Are you one of those entrepreneurs who does everything themselves?
Organizing creative photoshoot sessions, launching new product lines, implementing marketing strategies to increase sales, and editing photographs to make your products look high-quality are all important tasks for growing your business. You can free up your busy schedule by outsourcing image editing to a reliable service provider.
Outsourcing photo editing is a win-win for both your productivity and the quality of the product images. However, it’s natural to have questions like What benefits can you expect? How should you outsource photo retouching?
In this blog, we’ve compiled every possible insight you may need to have while outsourcing photo editing for your eCommerce or photography business. So, stay tuned till the end to understand how to make the most of the photo editing services and streamline your workflow.
Outsourcing photo editing is the practice of handing over the image editing tasks to a third-party company for commercial or professional needs. Ecommerce business owners, professional photographers, marketing agencies and creative studios often choose to outsource when they have a large number of image editing projects to manage within tight deadlines.
For example, professional photographers have back-to-back photoshoot projects scheduled during the peak season and workload in companies increases during new product launches or implementing marketing campaigns. Despite capturing product images using professional equipment, images may need various adjustments, such as removing background, fixing color, adding shadows and many more.
Companies hand over the image editing projects to reliable photo editing agencies. This outsourcing process reduces the burden of editing as well as guarantees that the images meet industry standards.
Why Do Companies Outsource Product Photo Editing?
5 Benefits of Outsourcing Photo Editing Services
Whether you own a photography studio or eCommerce business, outsourcing photo editing offers a wide range of benefits that can positively impact your business. Starting from handing last-minute product launches to editing large amounts of photographs within a very short time, outsourcing photo editing has your back.
The following are 5 key benefits of outsourcing photo editing services.
Save a Lot of Time
Photo editing is a time-consuming process. As a business owner, you have other work related to marketing, generating creative ideas to increase sales or customer engagement. Similarly, photographers have back-to-back projects to shoot that make editing such a large number of images difficult to deliver on time. Outsourcing photo editing frees up your valuable time. Instead of spending hours perfecting images, you can focus on your other important works and get the images ready within your deadline.
Help Save Budget
Decrease Work Pressure & Stress
Meeting deadlines can be stressful, especially if you have a lot of other ongoing work adding to your workload. This stress of overwork can impact your health negatively and affect your sleep. Outsourcing image editing can take the burden of editing images off your shoulders. Since experienced professionals complete the editing’s, you can stay stress-free and get high-quality images on time.
Increase Revenue
Customers rely on product images when purchasing from an online shop. You need high-quality product images to make customers feel attracted towards your product. Since a reliable image editing outsourcing company works with different industries, they are highly knowledgeable on the recent trends that attract customers the most. Hence, they can ensure you get industry-standard images that look visually appealing. And visually attractive images mean customers have higher chances of checking the products out and making the purchasing decisions, which will eventually boost your revenue.
Reduce Return Rate
The majority of the return rates online businesses experience are because of the inconsistencies between the actual product and the product images. Common reasons behind returns are color issues, size problems and variations in expected quality. When customers see that the product doesn’t match their expectations while ordering, they tend to return them.
Outsourcing eCommerce product photo editing from professionals provides realistic-looking high-quality product images. They adjust the color balance, fix size proportions and enhance clarity. The fine details help customers set clear and realistic expectations from the products. As a result, customers remain satisfied with the brands and the return rate decreases.
How to Outsource Product Photo Editing?
Are you wondering how to outsource photo retouching? The process is quite simple if you follow the proper guidelines. We’ve compiled the image editing outsourcing process into easy-to-follow steps to help you get started.
Define Your Image Editing Needs
Product image editing requires different types of editing techniques depending on the product categories and photography styles. When you know your needs clearly, you can communicate your expectations to the service providers effectively and ensure the best results.
Let’s explore the common product image editing techniques to help you identify your needs.
The clipping path technique is used to isolate products from the background. You will need this editing service if you want to make your product images multipurpose. It creates a cutout of the products to remove background or place the product images on another background.
Image masking is somewhat similar to the clipping path technique. However, this advanced method is used to create cutouts of complex products. Undefined edges, such as a furry jacket or hair of the models are separated from the background, maintaining sharp and clear edges through this editing technique.
Photo retouching is the basic editing technique that fixes minor flaws to give the photographs a polished look. The key editing elements in image retouching include removing blemishes, wrinkles, spots, and other imperfections from the skin or clothing.
Product color is one of the important factors customers consider while purchasing online. So the color correction technique is used to establish the color balance and make the color of the products look true to life.
Shadows make the product images look natural and realistic. Lighting angles or extreme editing can remove the shadows or make the shadows look unappealing. The photo editing outsourcing companies provide shadow making to create artificial shadows that look natural and add dimension to the product images.
Ghost mannequin is mainly used in the fashion industry for clothing photography, such as t-shirts, gowns, suits and many more. In this technique, the mannequin body is removed from the composition to create a ghostly effect. This adds depth to the images and makes the clothing items look polished and attractive.
Decide Your Budget
You need to have a fixed budget to outsource product image editing. Usually, simple editing such as creating clipping paths around products with smooth edges or basic retouching of skin texture has a minimal cost. A small budget would be enough if you need this type of basic editing.
On the other hand, editing techniques such as image masking, ghost mannequin or photo manipulation are complex. For this reason, they cost a bit more. You can compare the costs of various photo editing service providers to determine how much budget you should set aside for this purpose.
Look For the Photo Editing Service Provider
Choosing the right photo editing partner is essential to ensuring you get the service within your budget while maintaining your expected quality. But how can you determine the ideal editing partner for your business?
Here is a step-by-step guideline to make searching for the best photo editing service provider easy.
- Browse Online Platforms
Search engines like Google, Yahoo, and others are good places to start your search. Type ‘Outsource photo editing service’ on the search bar and you will get numerous recommendations. You can create a shortlist from the suggested outsourcing companies and search them on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Reddit or LinkedIn. Social sites are great sources to explore their sample work and expertise level.
- Contact the Service Providers for More Information
You need to select a provider who offers 100% hand-drawn photo editing instead of AI-generated results. You can contact the companies through phone or email to know which software they use for editing. You should also enquire whether they use the free version or the professional version of the software. Along with the skills of the photographer, the choice of software is also important to ensure you receive high-quality product images.
- Check Out Portfolio & Customer Testimonials
Product photography and editing is a vast industry. Here, some providers are experts in fashion product editing, while others are in cosmetics, jewelry or other items. Hence, you have to analyze your selected outsourcing company’s portfolios. From their previous work, you will get an idea of their expertise and work quality.
You can also learn about former clients’ experiences working with them through trusted review platforms such as Trustpilot, Google My Business, Yelp, and so on. Search for the reviews that mentioned their work ethics, attention to details, delivery time and other necessary factors that matter to you.
- Consider Competitive Price
The price range of the image editing services differs depending on the photo editing outsourcing companies. Some companies may offer services at a very low price. Don’t fall in that trap. You may not select the best one if you only look for low price ranges.
Instead, compare the price ranges to identify who is offering a competitive price. This can ensure you get satisfactory results. Some companies offer discounts on large orders. This can help you save a good amount as well.
How Do You Know It’s Time to Outsource Photo Editing?
You should think about outsourcing photo editing in case you experience the following situations:
Basic Photo Editing Skills
Professional-quality product photograph editing for commercial purposes requires advanced-level skills. You should opt for outsourcing in case your editing skills are basic. Instead of investing time in learning the editing process, it’s better to hand over your projects to photo editing companies. They have professional photo editors who will ensure you get high-quality images that will help you increase sales.
Too Much Workload
People tend to shop more during Black Friday, Christmas and other holiday seasons. During these times, businesses need to come up with marketing strategies to showcase their products and different offers. Also, during the phase of new product launch, the work pressure increases a lot. If you are finding it difficult to create a work and personal life balance, you must consider outsourcing your projects to photo editing service providers.
Focus on Core Activities
You cannot invest a large amount of time in image editing when you have a whole business to manage. Since outsourcing photo editing can help you save time and effort to invest in your other core business activities, you should make the best use of it. Instead of draining your precious energy on photo editing, you invest more time in marketing, managing inventory, improving customer service and other activities.
How Much Does It Cost to Outsource Ecommerce Photo Editing?
Graphic Aid is a renowned and globally trusted photo editing service provider offering competitive prices to make photo editing accessible for all business sizes. Our price starts at only $0.25! We have different price structures for each and every editing service. Based on the complexity of the editing, the price will rise.
The following is an overview of our pricing structure.
| Services | Price Range Per Image |
|---|---|
Clipping Path | $0.30 to $6.10 |
Ghost Mannequin Effect | $0.99 to $5.99 |
Color Correction Services | $0.45 to $7.99 |
Shadow Making Services | $0.25 to $0.45 |
Image Masking Services | $1.15 to $2.49 |
Photo Retouching Services | $1.10 to $2.49 |
Frequently Asked Questions About Outsourcing Photo Editing
How much does product photo editing cost?
Product photo editing cost depends on various factors, including the complexity of your editing needs, number of images and turnaround time. Usually, the price of basic product images starts at $0.20 per image. The cost may increase up to $5 or more for advanced retouching.
Is Outsourcing Photo Editing Worth It?
Outsourcing photo editing saves a lot of your valuable time and increases productivity. Professional photo editors retouch images, ensuring they are of high quality. Moreover, outsourcing helps you manage bulk projects and meet tight deadlines. You can relax and invest the majority of the time in growing your business. Hence, outsourcing photo editing services is a worthy investment for professionals having huge photo editing needs.
Can I hire someone to edit photos?
Yes, hiring a professional photo editor can help you manage the photo editing tasks. You should hire an experienced professional editor with expertise in your expected editing styles and techniques. However, relying on an individual editor to meet deadlines may become challenging during peak seasons or when handling a large volume of images. It is best to outsource image editing services because they have teams of skilled editors who can handle large orders efficiently while ensuring consistent quality and timely delivery.
Why is it more affordable to outsource product photo editing?
Outsourcing product photo editing is a cost-effective solution because you do not need to hire a full-time photo editor or pay a subscription fee to use the editing software. You also don’t have to invest money in office space for the editor, equipment and other employment costs. Instead, you have to only pay for the images you get retouched. Also, many service providers offer competitive pricing for bulk editing that can help you save a lot.
Conclusion
You’ve made it to the end! This means you’re genuinely interested in outsourcing photo editing for your business. Now that you understand the benefits, the process, and all the essential insights about outsourcing, why not get started and lighten your workload?
Follow the process we have mentioned to find a reliable service provider. You enjoy your free time and invest it to grow your business. In the meantime, get high-quality product images that will attract your target customers and create a stronger visual connection with your audience.
