I'm a professional who takes my business very seriously and I focus on producing a quality experience. I enjoy putting just as much thought and money into producing polished, professional images that capture my vision and my branding to reflect this. I do think it sends a message about a lady's willingness to invest in her own business when she has very thoughtful, creative photos. Do these need to be professional photos? No, not really. But I actually hate having my photos taken and much prefer to work with a professional who can use the best lighting and make me feel the most comfortable. I do not like having clients or friends take photos of me and a professional photographer helps me enact my vision for my own marketing. Most professional companies use professional photographers and I don't see is as any different.
Over-editing IS a problem. I remove my small tattoo for my privacy and temporary things like bruises. Sometimes in a certain pose a piece of clothing will squeeze in a strange unflattering way and it's nice to have that smoothed out so it doesn't distract from the overall image. I recently had to drop my old photographers and find a new one because it seemed like I kept having to send back edited images to them to ask them to stop slenderizing me and lightening my skin. I'm curvy and tan, not skinny and pale. A good professional makes an image look polished and striking, but doesn't unnecessarily falsify the image of a lady's body. I'm so happy with my recent photoshoot because the photographer barely edited my skin and body at all. Primarily just lighting. There's even still scars in the images because I forgot to ask him to remove those. I think that's not a bad thing at all. I love having my natural skin in the shot instead of something fake-looking.
I try to include selfies to demonstrates hat my pics aren't overly-photoshopped because I know that this is a major concern for guys who are browsing. Most of my reputation is on TER so I don't have as much of a reputation here for unquestionably looking like my photos. As a matter of fact, I just took a new selfie this morning and added it to my showcase. I try to do my selfies in the same lingerie I shoot my professional photos in just so it's very clear that everything matches up. No disappointments when someone meets me in person! Most people tell me that I actually look way better than my photos.