According to Urban Dictionary:

"Photoshop" (noun) is arguably the highest-quality and most versatile graphics design / editing software on the market. Highly expensive, but having nonetheless seen widespread use across the internet.

To "photoshop" (verb) an image is to generally merge or edit the picture's qualities, typically with Adobe Photoshop. It has now crept into common usage to describe any images (especially photographs) that have been edited.

I have learned that there's some common confusion around Photoshop that has leaked into the portrait photography world. As described above, the word photoshop, when used as a verb has become a catchall term to refer to a wide range of post-processing practices. To confuse things further, I've noticed that different photographers offer different levels of "photoshopping".

Here's a breakdown of what is and is not included in a photography session with me, with regards to photoshopping

WHAT IS INCLUDED:

Post-processing (also know as editing) in Photoshop and I use it to take a photo from a raw image to an edited image. I use any of all of the following actions to post-process your images:

White balance:

Adjusting the temperature, color balance and fine tuning the saturation and quality of the hues in you images.

Tone:

That's exposure (brightness), contrast, highlights, shadows, etc.

Cropping / straightening:

Getting the framing of the image (and the horizon line) perfect.

Adding filters:

That's the extra punch that I (like many photographers) use to give your images that WOW factor that makes them look professionally edited.

Basic retouching:

Adding dramatic skies where there previously were none, changing backgrounds, removing people in the background and perfecting your complexion.

WHAT ISN'T INCLUDED:

Extensive retouching

Beyond what I've just described, there's a whole universe of possibility in the retouching world.

This includes (but is certainly not limited to) slimming arms and legs, removing grey hairs and tan lines, swapping out someone's blinking eyes in one photo for their open eyes in another.

These are the sorts of things offered by professional retouchers. I am not a professional retoucher. Usually when extensive retouching is implemented, the price tag per photo is very high because of the hours of labor (and even the multiple people) involved with the retouching process.

I'm not opposed to retouching of this nature, I just haven't been trained in it and don't offer it as part of any of my services.