Just like most artists who share their work on the internet, I often get emails from people I don’t know. Typically, they are just expressing their appreciation for what I create or write, or asking me some photography- or retouching-related questions.

Yesterday, I got a message from a stranger, sending me a point-and-shoot type photo and giving me precise directions as to what I should do for him.

Needless to say, that’s not how I spend my time (retouching snapshots for strangers at no charge), and normally I would disregard this message, but this time (thanks to the Retouching Academy team members, and specifically to Jaron), I took a moment to share the source file in our RA Community Group.

I made sure the owner of the photo was Ok if my friends touched it up for him, of course.

And here’s what we have come up with:

By Raphael Chan

PS: