IndexNo. 07 / 15Retouching

Quiet Hours

Medical equipment gently removed from a newborn’s NICU photo.

Deliverable: Family keepsake
Techniques: Sensitive retouching, Clean-up, Texture reconstruction
Format: Before / after

A sleeping newborn with a hand against the cheek, wrapped in a white blanket, with no medical equipment visible.

The same sleeping newborn in hospital with a feeding tube, adhesive tape, an IV line and a chest sensor.

Drag the divider — or focus it and use the arrow keys — to compare.

The brief

For many families, the only photos of a baby’s first days are NICU photos, with tubes, tape and sensors in every frame. The goal: one image of those days without them.

The craft

The feeding tube, adhesive tape, IV line and chest sensor were removed, and the skin, fingers and blanket underneath rebuilt with natural texture — no plastic smoothing, and nothing about the baby changed.

The result

The same moment, as calm as it felt.