. Escher decide to draw/engrave reality? Did pin-up artists decide to use a different facial structure instead of their photographic reference? Did Norman Rockwell think that he would only use his references as a whole, instead of compiling some detail shots to make his final images?

It has always been about the message and the ability to deliver a vision. The amateurs point out what not do to.

Retouching Ghost Story http://bit.ly/ghoststory

Http://hatchphotofix.com for samples and information about how retouching (restoration) works

http://www.slideshare.net/erichocinc/photo-restoration-slide-show-by-eric-hatch for a little slideshow showing tons of before-and-afters plus some reasons why we do it