The life of a professional retoucher

[Doug Nelson]

We've talked a lot about the restoration business, but almost nothing about the retouching business (and this is RetouchPRO, after all).

Maybe its because all of us are like me and haven't a clue about life as a retoucher.

Are there any retouchers out there? Are you freelance, or do you work for someone? How do you get your business? How do you transport files, or do you scan from prints?

Etc., etc., etc.

Since I know nothing about the business side of retouching, I don't even know what to ask about.

Retouchers, speak up and be heard.

[john_opitz]

Mr. Nelson,
I took it, you were a janitor all along.
I'm a photographer/retoucher. I do the high schools(seniors) and model portfolios for models, agencies. I use film and/or digital. When going to the web. I scan from the print(like to use an 8 x 10). Retouching, Scan the neg.(70mm,2 1/4,35mm) or digital.

[Doug Nelson]

OK, this had an excellent start, then petered out. But I still want to know all that stuff in the first post.

[Jakaleena]

I've worked as an in house retoucher for a studio. I also have worked as an in house photolab digital artist. As a lab artist, I am usually handed a variety of things to work on - both retouching and restoration. I think it would probably be the same for independant artists.

After having worked as a studio retoucher, I think it would be very difficult to be independant and just call yourself a retoucher. The deadlines and turnarounds for some studio work, especially proms and the like, are very tight. For things like youth sports, the deadlines are a little looser, but the sheer volume of subjects makes up for it. Some shoot deadlines are as short as overnight. Unless you're in house, I honestly can't imagine being able to meet any sort of acceptable deadline.

Weddings, portraits and the like all have a bit more leeway, but many photographers & studios either have dig artists on staff, or the photographers are trained in touch up to alleviate the need to spend extra $$ on someone to do that sort of thing.

Most of the retouching work I've done as a lab artist has been stuff like taking pimples off of teenagers or giving a studio look to pictures that Uncle Harry took of Johnny to avoid having to actually pay a photographer...

There's also a great deal of work that comes from clients of photographers who did not touch up prints in studio. A call to the photographer usually gets an ok to do the work, and then it's things like taking out the fence behind the prize horse or taking that one little zit off of the end of Mary's nose...

With the exception of Cover Girl, the challenges in the retouch section are a good cross section of the stuff I see come into the lab. The thing is, though, that most of the people who bring in the more recently shot stuff will find out how much it will cost to fix the picture, and then 9 times out of 10 will say "oh, I didn't realize it would be that much. I'll just take another picture." I've even had them say, "oh, our neighbor Johnny has a computer. Maybe he can do it instead." It's a different attitude than with old irreplacable photos.

I've actually asked what they had in mind as a price they were hoping to get it done for, and most times have had them say that they figured it would only be $5-$10....

[john_opitz]

Advertising.........and mailing lists.......to get the business. Scan the negatives........for output. Or I do digiital files from the camera. No scanning of prints........only for web use.
I work for a studio. For a retoucher to do retouching in a studio you have to be fast........Other words..........You can't sit on an image for hours. You'll have hundreds of images a day(not all to be retouched). Some have it where retouchers only do removing of objects on skin,background or any part of the image,as well as smoothing of skin,removing facial flaws and other objects that want to be removed. Then there's the color corection dept. for custom prints, color correcting proofs. Oh! Make sure those people are not wearing sunglasses(magenta or green) If they have to, make sure their green. This way the pictures will favor on the magenta side.:o
I find "freelancers" should stay away from selections for color corection. And do other things(channel blending) to work faster, to make a living out of retouching. Save the selections for complex retouch work, if have to. And know all the color spaces....Not just rgb.......And USE LAYER MASKS. To undo/redo work.

[john_opitz]

Making actions help too....


This is a before:

[john_opitz]

This is after:

[Bohemienne]

Hey Folks!

I'm a High School Senior and I was looking to getting into photo retouching field...could you tell me what kind of college courses I should take, and some information about pay, and whether or not you enjoy your job? Or any other information that you can think of... ...would certainly be helpful.

[Ed_L]

Samantha,

You can start a new thread any time you wish. I can tell you that there's a *LOT* of good info in this forum. Start at the beginning, and read most of the posts. Did I mention that I was a freshman at IU?

Ed