2000+ images from a wedding = countless hours of post processing!! do any of you outsource your work? i've heard some vendors will go through each image and do simple touch ups and then the photog goes in there and fine tunes his/her fav's.

i want to find out more about any possible vendors you may know of that provides this service...any recommendations? suggestions? experiences?

There are some wonderful people here on OSP who do just that. http://www.kampedit.com is one of them.

thank you so much!! i just signed up. time to spend more time with the baby!!!!

Colorati is super as well!

I just heard of Colorati from a colleague the other night! I must check them out! TFS!

I would love to outsource someday to be able to book more weddings but I cant get over the fact that Part of what my clients are paying for is my post processing. I feel like the time I spend on the images after the capture is part of the art process. I love those feelings I get once Ive finished a photo in PS!

How do you all feel about this?

I think that the only way I would do this is if I could find a company who can emulate my style. Does anyone know anyone who does images with bright color pops and strong contrast?! : )

I use www.photographersedit.com and love them

They will work with you to emulate your style.

Ooooh! Forgot to mention them... Excellent! Thanks mel!

I use colorati just for color correction stuff, and when I get it back I do conversions and other edits (though I don't do a ton of that kind of stuff in the first place.) But Colorati will definitely work with you to make it look like your style.
Doooo eeet, it's the best thing ever. I am so much happier and my turnaround time is lightyears faster than before.

Colorati is so stinkin' amazing, it's not even funny. They literally blow everyone else out of the water, hands down. I'm working on getting together a comparison of all the major edit houses around and putting them all in one place on OSP...

Revolution Imaging & Design can also help you out.
www.revolutionimagingdesign.com

Theresa: Most Post-Production services will work closely in matching your style and making sure your artistic vision is not lost when outsourcing. All in all, pricing is pretty close across the board depending on what you are wanting; the biggest thing in our book is making sure we offer the best customer service possible and building long-lasting relationships with our clients.

Jeff: Let us know if I can get some information over to you regarding our services while you compile your list.

Laurin...I sent you a pm.

Leon posted an overall value comparison on another thread about post processing.
Colorati=

http://www.opensourcephoto.net/forum/index...=27363&st=0

while we do edit and process images, our focus is still design.

outsourcing your work is a lot like dropping your film off at the lab. i'm not quite sure i understand the hestitation. perhaps it is the cost. perhaps it's the control.

this might help people to decide, if they are on the fence...
anyone who is processing your images for you can color correct and exposure compensate your images. it's a very time consuming process, but it's objective, so the end results will be similar. minor prefernces can be built into this process - like warming things up, or bumping contrast. it's a consistent process.

processing will get you to the starting point for an image enhancement. this is the part where you put your true stamp on the image. while processing will get you close, if your style it truly unique and image dependent, you will still need to enhance it.

just remember, it's like dropping your film off at the lab.
you still have control.


colorati
shoot dot edit
kampedit
photographers edit
doodledo
editbunny

hope that helps

Becka, who is on here edit's my images. She does a fantastic job! I am so glad that I don't have to spend quite as much time in front of my computer now. It has been a very positive thing to let that go.

studio222pro.com

If you simply want a great set of client-ready proofs for a fraction of what you pay anywhere else, come visit us at www.photographersedit.com! And Jeff, just let us know what you need! If it's easiest, you can submit 10 images as a sample job for free, we'll process them for you, and get them back to you to show off to everyone!



Robin, I think you make a great point here. What a lot of people seem to miss is that these are proofs! Get your images client ready by sending them to a company for processing, and then if you must, do some additional touch-up for albums or large prints. Maybe even a favorites folder that goes up with the regular images when you post them online.

try EditBunny.

This is an interesting post, and it's cool how he broke down the pricing. I do want to make three points in regards to what he had to say though...

1. People always equate price with quality, and in most cases it holds true. What many people don't consider, however, is the idea that methods of business can also lead to a higher price. I'm not sure about Colorati, but I do know that there are other editing companies in our industry who are running the processing biz out of their studio or something comparable. As a result, they're having to use their own photography employees to do editing work, etc.

At Photographer's Edit, we've set up our business more like a large corporation that runs separately from our photography business, and because of our business model, we're able to produce a quality (feel sorry for my editing team for all the detailed quality control feedback that I'm constantly giving ) product for a price that's a lot more affordable to a LOT more photographers.

2. Realistically, a large percentage of our industry is shooting 2000-3000 images a wedding - not 700 images. If you truly want to outsource ALL of your work - not only color correcting but also have the images culled and have some images converted to black and white, you're going to pay closer to $500-600 for a full wedding with them.

3. A-la-carte makes sense if you're doing smaller numbers of images and don't have a variety of requests for the editing team when you submit your job. But again, lots of photographers have thousands of images to submit, want culling, want color correction, want black and white images, and with a-la-carte things can become confusing and you have to take the time to do the math.

With packages, you know up front what you get - no math - and I don't see the need to knit-pick by charging pennies here and pennies there and X amount per hour there for what could be a simple service!

I definitely agree that many people equate price with quality and you are dead on about the methods of business. Running a post-production business out of one's own studio, I feel, cuts a lot of clients short. For us, it is much more than just color correcting and culling images that makes us do what we do. We're about helping photographers grow and expand their business whether it be by helping ease them into outsourcing or really helping them take the reigns on other aspects of their studio.

When it comes to package pricing vs. ala carte pricing, some people ultimately need both methods to figuring out what something will cost them or to make them feel more comfortable.

I think bottom line is that with all the post-production services, some will work well for people and not for others and vice versa. For anyone looking to outsource, the best advise is to find a company that you are going to feel comfortable with and can form a business relationship with and run with it.

Hey guys! I certainly didn't mean to cause a problem by posting what I did. I did want to make sure that photographers got to see both sides. As Laurin said, there are certainly going to be different biz models and photographers are certainly going to choose what works for them. I just think that photographers (who have been in business for years) who charge 2500-3000 a wedding can't afford 500-600 for processing each wedding if they're managing their numbers well. So what I wanted to create was an editing company for the masses.

Which leads me to Jacob's point. I understand the concept of how prices can drive up or down a market from my experience in the photography industry as a photographer. We photograph in Chattanooga where the median wedding photography price is 2500-3000 (which I think is about the national average). This doesn't include all the gazillions of photographers who are charging less.

We average $7000 a wedding and get more.

And people know that we are the high end option in town. That's what we want. That doesn't take away from the fact that there are still clients who can only afford 2500-3000 a wedding or less, and that there have to be photographers who can meet that need.

Let's use T-Shirts as an example. 85% to 90% of people (or more) buy T-Shirts for an average of about $15-$20. A smaller percentage of people will/can spend $100 or more on a T-Shirt. It makes that product that much more unique. If all T-Shirts were $100 or more, than the majority of the population would be screwed. You still have to have the retailers who are going to sell their shirts for $20 to meet the needs of the masses.

With Photographer's Edit, I want us to be seen as the company that exists to provide image processing for the majority of photographers who are charging that median price because I believe in the importance of outsourcing and that more people should be able to do it.

If other companies want to charge a higher fee and there are photographers that want to pay that fee, that's awesome!

Hope that helps make more sense of what I was saying. Everyone have a great day!

Another vote for Colorati. Leon is amazing with his quick communication. It's been a life saver since I give out all images with color correction, then I save a lot of time to play and add some flair to the highlights. And their prices are totally reasonable!

I'm really excited about using Photographers Edit. Knowing Nathan personally, he's huge into customer service and quality. Two very good combinations. Photographers Edit is definitely the KISS of photo editing. Definitely try them out!

That's a pretty huge statement - can anybody else attest to this about Photographer's edit?

I haven't used Kiss... but I can tell you how my average experience goes...

1. Go online and purchase the services I want.
2. Put images on external drive, ship it with a pre-paid shipping label
3. Recieve email thanking me for choosing them, letting me know they recieved my drive.
4. A few days later, recieve email that images are finished, drive is packed and on my way back to me.
5. A couple of days after that - recieve hard drive and Jelly Belly's.
6. Eat Jelly Belly's while hiding from children and uploading images.

Sold!!!

That sounds AWESOME! Nice and simple, I like it Thanks for sharing your experience Melody! How did you feel they did initially getting your preferences all dialed in so that the images look like "yours"? What was that like?

+1 Jen and I are thinking of using them as well. Nathan and Amber rock!!!!

There are some great options on this board. I did some research of my own, because I've decided that I need my life back. I thought I'd share my thoughts with whomever was interested.

I checked out www.photographersedit.com and they replied very quickly. Nathan was prompt, courteous and truthful, but to be honest, I wanted a company that would do more to match my style of work. Photographers edit is great if you want great corrections, and then to add your own style and flair afterwards.

I also was very close to going with another company, but in truth had a hard time communicating with them. I had difficulty getting some test samples to them, and received no reply when I asked him if they had received them. No follow up about him not receiving them either. I wanted to choose a company that would get back to me quickly should I have a question or problem.

After much consideration, I've decided to go with Revolution Imaging & Design. Laurin was very quick with his replies and was willing to work with my style to make the edits look like my own. I also found his replies to be very personable. They also were the best value, in my opinion, and I know exactly what amount the edits will cost me...upfront.
I will be using them for the first time after todays wedding, so I will let you all know how it works out, next week. I also appreciate that their turn around time is 5 days.

Thanks to Rich, Melody, and Chris for the kind words! And Jennifer, thanks for your comments about our customer service!

Jennifer is totally correct. We have avoided going the custom route, resulting in a lower price point for a lot more photographers to be able to outsource their image processing. We color correct/straighten and crop the images, apply our color and black and white presets to the images, and export them to JPEG. Photographers do have the opportunity to be able to be able to leave specific instructions for each job when checking out (in regards to black and white, white balance, etc), but we try to keep a consistent workflow across the board.

There will always be various thoughts on whether or not using special affects on digital images truly garners more interest and resulting business from clients. Earlier in our photography business, we put a lot more importance on how "different" our images were from others in town. We did make use of things such as cross-processing and selective color because it was the in thing to do at the time. As time passed, however, we realized it wasn't special effects that made the images great and the client happy; it was good, consistent photography and a good experience that was going to make clients happy. And ironically, those fads of cross processing and selective coloring passed quickly (as will other special effects that are popular now).

So my approach at Photographer's Edit to keep things simple is not just based on the idea of creating an effortless solution for photographers that is affordable, but is also based on our experience as photographers.

Oh, and Jelly Bellies are my favorite candy, so I figured that was a good choice!

Oh... By the way, I'm glad to forward on customers who would like custom work to Colorati! In fact, I did just a few days ago. I've dropped Leon an email, and though I haven't heard back from him yet, hopefully we'll be able to work together in the future!

Out of curiosity-

I don't shoot RAW. Does that make things more difficult to outsource?

Hey Nathan- Since my files are JPG could I FTP them instead of sending a drive?

Some companies price differently based on whether you send them RAW or JPEG files. Though we recommend RAW as the best file format to shoot and submit in for the best color results, we do accept JPEG files, and we don't charge extra for them!

You can send us RAW or JPEG via FTP as long as it's 3gb or less (we do this for multiple reasons, including the amount of time that a photographer has to tie up their internet line uploading!). Otherwise, just put the images on a flash drive or passport drive and send them our way!

I'm reading this post with much interest!

I'm in Australia... Nathan & other edit companies that are reading this - do you do edit work for international businesses? If so, how do you typically work with getting/sending all the images?

Thanks very much,
Leonie

What a pleasure talking with you the other day, Nathan- and thank you for the referrals! (So sorry I interrupted your video recording! Oof! )

@Chelo: You asked if JPEG is a problem for outsourcing. There are advantages to both. Shooting JPEG makes it easier to FTP and takes up less space in your studio library. That's the upside.

The downside is the files aren't as "flexible" as Raw files when it comes to color, contrast and exposure controls. The file has been processed by your camera and it can present difficulty with getting consistent results.

If the file is slightly over or under exposed it can fall apart pretty quickly. We charge more for JPEGs simply because it takes us more time to process them to our standards.

Hope that helps!

-Leon

Hey Nathan, Just looking at your site, very interested. How do you suggest to pre-select images? Flagging in Lightroom and exporting them is what comes to mind... is that the easiest method...


sorry if this is a hijack

Thanks for the call Leon! Great to talk to you as well, and good to know of another person in the industry who seems to put a lot of importance on family!

Leonie, it's a really good question. We'd love to take on international work, and we may look at satellite offices in the future so we can handle that better. The catch right now is that technology supporting FTP hasn't come very far in the last few years, so while it would make the most sense for international clients to upload all their jobs to us, bandwith is lacking for such a task. When you're talking about a 30gb wedding, it would take days or even more!

With that said, we're glad to accommodate you with a different shipping fee if you need weddings processed and would like to ship them to us, and if you just need small portrait sessions, then we could probably just have you FTP them!

Hey Shannon! Just load your images in to LR, pick your keepers, run a filter so that only the non-keepers are showing, and delete them. This way you're only sending us the images that actually need to be worked on. (just make sure to do this on a duplicate folder if you want a copy of all your original images)

Full comparison of Colorati, ShootDotEdit, KampEdit, Lavalu, and Photographer's Edit coming soon...

oh that makes more sense ;p Thanks Nathan!!!!

I just got my first wedding back from www.revolutionimagingdesign.com and these guys have been nothing short of amazing!
There customer service has been phenominal.
They have been really great at replying to my questions quickly, even with a three hour time difference, between us.
They did a great job at trying to match my style, and were open to suggestions about what could be done to make it even closer to my style the next time.

I was really worried about how long it would take to outsource my editing. My clients are used to a one week turn around and being that I am an international client of theirs, it takes about a week for my images just to get to them.

They had the editing done within 5 business days and even sent me the low resolution images via ftp, so I could get the wedding online quickly, while they ship my DVD back. They were so accomodating, and didn't ever make me feel like I was bothering them.

Now, I've told my clients that my weddings will take a few weeks to edit, so I'm not as worried anymore.

And finally, and most importantly, my client loves them. She is even talking about submitting them to a big wedding magazine in our area.

The best part??? I got my life back. I have time to spend with my family, and my quality of life is through the roof.

I highly recommend outsourcing your edits.

I've used both Photographer's Edit and Revolution Imaging & Design, and for my style, Revolution Imaging & Design is definitely the way to go! They have customized my work to match my style! My proofs are beautiful, perfectly culled and the customer service is TOP NOTCH!!

On Saturday I received an email from them that worried me (it was a delayed sent email) and I completely freaked! I emailed them back from my phone, and before I even went in to my bride's dressing room to start wedding photos, I had a response back apologizing, telling me not to worry, etc. I was able to shoot my wedding stress free, because I know that Revolution Imaging & Design is looking out for me on the other coast!

They rock!

Ksenia