I was monitoring my notority...LOL! Online doing searches on my website name and such and stumbled apon this voy forum: http://www.voy.com/158826/

You guys know I do pageant retouch work and I thought it rather interesting what at least one (so far) photographer things of retouch work (I'm copying and pasting, but above is the link) I expect this might get heated. BTW the photographers in this niche normally charge $150 to $175 per retouched photograph. Mid to high range for the retouchers is $30 to $50 per pic.

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Subject: I am a retoucher, if you are a photographer hunting for one leave your email and I will contact you with samples.

Author:
Anonymous
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Date Posted: 22:12:04 11/15/04 Mon
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thanks

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Replies:

* Make sure you get what you're worth. Photogs post their fees on their websites. Make sure you make AT LEAST half of what they charge their clients. You're doing all the work to make them look good. (NT) -- Anonymous, 05:44:35 11/16/04 Tue
* OMG you are kidding right??? What about the photographers expenses, such as lab, printing, gas, shipping, equipment upkeep etc. If it were that way the retouchers would be making all the $$ and the photgraphers would be making 00000000.00000 LOL You people don't realize what's involved in the process obviously. Not to mention that the photographers have to deal with you parents when you don't like something the retoucher has done. The retoucher only has to deal with the photgrapher and they never have to leave their home. (NT) -- Anonymous, 11:01:32 11/16/04 Tue

Tried reading some of the threads on the posted link, but the petty bitching on that site really is just too much. Life's too short, so had to leave. But thanks for the link, it's made me feel so superior, and there's not much does that these days.

Lol, don't I know it. I skimmed through it and there is indeed a bunch of griping going on. Makes me happy to have a boring life.

grafx

Interesting place to vist, do not want to live there!

I backed up and looked at the page with all the ads for the photographers etc etc, and altho I think the results are a little overblown, I would like to know how they get such perfect eyelashes. Can you give me any hints on that?

Thanks

Mike

Interesting place to vist, do not want to live there!

Mike

Gives insight to the kind of people you're working with if you do pageant retouch. Some are nice, but a lot fall into that crowd. I just like seeing where my address pops up. There is a website called www.submitcorner.com that also lets you see who is linking to you. Always, checking to see if I have any bad PR :)

As for the lashes, they're all hand drawn using a mouse or tablet.

I suspect a realistic and more reasonable proposition is "make sure you make in profit at least half of what the photographer makes in profit". The second poster is quite right about the overheads involved in running a photography business -- they can be scary and a fair chunk of what a photographer charges goes to cover them. Partly it depends on the charging structure. Where a photographer has a high session fee there's a reasonable chance that that covers overheads and that bar printing etc. the charges for the prints are mostly profit -- but others who don't charge for the session or don't charge very much are likely having to sell a certain number of prints just to cover overhead.

Plus it depends how much work the photographer is doing. If the lighting and posing are well done then that does contribute a lot to the finished picture, while if it's effectively an amateur-level shot that is turned over to the retoucher to fix then the retoucher should get a very high proportion of the profit.

If the lighting and posing are well done then that does contribute a lot to the finished picture, while if it's effectively an amateur-level shot that is turned over to the retoucher to fix then the retoucher should get a very high proportion of the profit.

You make a very good point. I personally have a flat rate pricing table, but it is based on an hourly rate. For my geographic area $40/hr is very fair - this is bonus to internet clients where pricing is higher in their area. A pageant retouch from an average photographer takes about an hour. Naturals only take about 30 min, color adjustments 15 min and so on. If something goes beyond that hour, I do notify the client upfront that particular things will cost more.

In looking at that board, I wonder why everyone cannot be so reasonable.

Haven't checked the link yet but...

Current thinking, well, for some anyway, is to price photographic services based on business overhead plus expenses plus markup. If the photographer hires you, he/she gets to markup your services as a project related expense. How much is up to them but it never hurts to monitor what they charge so you can keep your prices up with the market.
Remember, you want SOME price resistance from your customers; if no one questions your prices, you're probably too low... it's a balancing act; I've heard it referred to as 'pain measurement'.

Chip