Seems I'm going to buck the trend and say that I actually like it. Of corse there are times where I want to get away from it when I'm buried under a tonne of jobs but need to motor through it but for me it's a big part of the image making and creative process...i really enjoy it and while I've tried getting other people to do it I've never once been happy with the results and it's just easier, quicker and better time if I do it my self. I don't have the ability to miss deadlines when the retoucher hasn't completed it or done it right needing to do it again.
It's a skill I've developed over a long time and that is very valuable. I've developed procedures and techniques that are unique to me and my work and that is even more valuable as it differentiates me from the next person. But on the other hand I only get 4 hours of sleep a night mostly 7 days w week. But it's really by choice. Still after close to 2 decades it doesn't feel like work. It has made me indispensable with my clients. If something goes wrong outside of the teams ability to plan for it then I know I can fix anything. There has never been a time that it hasn't worked.
Most of my computer work on an image is spent working the colour, tonality, of an image. Massaging the tones. I'm actually retouching less than I used to since my capture and lighting skills and gear has improved over the years and also as the jobs get better and the models get better, there's more organisation on shoot day, so less to "fix" later on. I am a stickler for getting it done in camera. Regardless of it it being easier or not, as a professional, a craftsman and an artisan that's your job to do it in camera at shoot time.
Generally I can't step away from it until it's right. It's never perfect though which is an ongoing source of angst.
My favourite quote is a Michelangelo one (I believe). Something along the lines of "you don't finish a work of art you merely abandon it". Rings very true for me.
If I ever catch myself complaining I remember all those years I spent struggling to get work and I shut tf up, be thankful and enjoy the ride. I'm probably going to take someone on to do the general cleaning, skin work etc but to give it up is to me giving up the reason I fell in love with photography and fell in love with the image making process.
Lastly the computer hasn't changed anything. I remember the early days or doing it in the darkroom. Processing, proofing, spending a whole night on a print and blowing a whole box of paper just to get it perfect, spotting a neg Then spending a weekend toning, bleaching, working and finishing the print. I used to love painting but liked the immediacy of photography. Maybe it would just be quicker to return to painting!
