How much should I charge-Photo Retouching

[LisaMcCoy]

Alright, so I've been doing stuff in Photoshop for a few years now, and want to start offering my photo retouching and/or graphic design to a few photographers. I'll do whatever, the basic color changing, or levels and such as that. To puting open eyes on someone, changing shirt colors, or removing stuff (small or large) from the background/foreground. You get the general idea. I just need to know how much I should charge. I figured I'd have a minimun of 15 or 30 minutes. Not sure which yet. And charge by the hour of course. Tell me what you think my work is worth. Examples linked below...:
After Editing:
So the editing done here is obvious. Its simple stuff, just takes some time.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/Ponydoodad/IMG_2377Edit.jpg[/URL]
Before:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/Ponydoodad/IMG_9017-1.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/Ponydoodad/BabyAlexAfter.jpg)
After:
So image is straightened, background blured, any photo flaws are fixed, and sevral things a removed from the background. The wires and pole, a jump back there, stuff like that.
[url]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/Ponydoodad/IMG_9017Edit.jpg
Before:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/Ponydoodad/KamenFamilyBefore.jpg
After:
This is a family photo of some of our friends. They wanted to use one of the shots they had taken at a wedding but none of them were just right. I looked through some, found the one with the least amount of flaws, and edited the girls face. Thats the biggest thing anyways. Many other things were also changed, but anyways.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/Ponydoodad/KamenFamilyAfter.jpg

[Jon, The Elder]

I generally look at the file, decide what has to be done, charge by the 1/4 hour. (At $25.00/hr)

Now, I tell the customer it will take 'X' amount of time, and figure on the high end, this gives you some negotiation room if needed. There generally is not a lot of repeat business so do not sell yourself short.

[dzstudios]

I charge £35 an hour. (Obviously you have to account for everything being more expensive in the UK)..

You should always charge a minimum amount - for example: £35 per hour OR PART THEREOF... otherwise you might find yourself getting 2 minute jobs all the time!

This also gives you leeway - sometimes, due to one difficulty or another, a picture can take more than two hours... if it is a regular client, I try and ofsett this from other jobs. I don't want to charge them out of the market.


Just the perspective from this side of the pond. : )


_____________________

[Chad McCan]

I am getting into the wedding photography business this year and have been looking for someone to do all the post work on my photos. I have a full-time job as well, so if I can outsource the work for a resonable cost, I would.

I would be willing to pay right around $0.50 per photo, generally having 300-500 photos per event that I would like processed. My situation wouldn't allow for an hourly rate and/or evaluating and quoting each photo, it would simply be a contract for work.

Obviously, I try to shoot the best photos I can out of the camera, so I would hope there is little left to be done in post. I will shoot weddings in RAW, so I guess that would include processing the raw file.

[LisaMcCoy]

Thank you all for your comments. DZ, yours is quite helpful. And Chad, I'm sending you a PM. I'll figure something out by these comments. Any other suguestions are appreciated also.

[sherief]

i guess it cant be rated hourly .. paying per photo is better for you and for the client
depending on the level of retouching

[Rubi Jane]

These guys are operating a similar service, although a fair bit is geared towards what Chad described.
www.rawdigitalimageediting.com/