High quality photo processing and retouching for digital wedding photos

December 8, 2020 11:45 PM

We finally got our (pre-COVID) wedding digital photos - yay! They were taken with a nice camera by a friend who posed them well, but they're badly in need of processing, color correction, shadow wrangling (they were taken around noon on a blindingly bright day), etc. I want to embiggen, print, and frame some of them, so I'm willing to pay for a professional to process them beyond the surface level things you can do with an app.

How do I go about finding such a service (besides just Googling) - for example, are there professional associations that may have listings? Is there anyone you've worked with that you would recommend? How much will this cost? I'm willing to pay enough for amazing results that will look good, for example, printed on large canvasses to hang on walls.

posted by anonymous to Home & Garden (6 answers total)

Fiverr.com is good for these kinds of things. You can filter for your needs through many freelancers and agree on a rate that works for both of you upfront. You can start with a couple of photos to see if you like the output, before commissioning a bigger batch. Many of the service providers live in countries with a low cost of living and therefore can offer competitive rates. Don't select based on price only, but read the reviews.
I use Fiverr for a lot of services (translation, video editing etc...) and have been happy with the work. Photo retouching is not a task I've needed to outsource before so i don't have a recommendation for a specific freelancer.
posted by PardonMyFrench at 12:45 AM on December 9, 2020

Have you considered asking here?
posted by Thorzdad at 5:12 AM on December 9, 2020 [1 favorite]

It sounds like quality is more important to you than bargain pricing. For that reason, and the state of small businesses right now, I would recommend supporting a local small business.

Here are search terms that can help you find local business owners who do what you are looking for:

Google:
Chamber of commerce
Board of trade
Business bureau

Facebook groups:
[locality] small business owners
[locality] business women
Etc.

Once you hit the jackpot, finding a group that has hundreds or thousands of love or regional business owners to search through, you can start narrowing down your search, or putting our your request and seeing what comes back (Facebook groups are especially handy for this).

I know of one small women owned businesses that you could reach out to in particular that specializes in wedding - https://www.chelsiviolet.com/ not sure if she does editing alone, but given that covid has knocked out wedding photography most of the year, I think any wedding photographer right now would consider your project a godsend!

Good luck!
posted by seemoorglass at 5:20 AM on December 9, 2020

I've had very good experiences with a freelancer named John Sternig at a company called Perception (I think the company is just him, but I'm not sure). He's a Photoshop wizard and does great work.
posted by alex1965 at 6:32 AM on December 9, 2020 [2 favorites]

Best answer: If you want to stay local, I'd ask some wedding photographers. They (probably) wouldn't mind working with someone else's photos. Hopefully you have the Camera Raw photos...that will be preferred (over .jpgs, for example).
posted by hydra77 at 7:46 AM on December 9, 2020

I'm a professional photographer (weddings among other things) with an open schedule at the moment, feel free to memail me and I can either quote you to do it or point you to some editors I work with.
posted by rinosaur at 8:08 AM on December 9, 2020