going rate for post-process editing? i need someone!

[jamiewerner]

hi! i'm a one woman show of a photo biz in the woodlands, and i want to start offering more shoots per week to my clients (i shoot on location only, and then work from home for post production). i currently do all of my own editing, but i can't add extra shoots and keep my sanity too so i would like to start outsourcing the editing of my raw files, and the further editing of client cosmetic requests (teeth whitening, head switches, etc.) for printing. what is the going rate for something like this, on a contract basis? per hour? per batch of photos? can i post this kind of a job search on the forum? thanks for any info!

[tresorph]

contact Rainy Day Photos... she's a forum member and also edits for other photographers.

[scottlyn]

oh good to know! I was thinking just this morning that I needed someone to help with my post processing....

Originally Posted by tresorph

contact Rainy Day Photos... she's a forum member and also edits for other photographers.

[Shepherd Photography]

I will do it for free! If you like me keep me if not dont use me.... I would like to build an editing portfolio! I use photoshop cs2 and cs3 and cs4 and Lightroom 2 (the reason i use all those flashes because i love flash cs2 but if it dosent have a feature i need i use cs3 or cs4) All you have to do is email me the files tell me what you want done and i will do it right away!

[Shepherd Photography]

My email is barrett@shepherdmedia.net

[HotHolly]

Originally Posted by jamiewerner

but i can't add extra shoots and keep my sanity too

i'd say its time for a price hike. supply and demand.

[ldelacruz]

$2.00 per image.

[ronocnikral]

Originally Posted by ldelacruz

$2.00 per image.

what do you get for that price Lonnie?

[ldelacruz]

blemish removal, skin softening, teeth whitening, stray hair removal, color correction, brighten and sharpen eyes. I can't do it myself for $2.00.

[Mindy H]

Hey Girlie! I love your work! We need to meet up sometime since we are both in The Woodlands!

I have been searching for a while for someone to do this....and, sifting through lots of people inquiring about doing this for me, but it is so hard to find someone good! I got pricing all over the map from lots of individuals. I finally just set up what I wanted to pay, made the offer, then screened people that were ok with that rate.

But, in the meantime, I also screened editing companies as well. One in particular that I liked....I'm not going to include the name since I am posting pricing too....but, I thought the pricing might help. If you want the name, just message me. Here is the info of pricing for a sample project they gave me:

Thanks for contacting *******, please allow us to answer your questions and break down the costs of a potential order:

# of RAW images shot: 300

Color Processing RAW ($.26/image) X 300 = $78
Processing to Jpeg (if ordered) $.03/image) X 300= $9

# of artistic edits: 10

Phase 1 Artistic Edit ($2.50/image) X 10= $25

Shipping, handling, caring and XMP email delivery = $15

TOTAL= $178

Our turnaround time is 5-8 business days from when we receive your files and the images are sent to us on a portable hard drive, thumb drive or dvd in the mail. When the job is complete we will email XMP’s and ship out the media with the final product via USPS priority (2-4 days).

The Phase 1 Artistic Edit allows us to spend 4-6 minutes per image and will cost $2.50/image. If the work you have specified takes longer than that time, we call that a phase 2 Artstic edit, which runs $60/hour.

Hope that helps!

[Mindy H]

Originally Posted by ldelacruz

blemish removal, skin softening, teeth whitening, stray hair removal, color correction, brighten and sharpen eyes. I can't do it myself for $2.00.

Wow...that's a lot of editing for $2.00! Sweet!

[bondarnes]

It's difficult to get a decent artist for less than $8.00 per hour.

I shoot Raw+small jpeg and use the jpeg images for editing and client viewing. I only process Raw files that have been ordered from. If I get backed up on retouching I send the files to retouchup.com fast and inexpensive. And the work is good.

I also agree with Holly. Raise prices or hire help.... raise prices or hire help.... I just can't decide.

But then again you may be like me and there are just some jobs that you don't really want to do. That is why I had employees for 30 years. I took pictures and did studio management and marketing. Employees handled sales and order fulfillment.

[janetg]

if anyone needs this type of service from me (i just saw this post) please pm me - i'm in spring, so i'm close to you guys - i love doing this kind of work when i'm not busy with my own wedding business and my kiddo is back at college on the 29th of august...so i'll be needing things to keep me super busy again.

janetg

[lyncca]

You can get someone to do all that for $8 an hour? I thought of offering this kind of service, but no way would I do it for that. Minimal would be at least $25 hr. to make it worth my time.

I'm not questioning you, I'm just shocked that someone would work for that cheap when all we talk about is being paid what you are worth...

[bondarnes]

Originally Posted by lyncca

You can get someone to do all that for $8 an hour? I thought of offering this kind of service, but no way would I do it for that. Minimal would be at least $25 hr. to make it worth my time.

I'm not questioning you, I'm just shocked that someone would work for that cheap when all we talk about is being paid what you are worth...

I was talking about an employee. I have had college students doing post production for me. I paid them $8.00 an hour to start. As they got faster their pay increased. I think $12.00 an hour was the most I paid.

Most of them were art majors so they got to practice the latest version of PhotoShop on someone else's computer (with a Wacom tablet) and got paid to do it. I was very flexible on working around their class schedule, etc Most of them actually thought that it beat a job at Mickey D. YMMV