Here’s How Different The Results Are After You Hire A Photo Retoucher For $0.25, $5 And $10

The age-old saying ‘you get what you pay for’ is more relevant today than ever, with deregulation, zero hours contracts, outsourcing and competition from emerging markets pushing prices for services lower and lower.

Professional photographer Irene Rudnyk decided to investigate what this means for her industry, by logging onto popular freelance services website Fiverr. The community is useful for entrepreneurs who want to build the business on a budget, as well as freelancers looking to build experience and a solid portfolio. However the level of competition for retouchers is incredibly high, leading to some people offering their services for as little as $0.25.

Irene tested out 3 retouchers at different price points: $0.25, $5 and $10 to see what kind of results they would come up with. She gave them each an unedited picture along with this request: “I would like if you made this image very vibrant, warm. Clean skin, bright eyes, and make her hair look more red, so it matches the background. Also, I trust your judgment on making this image look beautiful.”

The results were.. interesting. There was a clear jump in quality as the price point went up, as the wise old saying foretells. Irene doesn’t think much of the website as a source for quality work, and wouldn’t recommend it for other photographers looking for retouching services. However, as a trained and qualified professional it is in her interest to keep things ‘in house’ as much as possible, and not to see other professionals have their work undercut and taken by unregulated freelancers.

Either way, it was an interesting and eye-opening experiment which you can check out yourself, by scrolling down the page. Let us know what you think in the comments!