Retouchup Blog

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.

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.  

It’s possible that you know a lot of things about SEO, or maybe you are new in the photography industry and want to learn more about it. Today we want to share a list of key concepts you can apply to improve your ‘visibility’ online and rank higher. These are valuable steps you can take to be more visible when potential clients need the services you offer and to improve your actual strategy – if you fill is necessary in order to have a rewarding year. 

The 3 S’s of SEO

The 3 pillars to build a successful SEO platform for any photographer are:

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. 

Our Color Correction Team would love to help you get the best color results from your images! After they are through with them you can turn them over to our Retouching team for further editing if needed.

If you have any other questions about the Color Correction + Retouching process please feel free to email us at customerservice@retouchup.com or call us at 888-700-3686. Thank you!

We wanted to post some tips for giving retouching instructions that can help our artists better understand your needs and in return provide you with the best service possible.

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.

Hi! Welcome to RetouchUp! We are so excited to be your new partner for all your retouching needs. We’ve listed our top FAQ’s from New Clients below to help assist you with any questions you might have.

How RetouchUp Works: Creating an Account

Here’s some great info on how everything works for new users and existing RetouchUp clients! In this post we will discuss how to create an account and frequently asked questions about our Sign Up page.