Retouching, Editing, Culling, Gallery Reviews & Album Design

As photographers we spend our lives creating gorgeous images. We want them to be as perfect as possible, but because weddings are not shot in a perfectly lit studio we sometimes come across things that get in the way of that perfection. You have a bunch of blinks in a formal shot, someone photobombs your epic wedding landscape or a child grimaces in one shot even though everything else is perfect. White balance and wonky horizons need fixing and then you want to make sure your images fit your style and so you need a preset added.

You also want a life. You want down time, time with family, time to spend on self care and time to be creative. This is where I come in. I am a perfectionist. I love turning an image around from its raw form to its finished beauty. Showing off the work you do at its best.

I am not a big retouching house. You will receive the same detailed and personalised service for every single image or shoot to ensure consistency of work. I get to know your idiosyncrasies, how you work and your style and I will always be at the end of the phone or email.

RETOUCHING

Retouching is for wedding, family, beauty & corporate clients who need something added or removing from a photograph.  It’s fixing blinks in formals, removing pesky fire exit signs or that camera bag you left in shot. It’s extending backdrops, taking out random members of public, cleaning up mole hills and recreating that photo with the groom and mum that you didn’t manage on the day.

It is also doing the one thing that I do more gently and sensitively than everything else. When a client hates their chin or arms. Or when a bra or wedding dress has made a bump that wouldn’t have been there normally, my aim is to create a photograph where the result looks natural. So that your client only sees a photograph of themselves they love.  I was once slimmed badly by a photographer and I’ll never work with them again. It made me feel awful and I would never want that for you or you client. 

The below pricing is a guide only. My actual fee is subject to having seen the images and depends on complexity and the level of refinement required.

For jobs with a high number of images I may charge per hour
in which case an estimate will be provided. 

Please note, my minimum fee is now £25 per retouching job (not per image).

Retouching generally means: Adding, swapping or removing something in an image. Removing distractions. Jobs with mostly smaller number of images using Photoshop.

CULLING

Culling is perfect for wedding, family, beauty & corporate photographers who don’t have the time to go through thousands of photographs or try and work out which of two very similar images is the right one. You would much rather see your wedding or shoot at it’s best after all of the blinks, lost focus and ‘not quite as good as the one next to it’ images have been taken out.

Culling generally means: Removing images from your shoot that won’t make the final set of supplied images.
Pricing is for pre-culled image count culled to whatever your destination number is.

EDITING

Editing is for lifestyle family & lifestyle branding photographers who would don’t want to spend time editing or have used AI and want final tweaks done. You’d rather be off doing other things. Whether that be taking photographs, marketing, spending time with family or catching up with friends. So have me take that job off your hands. Stress free. I do offer headshot editing if your turnover is low.
If you’re a high turnover photographer who wants quick, cheap and dirty I many not be for you. 

If you would like your shoots edited just get in touch.

MY AVERAGE IMAGE EDITING NUMBERS PER HOUR ARE: 

• Branding = 109
• Headshots = 36

Obviously if your shoot is a challenging one it’ll take more time, and simpler less. I am very happy to take on catalogues that have been through Imagen-AI or Aftershoot first and then do the final clean ups and balancing / cropping.

Editing generally means : Adding your own style to an image, straightening, cropping, fixing exposure and white balance. Mostly large numbers of images using Lightroom

GALLERY REVIEWS

Gallery Reviews are for photographers of all genres who would like to improve on culling, sequencing, consistency and choosing ‘hero’ images. 

When I was at art college in my 20’s, every ‘crit’ left me in tears. I was usually facing more than one tutor with half the class watching and all it did was make me feel small and not very good at what I was doing. Years later it took a photographer I respected to reframe things for me. They suggested that feedback from the ‘right’ person isn’t criticism. It’s a guide.  And this changed everything.

My experience at college shapes how I work now with my feedback. My aim is never to make you feel exposed or judged. It’s to leave you feeling clear, positive and equipped to elevate your photography, impress your clients, and save time in your workflow.

What’s included:

A full review of your gallery. Be it wedding, family, branding, corporate, or headshots. Covering culling, sequencing, consistency and hero image selection.

You’ll receive a live online session where we go through everything together (the conversation is where the real value is), a PDF of recommendations, a file list of suggested culled drops and hero images, and a recording of the session to revisit whenever you need it.

This is a 100% human service. No AI. Just experienced eyes and honest, considered feedback.

Gallery Review means : Sending me a full gallery. Be it wedding, family, branding, corporate or headshot. I go through it and feedback where I see you can maximise culling sequencing, consistency and choosing ‘hero’ images.

PORTFOLIO / WEBSITE REVIEWS

Portfolio / Website Reviews are for photographers of all genres who would like to improve the potential client facing images on their web sites.

Your website has one job. To make the right client stop, feel something, and get in touch.

In this review I look at your website portfolio and front page image selection from the perspective of your target client. I’ll look at whether your hero images are telling the story you want them to, whether your portfolio is curated tightly enough and whether the overall impression matches the quality of photographer you actually are.

A website portfolio review will look at:

First impression – what does a stranger think in the first 10 seconds? Is the hero image or front page doing its job of stopping someone and making them want to see more?

Portfolio curation – are the right images in and the wrong ones out? Does your selection represent your best work, your ideal client, and a consistent standard throughout?

Removing what’s diluting you – the images that feel safe or sentimental but quietly undermine your brand. We’ll identify them and make sure your images shine.

This is different from a gallery review. It’s not about serving your existing clients.  It’s about winning the right new ones.

What’s included:

What you’ll receive is a live online session going through everything together. Followed by a PDF of specific recommendations you can act on straight away, and a recording of the session to revisit whenever you need it.

This is a 100% human service. No AI.