I\'m not coming in here to argue anymore - I apologize for being snippy and do appreciate the comments - all of them. I do want to say that I generally have the \'end result\' in my mind as I\'m taking a shot - I already know what I want it to look like and how I will process it. Sometimes I go for a more gritty edit, sometimes I want a smoother, softer look. It\'s all subjective and artistically/personally motivated. I did do some soft skin smoothing on these portraits because that was part of the look I was after. No freckles were patched/spot removed away, but I did want a more contrasted, saturated, creamy skin look for them. Why? That\'s the vision I had in mind for these shots.
By contrast, here\'s an image, ironically, taken in the very same location that I went for a much grittier look with. Nothing wrong with either of them, IMO - they\'re just different shots/different shoots and I had different end results in mind when I took them.
