Retouchup Blog

You can now add multiple credit cards to your account and choose one to be your default card. To add more payment options, login to your account, click MY ACCOUNT and then click PAYMENT OPTIONS.

Below is a test account to show how multiple cards will appear in your account. Click the yellow “Make Default” button to change the primary card used for monthly payment. You can change this at any time.

To remove a card, click the red “Delete” button. Please note, there must be at least one card in the account. To add a new card, fill out the information beneath ADD BILLING INFO. Upon completion, click the dark-gray “Add Billing Profile” button.

Yes, Your Payment Information Is Secure

RetouchUp uses Authorize.net (and has since 2014) to protect our clients’ payment information. When you enter your payment information, Authorize.net immediately stores it and gives it a special identifier for security. We want you to have peace of mind so all traffic between our servers and your computer is encrypted. We do our best to follow recommended security measures for any company accepting payment information, like performing quarterly information security audits. Your continued privacy and security are high on our priority list!

Your RetouchUp Team

To RUSH, or not to RUSH? That’s what we made the Delivery Time Estimator for! To help you make informed decisions about when to expect your order and if you should mark it as RUSH.

Once you’ve selected a retouching level, you’ll see a graph similar to the one below (please note that the following graph is for Complete Retouch):

The graph shows how long it took for similar orders to be completed in the past 24 hours. Based on the above graph, most Complete Retouch orders will be done in 19 hours. If RUSH is applied, then the order would be ready in closer to 5 hours. We do our best to predict when your order will be ready, but some factors that can cause delays are:

1. Large or complicated orders.
2. Incomplete or unclear instructions.
3. Missing reference photos.
4. The order was sent at the incorrect retouching level. These must be manually reassigned to an artist who can perform the higher level retouch.

Our team works around the clock and we do try to match our clients’ schedules. Occasionally, unanticipated weekend volume can result in higher weekend turnaround times. If you have a hard deadline it is always advisable to select RUSH. You can also reach out to Customer Service and we will do all we can to help you meet your deadline.

Your RetouchUp Team

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

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.

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

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. 

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.

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.

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.  

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. 

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. 

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 

Anyone who takes professional photographs will most likely need those images retouched to satisfy their client’s needs. Whether you photograph commercial products, sports teams or portraits you probably will have an ongoing need for retouching services.

There are various solutions available for retouching such as doing it all yourself, having in-house staff and of course, outsourcing. There will be advantages and disadvantages to each of these but we will not explore those in this article. If you are reading this, most likely your desire is to outsource as much retouching as seems feasible for your situation so that is what we will focus on. 

A major challenge whether you have in-house staff or you choose to outsource is going to be accurate communication of your expectations. We have several tools programmed into our system that make accurate communication very easy to achieve with minimal effort on your part. We would like to offer a few suggestions that should help you see better results from using our service for your retouching. 

Basic Information

We offer three levels of retouching and have most of the basic tasks we perform at each level indicated on our home page.  We often receive orders that simply say “RETOUCH” or “DO YOUR BEST”.  The artist will attempt to give you his or her impression of what they think is a good retouch but it does help us a to have a basic understanding of your expectations.  

We’ve added a new tool here at RetouchUp to help make communicating an area of concern to an artist and enhance a clients written instructions. The Photo Markup Tool is completely optional and designed to be used for specific edits most likely seen in a Complete Plus or Special Service. 

R-E-T-O-U-C-H-U-P 
Find out what it means to me! 
-RTU Customer 
*sung to the tune of Respect by Aretha Franklin

We want to find out exactly what R-E-T-O-U-C-H-U-P means to you! RetouchUp.com offers 3 retouching levels: Complete Retouch, Complete Plus and Special Services. 99% of our work falls under ‘Complete Retouch’ which covers anything that is extremely typical with portraits and wedding photography: Stray hairs, facial shine, blemishes, whitening of teeth or eyes, bags under eyes, sensor dust, chipped props, etc. Although all of those issues are covered under the Complete Retouch, we know that every photographer and studio has their own sense of improvements they would like to see on their images. So we rely on you to let us know what RETOUCHUP means to you, so we can tailor our service, as much as possible to your specific studio preferences.

After upload you will find an option under Workflow Tools called ‘Default Retouch Notes’ which lets you specify your retouching preferences one time and automatically list what you want for each order. It can then be edited for a specific order if one of your regular preference doesn’t apply.

Happy Uploading! If you have any questions on any RTU services let us know. We are here to help!

On every order you place, and even on each image, you have the ability to give a rating.  Each of these ratings and feedback are reviewed by a member of our staff.  All textual feedback is read personally by our president.  In addition, all textual feedback is available for the artist who did your work to read.  All star ratings are tracked on a per-artist basis.

Or, in other words, your feedback matters!  When you take the time to share your feedback, it has an impact from artist to president.

Consider the brief moments it takes to leave meaningful feedback as sharpening the axe, or oiling the gears – it helps your artists perform their best.