When a new AI tool emerges, it often sparks a flurry of comments from various accounts, many of which predict the demise of the creative industry and the obsolescence of our jobs. However, such comments are often made without a solid foundation, merely citing a video from a newly launched AI tool like Sora. It's important to recognize that these tools, while powerful, are not replacements for the nuanced and creative work that professionals in the creative industry, such as post-production artists, bring to the table. 

Hiring a freelance retoucher for your agency can be challenging, but it is essential to ensure that the images you produce meet the expectations of your clients. A freelance retoucher can help improve the quality of your images, making them more attractive and professional. However, finding the right retoucher for your agency can be challenging, especially if you're unsure what to look for. In this article, I'll provide tips to help you find the right freelance retoucher for your agency.

From time to time, we get requests from client candidates; they are usually unsure if they should use photography or go and take the 3D path and get 3D renders. So how can you decide if you need 3D design and render or go with photography?

Retouchers provide the final touches to an image to create the best they can be. 70%-80% of the quality depends on the photo; therefore ends at the photographer except for cases that require compositing. I regularly get cases that I tell my client not to spend extra money on me because the photo quality isn't good enough to receive satisfactory results. It will be a waste of resources.

When I first installed Photoshop on my PC, my initial intention was to do things that could be done in a dark room. My flat at the time didn’t have enough space to set up an actual darkroom. At the time, I thought that I could do most of the things I could do in a dark room with a film scanner and this software. It didn’t take very long for me that in a digital “darkroom,” a person can easily surpass what is achievable in a conventional darkroom.

Now fast forward 21 years; I do freelance photography editing work (I like to call independent visual post-production work); I receive all kinds of requests. Most of the time, photographers and ad agencies have a good grasp of what is achievable in a digital darkroom, but now and then, I receive requests next to impossible. I’m not counting the demands we see on TV series or movies, which I can summarize as enhancement requests. Of course, these are not possible; if an image is very blurred, we can’t just make it camera sharp. I would have told you that it’s impossible though Google has some papers, and they are working on AI solutions to remedy such issues.

When you are an independent talent, you become everything. You're both the general manager and office boy. However, this doesn't mean that you have to do every task by yourself.

It’s common that even as I act as a freelancer before hiring independent of my previous work samples, companies or photographers don’t jump and hire you. Especially photographers when they try to recruit you one of the questions I get from time to time is “where did you learn retouching from and how do you improve your skills?” at first these questions were a bit strange for me, I was thinking at the time “why do they care? If my work is good enough for their project, why do they care where I got it.”

When I moved to my current residence, I threw away my old Photoshop & retouching books as they had become redundant. Finally, at Covidvirus lockdown on the weekend, I went through my library and decided to get rid of most of the books that helped me in my profession.

With the ad agency Eyedea, a long time client of ours, provided a brief to show this premium brand in non-saturated and down to earth backgrounds. The images were shot according to the mood board and preselected backgrounds by the agency, while one scene is created in-studio without any background.