Should I start a photo retouching business?

May 27, 2009 6:16 AM

Should I start a photo retouching business? My wife asked me to take a head shot of her with my digital camera. She wasn't happy with the result. I said, "I'll bet someone on the Web does quickie retouching for 20 bucks." But Google turned up no such service. Should I start one? And how would you market it?
posted by markcmyers to work & money (8 comments total)

If you search for Photo Restoration you will find many services which do this kind of thing. Not specifically for digital though.
posted by BrokenEnglish at 6:20 AM on May 27

Hmm, searching for "Photo retouching service" turns up plenty of hits, including ads. So does searching for "photo retouching"
posted by delmoi at 6:23 AM on May 27

This site Picwash charges $7 and this one is $10. So it seems like if you wanted to do it too, google ads and a slick home page would probably be the way to go.
posted by delmoi at 6:26 AM on May 27

Considering you couldn't come up with a satisfactory result, I'd suggest you shouldn't be starting a photo-retouching business quite yet.
posted by dunkadunc at 6:26 AM on May 27 [2 favorites]

dunkadunc, the OP's wife wasn't happy with the result after the initial picture was taken, not after he retouched it. He doesn't even say if he did retouch it.
posted by spec80 at 7:05 AM on May 27

If you look in the right places, you'll find quite a few retouchers. Modelmayhem is where I'd start - see what your competition might be like in your area. This guy is great and quoted me $20/image, which I think is a reasonable rate: http://www.modelmayhem.com/882560
posted by blaneyphoto at 7:41 AM on May 27

The competition is heavy for the good stuff. You better be good at retouch.
posted by bz at 8:25 AM on May 27 [1 favorite]

There might be a place on the web to bid for such work.
posted by theora55 at 3:56 PM on May 27