Need Advice On Photo Editing Service...

[Camilla and Darwin]

This is kind of an awkward post for me to write, but I would really appreciate everyone's input. I have been considering starting a photo editing service.,

DH and I are in the process of saving up so we can move and go back to school, and my job just isn't cutting it. Since I do so much photo editing for people already, and love it, I thought it may be a good option for me. I am lucky to own some really good editing software, and I have become pretty darn proficient at using it. So I'm trying to figure out if this is a good or bad idea, what services I would offer, etc. I would appreciate honest frank thoughts on this. :-)

Right now I'm trying to decide how to group the services. One thought I had was different tiers.

Base: Lighting and color fix, red eye removal, crop

Medium: All of the base plus sharpening, other effects like background blur or special filters.

Advanced: cloning, portraiture, etc.

Or, I could just list everything separately. I also wanted to have a custom category where I could do books similar to this, and this. As well as photo restoration, things like that. Pricing is really hard for me to decide, but I'm considering pricing it so that people could have me do batches of photos. 

example: 25cents per photo in the base plan, 50 cents for medium plan, 1 dollar for advanced, etc. As far as photo books or other custom work I have no idea yet.

Here are some before and after examples I've made.

Cloning: 

(thank you Nancy for allowing me to use this example)

Leash removal:

Basic fix:

Middle package: 

Portraits:

As well as some of the photo effects I can do

Do you think these examples are okay? Any you would like to see, or would not like to see? Am I forgetting any services that should be offered?

I hope I am not doing anything wrong by asking for advice here. Just a request for honest opinions. Thanks!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

What a fantastic idea!  You are so good at this, and you enjoy it....it makes perfect sense.  How about a photo restoration service too...I think there are lots of people who would love the have their old family photos restored.

[Moe]

It is so hard to make any money in the photography business. There are so many different free photo editing software options and free tutorials that people are not really willing to pay. I think you need to think about how much you would charge per photo, how long it takes to edit then figure out how much you are making on each photo. How many photos would you have to edit per week to make any serious money.

I'd also be careful when using images from google images, a friend of mine used one on a blog and was sent a bill from the owner's lawyer for $1,200. Those images are someone's property. You wouldn't want people using your images for their stuff.

Sorry to be so negative.

[Camilla and Darwin]

If I sold the photo books, I would be using stock images, not just google images. Or creative commons ones from flickr. Just thought I should clarify. 

And I understand what you are saying about how it wouldn't be easy to make money. I guess my point is that I'm home most of the day at this point, and I'm editing photos almost all day anyways. So if I'm already home, have the time, and the equipment, I thought I may be able to make a little money. Not sure if that is how it will actually work though. :-)

[Carol and Banjo]

Camilla,  I can only give you an opinion based on myself as "the consumer".   I've always been a kind of do-it-yourself person and with the availability of free editing software - even though I'm not very "adept" at it ..... I'd probably "settle" for whatever I managed to come up with.   That said....I know there are people who are willing to pay others for their expertise!    After looking at your photo of your nephew on the swing....it thought ONCE AGAIN.....this girl has an amazing eye and talent....she could make money in photography!       When my son needed his senior pics done I was hard pressed to pay for the typical photography studio packages and found a woman in our town who did senior pics...and family pics for a far more reasonable price.   She did a great job and the cost was fair for both of us.     

Your examples are terrific BTW.

[Bonne Bouche]

Beautiful job on the portraits!

I worry your pricing is so low that you can't possibly make money off of them. But if it is much higher, I do see that people won't want to pay. Its a tricky balance.

you may find you want to do different pricing according to quantity or batches. Say for example, someone wants 100 photos basic touch up from their vacation or someone who wants their 100 favorite photos with basic touch ups. Both of those are much different time scales, as its much easier to do them when they are in sets, and you can do them fairly quickly. Additionally, the timing for 5 advanced photos may take more or less than either of those previous options.  So maybe you work something like "batches" into your pricing? I can spend up to 8 hours on a photo that I really want to be perfect. I'd suggest an option for that, maybe "the perfectionist" or something, where you really spend time and fix a number of issues.

alternatively, maybe you instead focus on "teaching" people how to do their own photos WITH their photos. But I guess that would require the individuals to have the software themselves... Just a thought!

Finally, something you will want to consider, is working with people's photos that were taken from low quality or low resolution cameras. As you will have to be prepared to work with all ends of the spectrum. ;-]

Good luck!!! I think your clearly talented enough to do it!

[Camilla and Darwin]

Yes, I was thinking about the low quality aspect of it. I was hoping to find some flash point-and-shoot shots and edit them for a before and after example.. but I don't have any. LOL

[Bonne Bouche]

exactly, ;-]

If you can somehow upscale them and increase resolution, I think you have a great plan.  let me see if i can find some old ones  from my first digicam and send you one.

[Camilla and Darwin]

Thanks, that would be great!

[F, Calla & Luca]

Is it possible to increase resolution. If there are a certain number of pixels can you increase them? I thought this was a one way street, that you could decrease resolution only.

[Bonne Bouche]

There are ways to upsample and/or increase a photos size/resolution and improve the way a photo looks. Its not easy, it involves a variety of processes such as sharpening, noise reduction, and more.

[Donna K & Quincy]

Camilla, I think it sounds like a great idea. You already have the equipment you need and certainly the talent. Not everyone is willing or interested in photo editing, so there is probably a market, I just don't know how big. I love your examples you posted. I have some photos taken with a 4mp point and shoot Olympus. I can e-mail you some if you like. I don't think you would have a shortage of volunteers to send you photos to work on for free. :>) You need to figure out how much time you spend on each photo to reach a price range.Don't be afraid to charge for your talent but don't price yourself out of a market. Good luck, I think you can do it. You have nothing to lose but time. :>)

[Camilla and Darwin]

Yes, send them! :-)