Jewelry Retoucher minimum wage

[ku123]

I photograph jewelry and retouch the photos for Nevada minimum wage. Is this good pay for what I'm doing or am I right for feeling like I should be making more for doing both?

[Wolfman]

Re: Jewelry Retoucher minimum wage

You should be getting more depending on how much you are doing and how good your retouching is.

[ku123]

Re: Jewelry Retoucher minimum wage

Thanks. On reread I see I was very vague. but thank you for responding anyway.

[klev]

Re: Jewelry Retoucher minimum wage

If I was doing it for that amount of money, I would be looking for something better every day.

[shift studio]

Re: Jewelry Retoucher minimum wage

Minimum wage is for jobs that require no real skill, or where the bulk of pay is made up in tips. Photography + retouching doesn't fall into either of those. So yes, you should be making more.

--Shift Studio.

[Greg Curran]

Re: Jewelry Retoucher minimum wage

I honestly don't know anymore. It seems like the money just isn't in retouching anymore, maybe this is the beginning of being a minimum wage job

[Benny Profane]

Re: Jewelry Retoucher minimum wage

Starbucks pays health insurance. Flexible hours, too.

[zackahern]

Re: Jewelry Retoucher minimum wage

I'm in NYC and retouch e-commerce jewelry for 17 an hour which is really bad by standards here, but the cost of living here is obviously a bit different. If you're shooting and retouching and you're good then you should be making way more than minimum wage. If you're shooting bulk jewelry jobs, I would charge per image and then charge retouching by the hour. IE: 50 pieces at 10-15 dollars an image + 20-30/hr for retouching. It really depends on the kind of jewelry you're shooting and how good you are, but minimum wage for anything creative is way too low.

[Repairman]

Re: Jewelry Retoucher minimum wage

Well, at some point you found it acceptable to work for minimum wage. Retrace your steps, analyse where it all went wrong and then reboot your career.

[ku123]

Re: Jewelry Retoucher minimum wage

Thanks for the replies. I think I made the mistake of not looking up how much is average at least. I don't know other retouchers to compare wages with and I am only just finding this site after way too long of being a retoucher. I've always just accepted what the low pay figuring it was normal but all struggling figuring I chose a low paying career. With hiring out to India being brought up so much lately, I always feel obligated to accept whatever I can. But I think that makes it worse.

[klev]

Re: Jewelry Retoucher minimum wage

I've always just accepted what the low pay figuring it was normal but all struggling figuring I chose a low paying career.

Nothing that pays minimum wage is a career, because any job you take will always pay at least that amount. If your employer is considering outsourcing the work to India, you should be looking for a new employer.