Retouchup Blog

You’re able to restore old damaged photos because we restore old damaged photos! Now your clients just need to know that you’re able to fix their photos.

Why is photo restoration one of the most profitable services for photographers? The photos have already been taken. You simply need a scan of the damaged photo and then you’re ready to send it to us!

Oh, and we have a TON of marketing materials that you can use absolutely free of charge! Click here to see.

What to do in the next 48 hours:
Find a damaged photo that means something to you, and let RetouchUp restore it for 50% off using coupon code ‘GETSTARTED’. This is the best way to discover the deep meaning and value of this service for yourself!

To do in the next week:
Share the before and after with your clients, then regularly share our prepared photo restoration shareables through your social media. Selling photo restoration doesn’t require anything more than letting your clients know you offer photo restoration.

Old family photos are treasures worth saving!

It’s time! School, sports, holiday season – it’s all going to be in full swing soon! What can you do to ensure the fastest turnaround time possible? 

• Choose the correct retouching level. For example, if you need glass glare removal and select Complete Retouch, instead of Complete Plus Retouch, this will cause a delay. When this happens, these projects need to be manually reassigned to an artist capable of making the requested edits. 
• Remember to upload reference photos. It happens quite a bit when we receive a request for a head swap or background replacement but no reference photo gets uploaded. Please double check that reference photos have been added to your order as needed. 
• Give clear and complete instructions. PLEASE give specific instructions for the retouching your photos need. Saying “Do your best” or “See sample for what I did” will delay your order as we’ll have to call to clarify what you need. PLEASE do not add text to the markup image, all instructions must be added to the instruction box.

What have we been doing to prepare for this upcoming busy season? 

• Improved turnaround time. Regular internal checks for our artists are used to monitor turnaround time and rework frequency. 
• Artist mentorship program. Artists who have been with us for a decade or more will personally coach a few artists with less “seat time”. This helps us deliver a better product faster. 
• Test orders. They appear like regular orders to our artists and they allow us to check how artists are performing on challenging tasks. The results help us better route orders and apply training when needed. 

As we do our best to give you fast turnaround times, please keep in mind that the Turnaround Time Estimator does not predict how long your order will take to complete. It shows a snapshot of how long it took to complete the same retouching level in the last 24 hours. Larger or more complex orders generally take longer. Turnaround on weekends is typically a bit longer as well. If you have a hard deadline we advise using the RUSH option.

As always, our customer service team is just a phone call or email away! Thank you for working with us and we look forward to having the best busy season yet! 

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? 

by RetouchUp

Pandemic doesn’t have to imply being paralyzed or frozen by panic. There’s a lot of advice out there for photographers to help you professionally and personally during these trying times, from buying stock (please only do this if you truly know what you are doing), to enjoying your sofa as much as you can. 

The industry and society still need YOU. And you need to stay positive and productive. In the end, when the pandemic is over, you’ll go back to doing what you know and love.

Here are some ideas we’ll hopefully find useful and can give a try. 

Please share this article with anyone you want to help spread ideas!

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!

By Gary Poole Color Division manager

If you have never used our color correction division let me give you some reasons to consider using this convenient and time saving service.

Nearly every image we take, even in the best lighting conditions, can be improved through some kind of post capture color editing. Our reputation is on the line with every session we deliver so the images we show should be of pleasing natural color and exposure.

Excellence in color rendition will set us apart from the casual shooter and show our clients that we are serious about our craft.

Recently I went to my local Starbucks to enjoy a cup of my favorite brew, Pike Place Roast, and observed at least 18 cars waiting in the drive thru line. As I drove around the building I observed that there was NO ONE WAITING inside. After I went inside and ordered my coffee I asked the barista why so many people chose to stay in their cars when no one was in line inside. He replied, “I guess some people just like to wait.” Well I am not one of those people.

At RetouchUp.com we don’t make you wait. Our typical turnaround time for most services is 24 hours or less which means you can spend your valuable time on things that makes you the most profit. Simply upload your files through our easy upload method, select your desired service and relax knowing your files are in the skilled hands of our talented artists. Before you know it your images will be ready to download.

The next time you see a long drive thru line, think about RetouchUp.com and our super fast delivery time.

Gary Poole

A few days ago while driving my wife’s Honda CRV I noticed a dash warning light “DRL”. After looking in the manual to see what that meant (daytime running lamps) I realized her driver’s side headlamp was burned out. I searched on YouTube for nearly an hour on how to make the so called simple replacement.

Wanting to exhibit my resourcefulness I was determined to do the repair myself. I purchased the bulbs for a mere 26.99 and jumped headlong into the exchange. I wanted to change both lights at the same time so I started with the passenger’s side and 3 minutes later was gloating in my accomplishment. Now the driver’s side was a bit more difficult. The opening was narrower and a lot more difficult to reach.

After several near successes the bulb became wedged inside the housing and was dangling inside the lens visible from the outside but not possible for me to reach.

At this point I realized I was in over my head. After a sleepless night trying to imagine to expensive repair I was facing I took it to my local trusted auto mechanic. After one look he said, “yeah it’s wedged but with the right tools and a little patience I think I can get it fixed.” Less than 5 minutes later I was driving away with a properly installed headlamp and it only cost me 5.00.

So what does this true story have to do with retouching?

1. I spent a lot of time trying to determine how to make the repair.

2. I spent a lot of time trying to actually do the repair.

3. I spent a lot of time worrying about the high cost of repairing my botched repair.

At RetouchUp.com our artists are well trained and experienced in all types of photo retouching from simple blemish removal to total image makeovers. We have the tools and the patience to finish your difficult retouch in record time. Our low cost guarantees you the peace of mind of retouching done right that won’t ruin your budget. Rest easy knowing your retouching is in the trusted hands of your friends at RetouchUp.com.

Do you have a similar story to share about how outsourcing a repair saved you time and money?

Gary Poole

This cute picture of a kitten just improved your quality of life! Not all improvements cost big money!

When determining what could be done to improve your business, I find that it’s easy to come up with improvements that cost money.  Spend more on marketing, spend more on your employees, give rebates, bonuses, prizes.  And they surely bring about improvement – but often the improvements only last as long as the money keeps getting spent on them.

I’ve always been interested in the tweaks that can bring big results but without the price tag.

Our average turnaround time has dropped from 0.67 days to 0.47 days in just three weeks as we implemented just these types of tweaks.

The dispatcher and quality review teams suggested extending their hours of operation to accommodate orders that come in very early or very late (we know that photographers keep ALL SORTS of hours!).  The dispatcher and quality review teams came up with their own proposed schedules to bring their own plan to reality.

This change cost nothing to the business, but appear to be a successful part of our overall drive to drive our turnaround time even lower.

Are there tweaks that can be done around your studio (that cost nothing) that might improve your customer’s experience, or even just your own enjoyment?

Our reviews are outstanding, but our artists are still mortal.  If you receive an image that requires more work – avoid the temptation to adjust it yourself – all reworks are included at no charge.

With less than 24 hour turnaround time (sometimes as quickly as an hour or two) your artist can do the adjustment him/herself, saving you the time, but more importantly discovering more about your preferences and learning from their mistakes.

When mistakes happen, please insist upon US fixing the issue.

We greatly appreciate your business.