Retouchup Blog

05
Apr
April ’21 – Week 1 – New Simplified Rework Process

Revisions are a normal part of the retouching process. We have recently made a change to the rework procedure to simplify the process. To rework an order, select the “REWORK ORDER” tab on the order page.

Rework Order with red emphasis box

This will now bring up a new option for you to rework either specific individual photos or ALL PHOTOS in the order.

Rework order black border

If you select “Rework Individual Photos” you will be able to add notes under the photo or photos you wish to return. Any unmarked photo WILL NOT be returned. 

Rework Individual Photos

Within the individual photo rework option you can use the Markup Image feature to highlight a specific request. This tool can be used to circle or mark specific areas to be addressed. Please add all supporting text in the text box NOT on the markup. The text must be added before using the Markup tool.

Markup Image example

If you select “Rework All Photos” you will get one text box to add general instructions that will apply to ALL photos. This should only be used when general instructions can be applied to an entire order.

Rework ALL photos

In the rare case you feel an order should be started over, we prefer that you reach out to Customer Service and they can work with you on how to proceed. We always have the original un-retouched images on file so there is no need to place a new order. 

Please reach out to us directly if you need specific help with the rework process or any other questions about our system. We are here to answer your questions and help you any way we can.  

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22
Mar
March – Week 4 – Improving Your Service and a Coupon Code!

RetouchUp - This month we improved your service by

Our new artist testing system was completed earlier this month, giving our operations team the ability to create test orders that every editor will receive through the course of their regular workflow, arriving indistinguishable from live orders.

These test images allow us to test not just for overall technique and quality, but for specific types of images, such as “stray hair removal of backlit fine hairs against complex background”, for example.

We’re better able to direct work to the best available editors for a specific request, identify strengths and weaknesses for individual editors and the team as a whole, and appropriately prioritize training.

Each week our team works on system improvements, and we’ll share the more significant ones with you each month here on the blog and on the RTU Insider email.

In addition to that, we also want to say thank you for using RetouchUp and give you a $5.00 coupon code that can be applied to an order until the end of April, 2021. Use code MARCHRTUINSIDER when checking out to take advantage of this offer!

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15
Mar
March – Week 3 – 17hats

17hats logo green and black

17hats

In last week’s interview with Kirstie Marie Jones, she highly recommended 17hats as an excellent resource for photographers, especially if you’re into saving time and not having to do the same mundane tasks again and again. In this post, we’ll highlight some of the features and benefits of using 17hats and provide links if you’d like to learn more. We are not affiliated with 17hats in any way. 

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08
Mar
March – Week 2 – An Interview with Kirstie Marie Jones

Kirstie Marie Jones Photography

We had an amazing time getting to sit down and ask Kirstie Jones about how she runs and operates her business! She shares insights to some of the resources she uses, as well as what it’s like to be a busy equestrian photographer. The full audio of our interview and the transcript are below. 

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02
Mar
March – Week 1 – Communication Tips

1. Default Notes

In your account, under MY TOOLS, you can create “default retouch notes”. Whatever you type in this field will automatically be populated in the instruction box when you create a new order. These are general retouching instructions that apply to most of the photos within an order. You can always add to these notes or remove them for a specific photo/order. To remove them temporarily: highlight the notes, delete and type new instructions. The default notes will appear again on the next order.

It works best for our artists if your instructions are simple bullet points rather than paragraphs. Task based instructions work best instead of trying to describe a mood or feel you want. If you need help creating default notes, please reach out to our Customer Service team! customerservice@retouchup.com

2. Reference Photos

All uploaded images default to “RETOUCH” status. However you can add an image to be used as a reference for head swaps, open eyes, or as an example photo. Just click “REFERENCE” under the desired photo. This will allow the artist to see the image and use part of it if needed. These images WILL NOT be retouched or returned. You will NOT be charged for reference photos. 

How to mark a photo as a reference

3. Add a Reference with Rework Request

Reworks are a normal part of outsourcing and you may need to add a reference photo for more clarity. You can send a reference after an order has been completed by clicking the link at the bottom of the order page. This allows you to add a reference, or add an additional reference, if you need to rework an order. 

Adding a reference for rework

If you have any questions about reference photos or how to request an unusual task, our Customer Service team is here for you!

– Your RetouchUp Team 

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12
Aug
An Interview with Margaret Remy

Portrait of Margaret and John Remy

 

We were privileged to have had an interview Margaret Remy and ask her some questions about photo restoration. She’s been in the photo industry for 37 years! Below is the transcript of the interview:

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24
Jul
Photo Restoration During the Pandemic

 

(Transcript for the above video)

WHAT IS PHOTO RESTORATION?

GARY: Photo restoration is the digital process where we take an original photo that fits on a scanner bed and you simply scan it and you get a digital copy, you send that image into us and we will restore it digitally, and send you back a digital copy. This is almost a perfection way of restoring a photo. 

AUSTIN: We love to fix old photos. Repairing these photos that have been damaged, either through the effects of time, or other elements, like water, light, etc. And that’s what photo restoration is, is fixing these old photos that have a plethora of problems. We go in there and digitally restore them. 

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22
Jul
EditSmart – Shutdown Non-Profit/Charity Report

Our video editing department – EditSmart – as many other businesses, was hit hard during the shut down (May/June 2020). In order to keep our editors busy, the team put the word out through our EditSmart clients that we would accepting projects to do at no-charge for Non Profit Organizations.

The call was answered, and the team was able to keep busy, while providing services to the following community organizations and services:

Creative Ground Fine Arts Academy “The Show Must Go Online”
Freeport Memorial Hospital “FHN Lab Collection Devices Demo”
Parents Group of St. Patrick’s Catholic School “End of Year Thank You”
Destiny Hill Church “Trust Overcomes Fear: Destiny Hill Church – Nurses on the Frontline of Coronavirus”
Hope For the Warriors “Eagle Oaks Golf & Country Club 11th Annual ‘Honor Day’”
Global Partners “The Schlegel Story”
Global Partners “Karis Team Video”
Prince of Peace “Prince of Peace Hero”
Faith Redeeming Church “The Benediction”
Ottawa County Task Force on Aging “World Elder Abuse Awareness Day 2020”

We sincerely appreciate all of you that reached out to non-profits and charities that you care about to share that unique free video editing offer. We love being a part of YOUR community!

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10
Jun
Image Gallery Nomination

Have you ever seen an order we have retouched and were amazed at the results? Between your beautiful images and our skilled team of artists, we create some pretty incredible results.  Together we are awesome.

We often have people ask us if we would ever like to use their images in advertising or on the web site as examples.  We are always honored that you would allow us to showcase the image we helped perfect. We are always looking for fresh examples of actual customer work to display on our web site or in ads. We do NOT use stock photos ever.

Did you know we have an easy tool that will allow you to submit an image or images for us to showcase? On your completed order page right beside the image file name there is a place to give this image a star rating from 1 to 5. The “thumbs up” icon to the right of these stars is a Gallery permission link.  Simply click that icon and you will see a place to initial your permission and also a place to leave public comments if you like.

We may use every image submitted but when we need to update our examples this is where we search first. If we do decide to use your image we will reach out directly for a final approval.

Thank you for allowing Retouchup to serve you.

The RetouchUp team.

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30
Apr
Outsource Real Estate Editing to Save Time and Boost Profits

Every type of photography has its challenges to get that “just right” photograph.  Real Estate and Architectural photographers can face a number of variables on a location assignment. From lighting, time of day, atmospheric conditions, location and temperature, there is always a challenge ahead. 

Fortunately we have a dedicated and talented staff of artists that can make all those challenges look like they were never an issue.   

In photo 1 there was a sudden change of staff right after the photo session. NO PROBLEM. This was completed for a mere $10.00 as a Special Services request. Since our pricing is all inclusive, you can also request facial retouching, glasses glare, distracting items removed, etc. (see our post from Dec. 9 on simple pricing) 

There are no hidden charges or surprises for you.  The ability to add or remove people from staff photographs saves your client from having to assemble everyone together again.  Downtime is costly.

There are so many details that can easily be overlooked when setting up for an exterior shoot. Fire hydrants than cannot be moved, stop signs and the inevitable window reflections. We can easily make all that disappear. Photo 2 shows several changes we made to make a big improvement in this office personnel photo.   How many changes do you see? 

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