There’s one small imperfection left. You can see it if you look for it. It isn’t distracting. The client hasn’t mentioned it. Removing it would make the image slightly more polished - but slightly less real.
What do you do?
A. Remove it. If I noticed it, it should be addressed.
B. Leave it. Not everything visible needs to be corrected.
C. Reduce it, but don’t remove it completely.
D. It depends on the purpose of the image.
B. Leave it. Not everything visible needs to be corrected.
C. Reduce it, but don’t remove it completely.
D. It depends on the purpose of the image.
My take
I would choose C - reduce it, but not remove it completely.
Not every imperfection needs to disappear. If something catches my attention, I’ll usually look at whether it actually distracts from the image, and if it does, I may soften it.
But completely removing something simply because I can feels unnecessary to me. Sometimes a small irregularity is part of what keeps an image believable.
For me, the goal is usually to make the detail stop competing for attention, not to erase every trace of it.