cost for photo restoration

jessy_jen · Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 11:36 am Post subject: cost for photo restoration

Hi i'm a stay at home mom and I was going to open up my own home business touching up pictures. I was wondering if anyone else out there has done the same thing. Could you tell me what you charge and where you are from. I've been doing research on this and it seems that everyone is way different on the pricing.
Also do you have any tips for me that would make me successful at this? Thanks!

Jen

teddc · Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 4:44 pm Post subject:

Believe me, I have tried this for a while and it's a labor of love.
restoration rates that I would charge in aust. dollars $70.00/hr
taking that further, very few clients would be prepared to pay upward of $140.00 to have an old photo restored and that would be a minimal amount of resto work.
some jobs I took on would take 4-5 hrs and then the customer would not pay the price.
have a go by all means, but don't sell yourself short if your works good
TIPS: approach photo labs in your area. show them a few few samples of your work. advertise in your local paper. have business cards printed and hand them out everwhere.
ted

jessy_jen · Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 5:28 pm Post subject:

Thanks for replying. I think that is about $54 us money. I can't imagine someone paying that much for a picture. How many pictures would you say you did a week?

Jen

teddc · Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 5:51 pm Post subject:

About 2 or 3 although I had to cut pricing on most of them or my work would be wasted
left that idea as it was not a sound business venture and went into desiging custom business cards.
this led to a heap of other work, menus for restuarnts, flyers, price lists, swing tags for the fashion industry which led to carry bags, wrapping paper and the list goes on.
i sold myself as a complete design package and had a substantial infrastructure of artists, printers, signwritters etc
you have to be prepared to go out and seek prospective customers then if your work is good it will travel by word of mouth.
i worked from home and regimented myself to start work at 9am and finish at 5pm, 5 days a week with few exceptions
the type of jobs that came my way amazing but i must say this you would need to have a sound knowledge of all phases of the printing industry which fortunatly i have.

good luck
ted

thehermit · Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 7:15 pm Post subject:

I am a Digital Retouch Artist as a profession and I can honestly say that if your quality of work pays a living for you, you should be doing a better job!

The sad truth is that if you ask people what memories are worth or what a picture of a loved deceased member of the family would be worth, t hey could'nt put a figure on it and nor would they want to. When they ask you to put a value back into their picture by restoring it, you can bet your bottom dollar (in fact you can bet theirs) that the price they are willing to pay you is far less than you would want.

I often spend over 30 hours and no less than 10 hours on a complicated restoration, maybe less on a retouch, however, it's not likely that the customer would be willing to pay £35 per hour, in fact it is more likely they would expect to pay little more than that for the entire job - therefore it seems the lot of a retouch artist is not that of a city banker. People cherish memories but cherish hard cash more!

If you love the work and want to make a hobby out of it, all well and good. You could also choose the type of work you pick carefully and make sure you pick short houred profitable jobs, rather than long winded tricky technical affairs.

Whatever you decide to do...... Good luck

www.retouchpro.com would be the best bet for finding like minded individuals and for great advice or encouragement, the forums are an active hive of activities with a few challenges of retouching for you to hone your skills on if you feel like it.

Didn't look at your post count b4 replying but I don't think I have spoken to you before, so welcome to the board!

m3 · Posted: Fri May 06, 2005 10:16 am Post subject: SAD TRUTH

Your quote:
"The sad truth is that if you ask people what memories are worth or what a picture of a loved deceased member of the family would be worth, t hey could'nt put a figure on it and nor would they want to. When they ask you to put a value back into their picture by restoring it, you can bet your bottom dollar (in fact you can bet theirs) that the price they are willing to pay you is far less than you would want."

The even sadder truth is that when the same people are charged the same per hour for repairing their car they don't bat an eyelid. It's an accepted fact - mechanics are qualified people that use specialist tools, who carry out a job that the customer can't ... Hold on, I'll say that again; "Digital Photo Restorers are qualified people that use specialist tools, who carry out a job that the customer can't", now where have I missed something .....

jessy_jen · Posted: Sat May 07, 2005 7:39 pm Post subject:

Boy you guys are scaring me not into doing it. What if I don't charge as much but still where it is worth my while? Anyway I'm a stay at home mom and this is only part time work. But i still have alot to learn, i'm kind of jumping into it. I can retore a picture pretty good but i'm sure i have more to learn. Thanks for your help everyone!

Jen

m3 · Posted: Sun May 08, 2005 6:59 am Post subject: Treading a thin line ...

Jen,
By no means take this as directed specifically at you - however I'll include your quote for an example if I may:
"What if I don't charge as much but still where it is worth my while?"

This is unfortunately one of the reasons why the bottom iss falling out of the professional photographers' market. With the advent of digital cameras making it all too easy for anyone to jump on the scene and undercut prices, those who have earned an honest living from taking pictures and pricing their work according to standard market requirements are now having to compete with the onslaught of part-timers with a misunderstanding (albeit innocent) of what effect they are having on those who run a business in the same fileld; advertising agencies are becoming the other culprits - so often nowadays we see work turned away because someone in the agency has bought a digicam and thinks it's a good way to same money on photographers' fees.
A further extent of the "digital damage" is in the retouching business.

So, am I trying to put you (and all who read this) off? No, but I as a professional would appreciate that all those who consider undertaking similar work, do it with a businesslike frame of mind thus doing themselves and others a better service and making the customer realise that it is a serious skill and erradicate the "oh anyone can do that so why pay more" attitude.
Preaching in the wind? I sure hope not, I really do .......

Patrick · Administrator

You should not charge more than you want to charge just because that is what your competitors charge. Business is a competition and you are aiming for customer satisifaction. Value is one of the ways to do this. Quality is a part of value. If you feel you can give your customers the quality that someone else gives them, but for a lower price and you are happy with the price, you should do it. That doesn't make you any less businesslike - it's a part of business.

Proprius · Posted: Sun May 08, 2005 12:15 pm Post subject:

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