If you’re a photographer or working in any creative business, there’s only so much you can do yourself. Even if you have the skills, the time, and the equipment, there will come a point when you can’t do everything on your own. When you reach that point, it’s time to outsource.
Many photographers choose to outsource their editing, either full time or during peak seasons. This is a great way to avoid burnout and keep your clients happy. In addition, it allows you to grow your business by putting all of your energy into marketing and sales.
You can outsource photo editing to online companies, individual contractors (both foreign and US), or AI software. The most common choice is an online company because it offers fast turnaround times and is good at general edits. You can usually upload your style via examples and presets to ensure that your images get edited exactly how you want them.
Another option is to hire an employee and teach them your editing style. This is a risky and expensive approach as it requires a lot of time and effort to train an employee, and often takes months before you can fully trust them with your work. In addition, employees are subject to high turnover, so your quality can suffer over time.
Using an online service that uses technology to improve workflows and eliminate bottlenecks is a smarter option. Uploading a batch of images and creating a detailed custom specification in the system is faster than walking across the office to explain your requirements to Jim in retouching. Visual markup tools also make it easier to communicate retouching needs and rejections.