lsc1 &
Carpe Imago - Yes, I will share some retouching ideas when I have some time. (next few days) I will work with the above image when I do since you have already seen it.
Photomart - ty. The end goal is always to please the client with what they want. The real challenge is that sometimes they do not know what they even want. It's sort of a forcasting art/business.
jford - Well put. Recently I purchased a book titled "Networking Visually" and it told that very same story of the telegraph companies turning down the phone. All they needed to do was to step back another step and see that their business was to communicate. -- I have that same acute angle on photography as well that you mentioned. It's about the what comes in the end. Create it as you would like. Of course there are some rules and practical ideas, but with the extensive technology that we have and are gaining it becomes such a broad creative process.
-joshua