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This Woman Hired Photo Retouchers For Different Prices, And The Results Speak For Themselves
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This Woman Hired Photo Retouchers For Different Prices, And The Results Speak For Themselves

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The age-old saying ‘you get what you pay for’ is more relevant today than ever, with deregulation, zero hours contracts, outsourcing and competition from emerging markets pushing prices for services lower and lower.

Professional photographer Irene Rudnyk decided to investigate what this means for her industry, by logging onto popular freelance services website Fiverr. The community is useful for entrepreneurs who want to build the business on a budget, as well as freelancers looking to build experience and a solid portfolio. However the level of competition for retouchers is incredibly high, leading to some people offering their services for as little as $0.25.

“I had heard people mention Fiverr a lot on YouTube so I was really intrigued by the website,” Irene told Bored Panda. “When I realized that a lot of people on there offered retouching services I knew I had to try it out. It seems too good to be true because most people were charging very little for the retouch and almost everyone had five star ratings.”

“For me, retouching is very important,” she told us. “I like to photograph fantasy-like images, so I need to bring the fantasy-like element to them in Photoshop. I also have a very specific editing style that makes my images recognizable. And that is very important nowadays. Distinguishing yourself from ton of other photographers.”

Irene tested out 3 retouchers at different price points: $0.25, $5 and $10 to see what kind of results they would come up with. She gave them each an unedited picture along with this request: “I would like if you made this image very vibrant, warm. Clean skin, bright eyes, and make her hair look more red, so it matches the background. Also, I trust your judgment on making this image look beautiful.” 

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The results were.. interesting. There was a clear jump in quality as the price point went up, as the wise old saying foretells. Irene doesn’t think much of the website as a source for quality work, and wouldn’t recommend it for other photographers looking for retouching services. “I am a perfectionist and it’s usually very hard for me to trust someone else with my Creative Vision,” she explained, while adding why she thinks that editing is an important aspect of photography. “I think most people tend to want to create something rather than just document the mundane everyday life. We like to look and admire extraordinary things that are beautiful, and editing help us create that and get closer to that Creative Vision.”

So while cheaper freelance help can have its benefits, there are definitely drawbacks too, particularly for the professional photographer. However it was certainly an interesting and eye-opening experiment! You can check it  out yourself by scrolling down the page, and let us know what you think in the comments!

This is Irene Rudnyk, a professional photographer from Canada. She always edits her own pics but she decided to experiment with the cheap freelance services on offer

She went to freelance website ‘Fiverr’ and found retouchers at 3 different price points. She sent them this unedited picture with the same request description

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The $0.25 Retouching Job

The $5 Retouching Job

The $10 Retouching Job

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Rudnyk’s Edit

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She reviews of all the edits in an eye-opening video

Here’s what people had to say

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aahzmanduspervect avatar
Aahzmandus Pervect
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is so fake it hurts. Just an advertisement for the photographer. Lame.

louiiiise avatar
popapach avatar
troufaki13
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It seems to me that she only did this to advertise how incredible her work is...

artur_niedzielski avatar
Artur Niedzielski
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What? With good tools anyone can retouch pictures now. And you don't need Photoshop for this. There are many other perfect tools. And this one retouching picture for 0.25 cents it's a joke of course. Come on... fake as hell.

kimuittenhove avatar
Kim89
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

With lightroom anyone can edit that photo and get a good result in 5 minutes.

Load More Replies...
kennykulbiski avatar
Kenny Kulbiski
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The original looks just as good if not better than any of the others. Why bother?

xajide avatar
Nina Scherenberg
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm a professional retoucher. What actually strikes me the most is how much she manipulated the girls features and body to create a "prettier" image - something most people overlook when they look at the before and afters. Hair fluffed up. Jaw and face rounded. Arms, waist and hips slimmed down. Yes- she did help the skin tone and color etc.. but it yet again shows that apparently, the natural beauty of this woman wasn't good enough. Which makes me very sad to see.

huckleberrycatfish avatar
Joe Clark
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Thank you Bored Panda for publishing an advertisement disguised as a story.

chuck_8 avatar
Chuck Lantz
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm a photographer, and if the best photo editor in the world offered to edit my photos for free, I'd turn them down, since editing is a major part of photography. If I don't edit my own work, then it's NOT "my own work."

m0jo avatar
Kuba Buba
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It is not your own work from the very beginning judging by how you say this. Dont you have an Art director? a stylist? a hairdresser? and so on? A retoucher is just a part of that team same as you. Its all those peoples work because all of you put a lot of effort into it

Load More Replies...
odiasuda565 avatar
Vilkas
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not sure why Bored Panda reposts articles to Facebook that were s**t the first time around.

trixstermillion avatar
Trixster Million
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why would anyone expect good results for any of those prices? They're less than minimum wage in most places.

johnbaker avatar
John Baker
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes, but consider that these are very basic edits. A competent Photoshopper can turn out a dozen or more of them per hour. That adds up.

Load More Replies...
michaelquack avatar
Michael Quack
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Even her own editing is off in colour - I bet the dress was originally black. Also, a gentle touch of flash or a silver reflector would have helped this image a lot. The cheapskates are worse, of course, but her own work is far from perfect as well.

aronplatero avatar
Aron Piñero Platero
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

To be honest, the priciest retouch wasn't bad at all. She said "brighter and warmer colours" and nothing about the skintone. Still the guy was admitting touch-ups if the client was not satisfied, so to me that price is totally fair. Want it cheaper? Learn photography and retouching.

thandeit avatar
Random Panda
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't like any of the edits, not even the photographer's own. There is something about the way the shadow falls on the model's eyes and lips that when edited it makes her face look very off.

jim_hubbard avatar
Panda Panda
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So she tested 3 out of 6,400+ and makes a recommendation not to use the site?

meagang_tam avatar
meAgan
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Her own retouching is the best. In the $10 her expression became super weird, in the $5 her eyes are too blue and the whole thing looks fake, and let's not talk about the $0.25. In her own retouching she looks better than the original, yet still normal, natural and beautiful. I don't care if she's advertising or not. In my opinion, it's best if she edits it herself (provided she KNOWS how to) because a. She knows what she wants and what is her idea of herself looking "nice"; b. she actually cares a lot about how her own pic turns out since it's of HERSELF. Honestly, though most are decent, a lot of online jobs, paid or unpaid, don't really care about how your pic turns out, and as I said before, they don't really know what exactly you want touching up unless you gave them very specific instructions.

kevina avatar
kalle1724
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Who in their right mind that runs a business agrees to do anything for 25cents? I have a feeling this is a attempt at free advertising for her own work

jeremyporter avatar
Jeremy Porter
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Her work sucks. And what's with writing "creative vision" in CAPITALS...TWICE.

morganmcnatt avatar
Honesty Olishia
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well why would someone charge $0.25 when they clearly have put so much work into it?

signesignep avatar
Signe Puström
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's odd, because in fiverr prices should start with $5. It must be bulk image editing service. (20 photos per $5) it must be very young person or very new editor who wants to make just some orders to put prices up. Also most probably lives in third country where everything is cheap.

Load More Replies...
locketine avatar
Carlin Scott
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I paid someone fifty cents per photo to remove powerlines from my vacation photos and they did an excellent job. I know Photoshop makes it really easy but that would have cost me twenty dollars for a month subscription.

melvinabraham avatar
Melvin Abraham
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Affordable professional photo editing service. Check this out - https://www.fiverr.com/onlinemelvin/do-professional-photo-retouch-post-processing-and-editing

arthurbrukh avatar
Arthur Brukh
Community Member
5 years ago

This comment has been deleted.

breezyjr avatar
Joseph Brzezinski
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I get the feeling the $0.25 made it so bad, you'll need more editing, thus more money...

johnbaker avatar
John Baker
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We can just pretend the $0.25 "edit" never happened. As for the rest, while I realize it's hard to tell on a computer screen, especially a cheap laptop, none of them, including Rudnyk's, look to me as though the editor spent more than a few minutes on them. As a very long time photographer and Photoshop user (who is not so enamored of his own creative vision that he feels it needs to be capitalized), I'm not impressed with any of them.

nevilvfelt avatar
Nevi Løvfelt
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

OMG. The first photo looks like Shreks wife. Don't go cheap kids.

martincon avatar
Connie Martin
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Rudnyk's edit is indeed beautiful. Some people (below) really don't see very well.

blaasdf2 avatar
Hugo Raible
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

$10 is still dead cheap. Would have been interesting to see a $25 or $50 edit, what she would probably have charged for her time.

emory_ce avatar
Carol Emory
Community Member
5 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My question is who gives a f***? Who wastes their time retouching photos..models (it's their job) vain people (get over yourself) and photographers (learn to take better pictures). The problem with the first photo was that it was taken in low light. Of course she looks drained in it. Plenty of photographers that are capable of taking photos without touch ups.

pam_falcioni avatar
2WheelTravlr
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Most professional photography has some post-processing done, not just modern digital photography, pros were messing with things in the darkroom the minute photography became a thing.

Load More Replies...
viviane_katz avatar
Viviane Katz
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So the lady in Spain who retouched Jesus to look like a monkey is doing photo retouching, too? Cooool.

bethsimpson_1 avatar
Beth
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is an edited photo that my husband took on his phone and it's better than all of those.....looks like an ad for the photographer..... 38518836_1...862ce5.jpg 38518836_10157147658119672_983950520450285568_n-5bc6499862ce5.jpg

etnarudotrebor avatar
Roberto Durante
Community Member
5 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As I used to be a fashion-photographer myself, I never retouch or photoshop my photos, why ? I chose the right location, the right light and the right light make up if its necesary. Retouch and photoshoped kills your photo, take the soul of your photo out, most fashion magazine photo are soulless,.

geko avatar
SaraLozada
Community Member
5 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

IF YOU WANT MAKE MONEY $1000 PER NIGHT SO YOU BRING MORE DETAIL IN THE ADRESSS COPY ANS PASTE....... HERE► www.jobsthings.com

aahzmanduspervect avatar
Aahzmandus Pervect
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is so fake it hurts. Just an advertisement for the photographer. Lame.

louiiiise avatar
popapach avatar
troufaki13
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It seems to me that she only did this to advertise how incredible her work is...

artur_niedzielski avatar
Artur Niedzielski
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What? With good tools anyone can retouch pictures now. And you don't need Photoshop for this. There are many other perfect tools. And this one retouching picture for 0.25 cents it's a joke of course. Come on... fake as hell.

kimuittenhove avatar
Kim89
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

With lightroom anyone can edit that photo and get a good result in 5 minutes.

Load More Replies...
kennykulbiski avatar
Kenny Kulbiski
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The original looks just as good if not better than any of the others. Why bother?

xajide avatar
Nina Scherenberg
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm a professional retoucher. What actually strikes me the most is how much she manipulated the girls features and body to create a "prettier" image - something most people overlook when they look at the before and afters. Hair fluffed up. Jaw and face rounded. Arms, waist and hips slimmed down. Yes- she did help the skin tone and color etc.. but it yet again shows that apparently, the natural beauty of this woman wasn't good enough. Which makes me very sad to see.

huckleberrycatfish avatar
Joe Clark
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Thank you Bored Panda for publishing an advertisement disguised as a story.

chuck_8 avatar
Chuck Lantz
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm a photographer, and if the best photo editor in the world offered to edit my photos for free, I'd turn them down, since editing is a major part of photography. If I don't edit my own work, then it's NOT "my own work."

m0jo avatar
Kuba Buba
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It is not your own work from the very beginning judging by how you say this. Dont you have an Art director? a stylist? a hairdresser? and so on? A retoucher is just a part of that team same as you. Its all those peoples work because all of you put a lot of effort into it

Load More Replies...
odiasuda565 avatar
Vilkas
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not sure why Bored Panda reposts articles to Facebook that were s**t the first time around.

trixstermillion avatar
Trixster Million
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why would anyone expect good results for any of those prices? They're less than minimum wage in most places.

johnbaker avatar
John Baker
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes, but consider that these are very basic edits. A competent Photoshopper can turn out a dozen or more of them per hour. That adds up.

Load More Replies...
michaelquack avatar
Michael Quack
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Even her own editing is off in colour - I bet the dress was originally black. Also, a gentle touch of flash or a silver reflector would have helped this image a lot. The cheapskates are worse, of course, but her own work is far from perfect as well.

aronplatero avatar
Aron Piñero Platero
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

To be honest, the priciest retouch wasn't bad at all. She said "brighter and warmer colours" and nothing about the skintone. Still the guy was admitting touch-ups if the client was not satisfied, so to me that price is totally fair. Want it cheaper? Learn photography and retouching.

thandeit avatar
Random Panda
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't like any of the edits, not even the photographer's own. There is something about the way the shadow falls on the model's eyes and lips that when edited it makes her face look very off.

jim_hubbard avatar
Panda Panda
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So she tested 3 out of 6,400+ and makes a recommendation not to use the site?

meagang_tam avatar
meAgan
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Her own retouching is the best. In the $10 her expression became super weird, in the $5 her eyes are too blue and the whole thing looks fake, and let's not talk about the $0.25. In her own retouching she looks better than the original, yet still normal, natural and beautiful. I don't care if she's advertising or not. In my opinion, it's best if she edits it herself (provided she KNOWS how to) because a. She knows what she wants and what is her idea of herself looking "nice"; b. she actually cares a lot about how her own pic turns out since it's of HERSELF. Honestly, though most are decent, a lot of online jobs, paid or unpaid, don't really care about how your pic turns out, and as I said before, they don't really know what exactly you want touching up unless you gave them very specific instructions.

kevina avatar
kalle1724
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Who in their right mind that runs a business agrees to do anything for 25cents? I have a feeling this is a attempt at free advertising for her own work

jeremyporter avatar
Jeremy Porter
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Her work sucks. And what's with writing "creative vision" in CAPITALS...TWICE.

morganmcnatt avatar
Honesty Olishia
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well why would someone charge $0.25 when they clearly have put so much work into it?

signesignep avatar
Signe Puström
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's odd, because in fiverr prices should start with $5. It must be bulk image editing service. (20 photos per $5) it must be very young person or very new editor who wants to make just some orders to put prices up. Also most probably lives in third country where everything is cheap.

Load More Replies...
locketine avatar
Carlin Scott
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I paid someone fifty cents per photo to remove powerlines from my vacation photos and they did an excellent job. I know Photoshop makes it really easy but that would have cost me twenty dollars for a month subscription.

melvinabraham avatar
Melvin Abraham
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Affordable professional photo editing service. Check this out - https://www.fiverr.com/onlinemelvin/do-professional-photo-retouch-post-processing-and-editing

arthurbrukh avatar
Arthur Brukh
Community Member
5 years ago

This comment has been deleted.

breezyjr avatar
Joseph Brzezinski
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I get the feeling the $0.25 made it so bad, you'll need more editing, thus more money...

johnbaker avatar
John Baker
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We can just pretend the $0.25 "edit" never happened. As for the rest, while I realize it's hard to tell on a computer screen, especially a cheap laptop, none of them, including Rudnyk's, look to me as though the editor spent more than a few minutes on them. As a very long time photographer and Photoshop user (who is not so enamored of his own creative vision that he feels it needs to be capitalized), I'm not impressed with any of them.

nevilvfelt avatar
Nevi Løvfelt
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

OMG. The first photo looks like Shreks wife. Don't go cheap kids.

martincon avatar
Connie Martin
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Rudnyk's edit is indeed beautiful. Some people (below) really don't see very well.

blaasdf2 avatar
Hugo Raible
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

$10 is still dead cheap. Would have been interesting to see a $25 or $50 edit, what she would probably have charged for her time.

emory_ce avatar
Carol Emory
Community Member
5 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My question is who gives a f***? Who wastes their time retouching photos..models (it's their job) vain people (get over yourself) and photographers (learn to take better pictures). The problem with the first photo was that it was taken in low light. Of course she looks drained in it. Plenty of photographers that are capable of taking photos without touch ups.

pam_falcioni avatar
2WheelTravlr
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Most professional photography has some post-processing done, not just modern digital photography, pros were messing with things in the darkroom the minute photography became a thing.

Load More Replies...
viviane_katz avatar
Viviane Katz
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So the lady in Spain who retouched Jesus to look like a monkey is doing photo retouching, too? Cooool.

bethsimpson_1 avatar
Beth
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is an edited photo that my husband took on his phone and it's better than all of those.....looks like an ad for the photographer..... 38518836_1...862ce5.jpg 38518836_10157147658119672_983950520450285568_n-5bc6499862ce5.jpg

etnarudotrebor avatar
Roberto Durante
Community Member
5 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As I used to be a fashion-photographer myself, I never retouch or photoshop my photos, why ? I chose the right location, the right light and the right light make up if its necesary. Retouch and photoshoped kills your photo, take the soul of your photo out, most fashion magazine photo are soulless,.

geko avatar
SaraLozada
Community Member
5 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

IF YOU WANT MAKE MONEY $1000 PER NIGHT SO YOU BRING MORE DETAIL IN THE ADRESSS COPY ANS PASTE....... HERE► www.jobsthings.com

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