Outsourced Photo Editing: Cheating or Competitive Advantage?
Last updated on 03/26/2024
Contents
Photo editing is a process that can make or break a photo. It can be the difference between a good photo and a great one. A lot of people think that photo editing is easy, but it’s actually a complex process that takes a lot of skill. That’s why many people outsource their photo editing to professionals. But is this cheating? Or is it a smart way to get a competitive advantage?
Recently in the Imagen Community, this topic was discussed among Imageners.
“Hi everyone! Imagen is really fantastic in my eyes. But am I the only one who feels it’s like a bit of cheating? People are paying tons of money for us wedding photographers, and now I can finish a wedding in like two days. How will our photography future evolve?”
In this blog post, we will explore the pros and cons of outsourcing your photo editing.
- Outsourcing your photo editing can be a great way to get a competitive advantage.
- By outsourcing, you can deliver the final images in a shorter amount of time.
- By outsourcing, you can be more profitable.
- You need to be sure that you are working with a reputable and qualified company.
- Advantages of AI photo editing over human photo editors.
- Thoughts from Imageners
Competition
In today’s fast-paced business world, it’s important to have a competitive edge. One way to do this is to outsource your photo editing. By utilizing the services of a professional photo editor, you can ensure that your photos are of the highest quality.
Outsourcing your photo editing can save you time and money. Rather than having to invest in expensive software and spend hours learning how to use it, you can simply hand off your photos to a professional who will quickly and efficiently edit them to perfection. By outsourcing your photo editing, you can also spend less time at the computer and more time bringing in new business.
These are competitive advantages.
Speed
Outsourcing your photo editing can save you time and money while also giving you access to high-quality editing services.
It is quite common for wedding photographers to take three months to deliver the final photos to clients. Gone are those days, thanks to outsourcing.
Now you can turn around a wedding a hours, days or a week depending on your needs.
The speed of using Imagen’s batch AI photo editing services also means you leave the tedious and repetitive post-production tasks to Imagen and get back to focusing on what you love.
Profit
Speaking of which, by outsourcing photo editing, you can be more profitable. Consider this.
If you charge $3,000 for a wedding, and typically deliver in three months, but decide to outsource your photo editing to a company like Imagen, you could turn around the edits in hours.
But you do not have to deliver those edits in hours.
Instead, try this.
Offer an optional upgrade in your package for a guaranteed one to two-week turnaround time. Charge what you think that is worth. Let’s go with $500 for this example.
Now your client is paying $3,500 for the wedding. You edit the wedding photos with Imagen at a cost of around $15. You just made $485 profit on that upgrade your client purchased.
That’s money in your pocket!
Quality
When it comes to photo editing, you want to make sure that you are working with a reputable and qualified company. There are a lot of businesses that claim to be able to provide quality results. Here are a few things to look for when choosing a photo editing company:
- Previous work that you can review. This will give you an idea of the quality of results that the company is capable of delivering. At Imagen, we do this with our community. Anyone can join the Imagen Community and see real-world results from Imageners worldwide. Additionally, the work you will see covers a wide range of photographic genres, including real estate, sports, weddings, portraits, and more.
- Testimonials from satisfied customers. These can provide valuable insights into the level of customer service and satisfaction that the company provides. Have a look at Imagen’s Trustpilot page, and you will see over a hundred happy Imageners.
- Clear pricing and scope. This will help you understand exactly what you will get for your money. At Imagen, our pricing is straightforward at $0.05 per photo with optional add-ons. You will always know what you will pay for any photos edited by Imagen.
Taking the time to find a reputable and qualified photo editing company will save you a lot of headaches down the road. So, don’t settle for anything less than the best!
In 2020 Imagen created the AI photo editing category and is now used by thousands of professional photographers. Imagen learns how you edit in Lightroom Classic and creates a Personal AI Profile based on your style. Then, it edits for you with your style in no time. Imagen can edit 1,500 photos in 10 minutes or less.
Not only did Imagen create the category, but we have been leading it with quality and speed ever since.
Advantages of AI Photo Editing
There are a number of advantages that AI photo editing services have over human photo editors. Perhaps the most significant advantage is that AI photo editing services remove emotion from the editing process.
Human photo editors can make mistakes depending on how they are feeling on a given day or about a specific photo. This is simply not an issue with AI photo editing services, which can provide a more consistent level of quality and aesthetics.
In addition, AI services like Imagen can often work more quickly than human editors, meaning that you can get your edited photos back in a shorter time frame, as mentioned earlier. Because AI services are powered by algorithms, they can often offer a higher level of accuracy and precision than human editors. Consistency is extremely important when it comes to a photographer’s portfolio and deliverables. For these reasons, it is clear that there are advantages to using AI photo editing services over human photo editors. In addition, with Imagen, you can also cull photos in the very same app, and you can choose if you want to do it first, or edit and then cull them.
Thoughts from Imageners
Now that you have learned a lot about outsourcing photo editing, we wanted to share some of the comments made on the original post in the Imagen Community.
Dan said, “My clients hire me for my ability to see, compose, and capture moments in all different scenarios and lighting conditions at their wedding, not the amount of time it takes for me to edit the resulting photos. In fact, I’m sure most of them don’t even realize how long it takes to edit a wedding gallery.”
Dave said, “They’re paying for your experience and vision on the day and how you capture moments, not how you edit the photos. And they don’t need to know about that bit anyway.”
Liana said, “They are paying for your talent and vision. Who cares how you get to the end product? You still need to capture good images, regardless of how you edit them. I get it done in 2 days, but I am waiting to deliver. They don’t know how long it took to get it done.”
Mark said, “Imagen allows you to charge more because you can spend more time on the finer details, like Photoshop work, to create a better product. I still take six weeks to return photos, but I just don’t stress as much now. I’m not worried about competing against fast turnarounds. The photos are forever, and I think a 2-day return makes it look rushed and cheaper.”
Jackie said, “Nobody does it like you do. Add value. Show your value. Also how much does it “really” cost to make designer stuff? People pay for so much more and don’t even question how the product gets to them. They only care about how it makes them feel when they have it.”
Bill said, “Why do some photographers put so much emphasis on editing and gear? Accessibility does not equate to a skill set. A musician can buy a Mac computer, and it basically comes with a recording studio built into it with a lot of presets that will edit the tone of your instrument and make it sound however you want. A good guitar is very inexpensive these days. But none of these things make someone a great songwriter. That has nothing to do with the editing and gear, and the same goes for photography. I’m continually charging more, and it’s because they’re paying for the images I create that have decades of experience behind them. They are never paying for my editing or equipment.”
The discussion keeps going, and it’s amazing how many photographers are embracing the future of batch photo editing with Imagen.
Imagen what you can do with that extra time in your calendar, and money in your pocket.