Retouchup Blog

We’re so excited to now offer bulk pricing for our color correction services! Any color correction order with 50+ images will automatically have bulk pricing applied to it which is just $0.15 per image. There is no subscription or monthly payment needed to get this awesome offer. It’s available to everyone and you simply pay for what you need. Color correction orders with less than 50 images can still be submitted, but they will be priced at $0.25 per image. Save yourself the hassle and time of color correcting your images and send them to us! We’re here for you if you have any questions!

Because of the pandemic there is a higher demand for photo restoration than we’ve ever seen! People have spent more time at home cleaning and going through photo albums, leading them to find photos that have become faded or otherwise damaged. Photo professionals have a great opportunity to turn to their client base and let them know their photos can be fixed! RetouchUp offers high-grade restoration services at a low cost.

Give your client base a little nudge and let them know you can restore photos. We’ll provide you with many different examples of photo restoration that you can use in your marketing efforts and are free! Click this link to be taken to the example gallery.

Our clipping path service can help you create new products. We extract headshots, products for catalogs, as well as individual pictures of athletes and teams for banners and composites. Our clipping service allows you to send us photos of products or people and we will extract them, leaving a transparent background. This allows you to place the extracted subject on any background you choose.

We have heard from many photographers over the years about how they are successful with shooting a good image for clipping. We’d like to share a few tips we believe will help you get a better end result from your clipped images.

Lighting

In order to get the best image definition and separation from the background, it is best to use a flash when possible. We have also found it very helpful to place your subjects on a non-lighted white background. The unlit white background will give us adequate separation in most cases. In order to get a good clean clipping, it is best to have good tonal separation between the subject and the background. Dark subjects on a dark background, or very light subjects on a light background, will not give us proper visual reference to make a good clipping. Most any background will work for us as long as we have tonal separation.

Aperture

In order to get clean edges for hair and body lines we need a sharp edge line. Use an f/8 aperture as a minimum, especially for head shots where close focus combined with a longer focal length lens will minimize the depth of field. If the hair of a subject is blurry, the clipping will look unnatural. A smaller aperture will also help with groups in defining where to cut the people out.

Instructions

Clipping instructions can be tricky when there are objects you want to keep and/or eliminate. Typically baseballs, footballs, etc., are kept in but not always. Consider saying this if you want to keep an object:

Extract subject, KEEP ball (or object)

The example below shows a girl sitting on a chair. The photographer wanted only the girl extracted and wished to eliminate the chair as she was making a composite and the girl would be placed on a platform. In this case, saying:

Extract girl only, REMOVE CHAIR.

will make it very clear to the artists what you desire.

Saying REMOVE or KEEP helps the artist know what your preference is.

Another thing to be aware of if you photograph groups on bleachers is if you ask us to eliminate the bleachers, you will have gaps in legs where the bleachers covered people. This shows an example of what will occur if we totally remove all bleachers:

If you photograph on bleachers and would like to know what all we can do, please contact our customer service team.

-Your RetouchUp Team

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.

It seems that more photographers are beginning to realize the many uses for clipped photographs. Clipping has been widely used for sports photos and products, now we are seeing a variety of uses for clipped photos. For those who have never had the need for a clipped photo here is a brief description of the product, process and uses. 

Any photo that has a distinct subject and a plain or non-cluttered background could be a candidate for clipping. The main image is kept intact while the background is removed leaving a transparent background. The resulting image saved as a .png can be manipulated in Photoshop onto any other backdrop for digital sports posters, banners etc. Product shots can be placed or composited onto virtually any background and changed very easily. While it is a relatively straight forward process there are many things to consider when shooting an image for clipping.

We understand that you rely on our retouching services through out the year and especially during the holiday season! It’s a busy time of year spent juggling everything from your clients needs to your family needs, so we’re happy to help give you some time back so you can step away from your computer and share it with those you love!

Our goal turnaround time throughout the year is 24 hours, if you’ve been a customer with us for some time you know that it’s often half that time or less!

Although a 24 hour turnaround is always our goal we do not guarantee 24 hours for any order due to many factors which may include reworks/revisions, order size, level of difficulty, corrupt file, additional information needed, price change request, or artist availability.

Here are some helpful tips to help your orders get back to you as soon as possible during the holiday season!

Choose the correct retouching level. 

By choosing the correct retouching level before your order is placed will help ensure that your order goes to the appropriate artist from the very start. Sometimes orders are sent in as Complete Retouches with Complete Plus or Special Service edit requests such as head swaps or removing big objects. These types of images are handled by artists that have that clearance level to handle those more difficult edits. Choosing the correct category helps insure your order doesn’t get stuck in temporary limbo going from one level of artist to the correct level.

By Passing “Favorite Artist”. 

Selecting a “Favorite Artist” can delay your order as it gets added to their work queue and worked on in the order in which it was received. If you are in a tight deadline we suggest that you do not select Favorite Artist and let your order go to another skilled artist that can pick up your order as soon as possible!

Make sure all images are in your order.

Including any reference files that might be needed for eye glass glare, head swaps, replacing backgrounds or rebuilding backgrounds. We have seen some orders get held up because the artist doesn’t have all the images necessary to complete the edits requested. Please make sure to select “REFERENCE” below the uploaded thumbnail so that you are not charged for the reference files. 

Give Simple, Straight Forward Instructions!

Try: “Remove hand above boy’s shoulder in the red sweater.” Instead of: “This shoot was a nightmare! First the clients came late and then the little sister wouldn’t keep her hands to herself and kept messing with her brother. LOL The mom tried to shoo away the girls hands over and over. This is the shot they chose and you can see the mom’s hand awkwardly trying to shoo away the sister right before this was taken. Can you please please please remove the mom’s hand and get it back to me asap. The mom wants to send out her Christmas cards ASAP!! Thank You so much!!!” We get these types of instructions a lot. It’s a lot to read. And sometimes there’s more than just one instruction like this example. It really helps the artists if you give your instructions, simple, straight forward like a list.

Give Yourself Time. 

You’re busy. Your clients are busy. We’re all busy! Busy is good! It means strong business for those in the photography industry. We gear up during the holiday season with more artists who can accept more work every year. We see a great influx of orders during the holiday season and that impacts our turnaround time. Make sure to allow extra time for returned images when you talk to your clients. This helps images get through our system, any reworks or tweaks needed and then back to you and your client!

Thanks For Learning about our RetouchUp’s Holiday Turnaround Time!

This photographers client found this image of her grandma in need of restoration. Instructions: Remove pen marks, fix ripped corners, colorize.

The photographer was happy to help and sent it away to RetouchUp and had it back to the client within just a couple of days! It now proudly sits in a beautiful frame on top of her grandma’s passed down piano!

Since 1993 Hollywood Fotofix, RetouchUp’s parent company, has proudly restored hundreds of thousands of images partnering with photo labs and local photo studios around the world.

As the market changes, but with still the same demand, there is a huge hole in the marketplace for the ongoing need of photo restoration. Those who are in the professional photography industry are perfect to be able to step up to meet this demand. 

After sign up you will now be able to log into your RetouchUp.com user account and submit your first order.

On your dashboard you will be able to see an overview of your account – the Upload Order option is located in 3 areas for your convenience. There is a large green “Upload New Order” button on the main screen. You will also be able to select it on the top tool bar and left hand dash bar under “My Orders” – any of these options will deliver you to the Upload Order Screen.

We are so excited to announce that you can now upload your photo restoration orders directly through the Retouchup.com web site like any other order. Simply select the “Restoration” service level after you have uploaded your photos and you will be able to send your damaged scanned photos, negatives or slides to us for a total restoration.