OK i am new to the forum and new to charging for retouching, i have strong photoshop skills, im a graphic designer and doing it for about 4 years, but im want to get into the retouch market. i got offered a freelance gig its from 40 to 60 images for a magazine dont really know to much about the mag. they gave me this sample
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s265/backlit_photos/0409_GDSMSAZ.gif" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s265/backlit_photos/0409_GDSMSAZ.gif

to work off of i did one for them they like the work, but what is a good price. hey mentioned 20 to 25 a image is that good or bad it sound like a little to me but what do you think i located in Tucson, AZ the job is from phoenix any feed back will help thanks

I charge by the hour, not the piece. Minimum 1 hour ($40 an hour in my area is considered almost highway robbery, but I'm in the boondocks. I know folks in the big city get hundreds of dollars an hour). But charging by the hour makes sense to me. Some jobs you can knock out quickly, others may take a lot of time and TIME (plus your expertese) is what they are paying for. For the customer it pretty much averages out.

yea it sounds like they want a pro to do it but they want to pay pocket change. i am going to ask for more for the job. i am worth more then that i think most of the images require plastic surgery and other stuff.

Good for you. If you go in low ball, then they never want to pay what it's worth later and complain when you raise your price (and probably go somewhere else at that point too). Been there, done that. I give a customer my pricing (heck CVC charges $40 for a very basic color correction), ask to see the piece(s) then give them an extimate.. "Looks like about 2 hours work".. I quit working at 2 hours, show them where I'm at with the project and if it needs more work, I tell them "Probably another 45 minutes." or whatever.

If you are dealing with professionals, they have a pretty good idea of what might be involved in a given job and about how difficult it might be. Doing a reconstruction such as your sample, and ending up with a sellable piece does require time.

A lot of people are outsourcing to India and other foreign countries because they are cheap, but often the quality is terrible.

Wow They Are Outsourcing That To Man

Thanks i had to do that once to getting to the field of graphics charging pennies and now i get good checks, And i don't want to have to deal with that again, i just need to find out what people charge in AZ, but if i have to turn the job down o well i could finish my website so it will work out anyway. thanks