How to find a retoucher?

I’m looking for a remote assistant to take up some of my retouching. I need someone who is exceptional at cleaning up editorial photography and portraits. I’m not a fan of the idea of using a company, I’d rather have a one-on-one partnership. Problem is I don’t know where on the internet to find someone like this. I do know I'm tired of posting on Freelancer bidding sites. Also I have a general notion of a checklist I’d like them to check out by, but that’s about it.

In your professional experience:

Where do I look?

What should I reasonably expect from/ be looking for in a good retoucher?

What will they expect from me as a good client/partner?

What should I expect to pay for good mid to high end work?

ModelMayhem.com - List of PHOTO RETOUCHERS available on MM

try looking through this?

Search results on "professional retoucher" gives a couple of 1-person business (and some agencies).

Have you tried looking/advertising on the RetouchPro forum? It's not a highly active forum and many members are hobbyists (like me). But it has a Work/Jobs section and a Classified Ads section too. Maybe you can find someone directly via the forum or if you ask, perhaps someone there can help you look further.

My main interest there (from time to time) is repairing/restoring digital scans of damaged old photos. A few retouching techniques are also applicable in restoration. Without seeing some examples (here or via a link) of the kind of original retouched photos you have in mind, it's difficult to answer your other questions. From what I've seen - as an amateur - "Retouching" can cover a number of things, including:

- basic photo correction/enhancement (exposure, color, contrast, crop, etc.)

- removal of unwanted details (in background, clothing, hair, skin, face)

- enhancements to texture/color/toning of clothing, hair, skin, eyes, lips, teeth etc.

- further changes - usually in advertising - to the size and shape of eyes, mouth, pupils and various other body parts

What should you expect from a good Retoucher? Basically the same as a from a good (professional) photographer:

- a portfolio and client references that give you confidence

- availability and reliability to deliver retouched photos with the quality and turnaround that you need

- tariffs that sound reasonable to you based on the time spent (depending on your Retouching requirements)

What should they expect from you?

- a clear indication (at least initially) of what you do and don't the 'retouching' to include

- a good quality photo from which to work

- feedback on your satisfaction with their initial work and anything that you'd like them to improve in how they work with you

- prompt payment :)

It's not always true but I still generally believe that "you pay for what you get". A good Retoucher should at least be able to deliver the level and quality of Retouches that you require. But you may not need them to spend all the time they could on every photo. In building up a working relationship, both you and they need to work out a way of agreeing the "quality and price level" required per photo. They should be able to give you some examples of the work they've done for other clients with an indication of the time spent and tariff.

Mike

Where do I look?

In my culture/culture there are thousands of them in social net groups/communities. And they are also top-level ones.

Obviously, not here. :D

Dig into Facebook for instance.

ModelMayhem.com - List of PHOTO RETOUCHERS available on MM

 

try looking through this?

Thanks for the link! This site is proving to be a huge help!!

Search results on "professional retoucher" gives a couple of 1-person business (and some agencies).

 

Have you tried looking/advertising on the RetouchPro forum? It's not a highly active forum and many members are hobbyists (like me). But it has a Work/Jobs section and a Classified Ads section too. Maybe you can find someone directly via the forum or if you ask, perhaps someone there can help you look further.

 

My main interest there (from time to time) is repairing/restoring digital scans of damaged old photos. A few retouching techniques are also applicable in restoration. Without seeing some examples (here or via a link) of the kind of original retouched photos you have in mind, it's difficult to answer your other questions. From what I've seen - as an amateur - "Retouching" can cover a number of things, including:

- basic photo correction/enhancement (exposure, color, contrast, crop, etc.)

- removal of unwanted details (in background, clothing, hair, skin, face)

- enhancements to texture/color/toning of clothing, hair, skin, eyes, lips, teeth etc.

- further changes - usually in advertising - to the size and shape of eyes, mouth, pupils and various other body parts

 

What should you expect from a good Retoucher? Basically the same as a from a good (professional) photographer:

- a portfolio and client references that give you confidence

- availability and reliability to deliver retouched photos with the quality and turnaround that you need

- tariffs that sound reasonable to you based on the time spent (depending on your Retouching requirements)

 

What should they expect from you?

- a clear indication (at least initially) of what you do and don't the 'retouching' to include

- a good quality photo from which to work

- feedback on your satisfaction with their initial work and anything that you'd like them to improve in how they work with you

- prompt payment :)

 

Mike

The RetouchPro forum is perfect. Thank you so so much for this, Mike.

I would be looking into virtual assistants. You can have one dedicated to you by a firm who offers all sorts of additional services.

I have considered this for a while. The hurdle, for me, is that by the time I upload images to be corrected and then download the corrected images, I could have done the editing myself.