The Popularity of Photo Editing Services Explained

Contrary to popular opinion, photo editing services for photographers are popular even among professional photographers because of the numerous benefits that these bring. As an amateur photographer, you will find these services to be well worth the investment, especially when your photos will be used for profitable ventures. You may, for example, be using the photos for your e-commerce site, entering them into a competition, or placing them on marketing materials, among others.

Photo Editing Services for Photographers Basics

Also known as image editing, photo editing involves several processes in the alteration of images, which can be traditional photochemical photos, digital photos, and illustrations, using manual and digital tools and techniques. In traditional analog editing, the tools like airbrushes modify the photos or illustrations while in digital editing, graphic software programs are usually used. In the case of digital editing, the professional image editor uses a wide range of programs including raster graphics editors, vector graphics editors, and 3D modelers in the manipulation, transformation, and enhancement of the images.

Many photo editing is also automatic in the sense that these occur with little to no human intervention, such as with a simple click of a button or with a choice on a drop-down menu. You can, in fact, edit your photos on your camera provided that it has your required functions for basic automatic image enhancement. These functions include corrections in brightness, colors, and sharpness as well as red-eye removal, automatic cropping, and zooming, to name a few.

Photo Editing Then and Now

While it may seem that photographer who edits their pictures are cheating their audience, this is not so. All great photographers, such as Ansel Adams and Annie Leibovitz, performed manipulations in their original images to create truly memorable pictures. The difference then and now is that the alterations were done in the dark room for fabulous photos and on the computer for digital shots.

Suffice it to say that photo editing services for photographers are the norm although the line between too little and too much alteration can often be subjective, if not divisive, among photographers, observers, and subjects.

Photo Editing Reasons

Why do professional and amateur photographers edit their original photos in the first place? There are several reasons including:

• Seeing the actual image

Many professional photographers take and store their photos in RAW file formats, which are the equivalent of a digital film negative. These file formats have to be edited since, without it, there will be no observable images, thus, defeating the purpose of photography.

Many file formats also use data compression in reducing the size of the image files and saving storage space with the digital compression made either in the camera itself or on a computer using an image editor. This will require photo editing services for photographers as well otherwise the full integrity of the images will not be recovered, and their full beauty will not be appreciated.

• Enhancing the images

Emphasis must be made that image editing does not necessarily mean radical manipulations.  When the photographer has competent knowledge and skills in his craft, the edits usually consists of tweaks in the process wherein the images are processed. For example, the tweaks can be sharpening the photographs for a more polished feel, especially when these will be used for editorial features, product pages, and marketing materials; enhancing the images via denoising application or color correction, and creating composite photos from several images.

• Improving composition

Of course, a competent photographer will take the necessary measures to take a well-composed photo on the spot but cropping it can result in dramatic improvements. Cropped photo can tell a different story than their original images and, in many instances, have a greater impact on viewers. Cropping can involve minor adjustments like tightening the image, removing objects from the picture’s edges, and putting more focus on the main subject.

• Correcting flaws in lighting

Photographers have to deal with several uncontrollable factors particularly when shooting outdoors, a fact that you have experienced for yourself, too. One of the main issues is incorrect or insufficient lighting resulting in flaws in the image, which can be corrected with an editing software. The photo editing services for photographers will eliminate these flaws while still preserving the integrity and beauty of the image; the edits can be increasing or decreasing brightness, adding more or less exposure, and removing the red eye effect, to name a few examples.

• Balancing color hues

Photos can appear drab but increasing their color intensity can result in more dramatic images with more impact. This can also be applied to black-and-white photos that can be colorized and colored photos that can be transformed into sepia-like tones.

Indeed, there are as many reasons for image editing as there are many digital and traditional image editors. You can have your professional photos edited to meet editorial standards, for example, regarding size and style especially when it’s a make-or-break photo.

There are also other compelling reasons why professional photographers have their photos edited by third-party professionals. First, the issue of the time, energy, and effort spent on editing large numbers of photos, such as in the case of special events like weddings, will encourage even the best photographers to have their photos edited by others. You want to focus on your core business as a professional photographer instead of spending hours on image editing.  You will, however, set specific parameters about the project such that the photos will appear like you have done the editing yourself.

Second, outsourcing photo editing jobs will be in your favor especially regarding monetary cost. You may have little to no additional resources to purchase an advanced image editing software, not to mention the insufficiently skilled manpower for it. Your decision to avail of photo editing services for photographers will be a smart business decision, as is the case for your personal photos, too. You can obviously use free image editing software but, as you will soon discover, it is not as effective for image enhancement purposes.

The bottom line: Raw images are great on their own, but edited photos are even better! You should not hesitate about getting the services of third-party photo editing professionals like Clipping Path Asia for this reason. You will enjoy the benefits of better photos with greater impact; a must is whether you appreciate personal photos of your wedding, submitting entries to the competition, or using photos to increase online traffic to your website.

You don’t even have to worry about the costs as Clipping Path Asia has reasonable fees for its wide range of photo editing services. You even have the benefit of a manual Photoshop service, a budget-friendly service that professional and amateur photographers on a tight schedule and budget can avail of.

Photo Editing Types

Just as there are many reasons for photo editing, you will also find many types of image editing. You have to be upfront with the image editing professionals about your project parameters as early as possible to avoid misunderstandings just before the project’s completion. Your expectations, for example, may be the removal of the unsuitable background but you end up with photos with joint neck manipulation.

The most common types of photo editing include:

• Selection of certain parts for manipulation without affecting the whole photo like adding layers, changing the size and cropping the image. Noise reduction is also common, a process that involves the removal of so-called visual noise in the image including scratches, dust, and speckles to create a “cleaner” photo.

• Removal of unwanted elements to draw focus on the main subject thereby enhancing the photo’s overall composition. Examples include the removal of photo-bombers from the background and the elimination of natural objects (e.g., tree branches) from the foreground.

• Enhancement of images to achieve the desired viewer impact, which can be anything from encouraging prospective clients to patronize your photo services to increasing your online traffic. Image enhancement comes in several forms including softening and sharpening images; selecting and merging of several images to create a new image; and slicing of images for easier handling of the images in several display media.

However, you must beware of unscrupulous photo editing companies that will take your money and run, literally and figuratively. You have to make a smart decision when choosing the professionals who will handle your bulk photo editing services lest you become a victim and lose money in the process, perhaps even lose many of your photos. You can lessen your risks by:

• Asking for referrals from your fellow photographers who have successfully dealt with a reliable company. You can make a shortlist from these referrals, thus, lessening the time spent on looking at the directories and Internet.

• Researching about the company’s reputation and reliability especially in the delivery of the right results at the right time. You should ask for client references and call these persons to ask them about these matters. You must also interview the shortlisted candidates to determine their suitability for the project.

In conclusion, you will require photo editing services for photographers when you want to achieve better images! Don’t hesitate to avail of these services since you will benefit in the end.