Photo editing service, market research

[sitnet]

Hey guys

Ok so I am thinking of starting a photo editing/enhancement service. The service will work via e-mail (In other words, you send a photo and what you require to be done, I edit and enhance, and I e-mail it back to you).

I am doing research to determine the potential of this service, and how big the market is. I also want to see what types of requests I will receive, so I would like to ask if you can upload a photo you want edited to the Internet and then PM me the link and what you want done (free of charge for the duration of my research).

Please consider taking the time to answer a few questions:

1) How often do you take photos?
2) Have you ever had the need to edit/enhance your photos, and used a photo editing service to do so?
3) Do you edit your own photos?
4) How much are you willing to pay per photo (this is relative to the amount of work that has to be done to it).

Notes:

* Free image uploading services:
http://imageshack.us/
http://tinypic.com/

Thank you very much

EDIT: Got this random underexposed image on google images (searched "underexposed"). I then edited it and added a nice blue sky:

> Before: http://www.dewsbury-district3age.co.uk/Priory way underexposed.jpg
> After : http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/2811/aftermt.jpg

Example 2: Extreme wrinkle removal:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

 

[Dolby]

1) Whenever possible
2) Yup
3) Yup
4) Nothing

For me personally, I think I know what needs to be done (and to what level) to the photo myself. I think it'll be like trying to describe a colour

 

[sitnet]

1) Whenever possible
2) Yup
3) Yup
4) Nothing

For me personally, I think I know what needs to be done (and to what level) to the photo myself. I think it'll be like trying to describe a colour

Ok thanx. I can derive that you are probably very comfortable with Photoshop. The market I am aiming for are average people that are less savvy. And yes I know mybroadband is probably not the best to look for these types of people, but where else?

The editing I am talking about are things like "This photo is too dark", "This object shouldn't be in this photo", "I want this photo to have an old looking or vintage effect", "This photo is blurry", "This photo looks washed out" etc.

@ALL: Please even if you don't need anything to be done to a photo, I want to benchmark my skills, so please send me some photos to work on.

 

[undesign]

It would be very interesting to see what people would be willing to pay. To make it worth you while it will probably have to be rather expensive - it is rather time consuming to edit photos. Unless you are talking about basic brightness/colour/contrast/sharpness/levels enhancements - in which case most people will probably be encouraged to learn to do it themselves after paying you for a few.

Complicated edits have three problems 1) difficult to market exactly what you are able to do, 2) an expectation gap from the client about what can be done with a given photo and 3) time/cost.

I'm not trying to kick you in the teeth, but I'm skeptical about such a venture being very profitable.

@ALL: Please even if you don't need anything to be done to a photo, I want to benchmark my skills, so please send me some photos to work on.

What are you aiming for? Fixing bad exposures, "artying" up the photos, basic enhancements?

 

[NeonNinja]

Certainly haha. MyBB's not the best. Beware though, at some sites, you might loose some resolution, if image is bare. Thus a good looking but crappy dimensions. What you can also do, is like ask, offer photos of matric dances at schools, of weddings, graduations, and edit (cool effects and backgrounds - basically something extraordinary) them. But likely the photo guy will handle that.

 

[NeonNinja]

It would be very interesting to see what people would be willing to pay. To make it worth you while it will probably have to be rather expensive - it is rather time consuming to edit photos. Unless you are talking about basic brightness/colour/contrast/sharpness/levels enhancements - in which case most people will probably be encouraged to learn to do it themselves after paying you for a few.

Complicated edits have three problems 1) difficult to market exactly what you are able to do, 2) an expectation gap from the client about what can be done with a given photo and 3) time/cost.

I'm not trying to kick you in the teeth, but I'm skeptical about such a venture being very profitable.



What are you aiming for? Fixing bad exposures, "artying" up the photos, basic enhancements?

That.

 

[sitnet]

I know that this can become very time consuming, but this is only a hobby, not a full time job. I that case I would do graphic and web design.

My aim reaches from basic to very advanced. Just to make things clear, I love editing photos and doing graphic design (like designing web pages, business cards etc), so I am enjoying it, and that is all that is important to me.

I will upload an example now, see the first post in 5 mins.

 

[undesign]

I will upload an example now, see the first post in 5 mins.

Pretty well done with the recovery and sky.

In simple terms you need to decide how much your time is worth. Say for instance R200.00 per hour. Now work out how much time, on average, basic/intermediate/advanced editing will take and see what you come up with. That answer can be objectively used as a reality test.

How long did you spend on that photo?

 

[sitnet]

Pretty well done with the recovery and sky.

In simple terms you need to decide how much your time is worth. Say for instance R200.00 per hour. Now work out how much time, on average, basic/intermediate/advanced editing will take and see what you come up with. That answer can be objectively used as a reality test.

How long did you spend on that photo?

About 10 -15 minutes (Including upload time to imageshack).

 

[sitnet]

Going to upload another example, this took me a bit longer, but the result is very funny (this gives you an idea of the things photo-shop is used for in the celebrity world, HAHA)

 

[undesign]

Going to upload another example, this took me a bit longer, but the result is very funny (this gives you an idea of the things photo-shop is used for in the celebrity world, HAHA)

Good job on the wrinkles. The colour around the eyes look a bit unnatural - but you obviously did a quick fix.

 

[SeRpEnT]

Biggest problem in SA is the high cost of uploading pictures to the Net. Majority of the average citizens out there does NOT have uncapped internet. Uploading 12MP photos will just be too expensive and time consuming (at low speed connections) to bother with. My 2c.

 

[Quantum Theory]

I don't think that it will be worth your while sitnet... If you like it so much, rather look into becoming a retoucher for a pro photographer.

 

[sitnet]

Ok thanx for your opinions, I really appreciate it.

And yes I do have uncapped 10Mb internet, and I plan on working within my community so maybe I can deliver the finished photos on CD (or post).

I will give it a test run in any way, to see how it goes. I am going to play it safe and not throw any money into advertising and marketing yet, to prevent unwanted financial loss.