Ok, time per image?

[skoobey Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close skoobey]

Something is definitely wrong either with my perception of time, or the time it takes me to complete a project.

How many hours does it take you to touch up something like:

Male in his 30s portrait? 3 hours
Hair campaign for a well known brand? Two and a half work days (20+ hours).
Beauty close up with troublesome skin? 3-4 hours.

Am I way to slow?

[Aladdin Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Aladdin]

Re: Ok, time per image?

I would say you are about average to too fast.

Hair work is time consuming, you are too fast. The male & close up are about right.

[Greg Curran Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Greg Curran]

Re: Ok, time per image?

Every image is different, some are easy if the stylist has done their job, but if it was a sloppy photo shoot it could take twice as long. Hard to really judge time.

[testerke Member Find all posts View Profile Close testerke]

Re: Ok, time per image?

For me it takes time because I'm slow. I definitely need to speed up but it's hard because the too much speed can ruin the image.
High end image for me takes 2 work days but yeah every image is different and sometimes we need to refresh our eyes to see what we need to fix.

[Repairman Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Repairman]

Re: Ok, time per image?

Too many variables to make a call on timings - the quality of the final result is the yardstick and we can't judge that. If you are happy with the fees you receive for the hours worked then, happily, I guess your timings reflect the local market rate.

[testerke Member Find all posts View Profile Close testerke]

Re: Ok, time per image?

You are right quality first but some photographers don't understand this.
They ask a few retouchers for rates and timing. When I say for example: 1 day delivery time per image and the another "blur the face and add noise" or "I use inverted high pass" retoucher says 2 or 3 hours per image the photographer doesn't understand my delivery time.

Of course professional photographers won't hire poor retouchers but lot of clients (models or photographers) are not too experienced even if they are very good in their job.

Quality first but fast work is also important!

[shumicpi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close shumicpi]

Re: Ok, time per image?

You cant fix any specific timing for your image but yes definitely you can desire to complete your task within an average of time. Different image needs different technique and different time to finish as well.

[skoobey Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close skoobey]

Re: Ok, time per image?

Ok, ok. Noone was complaining, I just wanted to be able to get more stuff done in that time period-improve my efficiency. At the same time, I sure don't want to be too fast and get paid less. One thing I'm quickly learning is to ignore offers from people that have no idea what they want.

[thapa2014 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close thapa2014]

Re: Ok, time per image?

Project is dependent on the pressure of the client and the complexity of the job. we work in group so we can handle any kind of pressure from the client.