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Creative teams at companies like CVS Pharmacy and Complex found a straightforward solution: They outsource routine photo editing to Path. Their designers now spend time on strategy and creative problem-solving while professional editors handle the technical work. Here’s how this approach can work for your team.

Why creative teams should outsource photo editing  

When you look at how your team spends their time, routine photo editing probably takes up more hours than you’d like. Here’s what most teams discover when they start outsourcing this work:

Specialists handle it better

Professional photo editors work on thousands of images regularly. They’re faster, more consistent, and catch details that someone juggling multiple responsibilities might miss. A marketing manager doing quick background removal between meetings isn’t going to deliver the same quality as a dedicated editing specialist.

It costs less than you think

When you factor in salary, benefits, software licenses, and training time for an in-house editor, bulk photo edits through a service like Path often work out cheaper. Plus, you only pay for what you need instead of keeping someone busy during slow periods.

Helps handle seasonal changes

Holiday campaigns and product launches can create an unexpected amount of editing work for your team. On the other hand, professional editing services scale with your needs without the need to hire someone new.

You get consistent results

When different team members handle editing based on who has time that week, it’s hard to keep consistency. Professional services maintain the same quality standards across thousands of images.

Here’s a realistic cost comparison: Editing 30 product images for a campaign could cost around $12–-#$30 with Path, depending on complexity. If your team handles those same edits internally, that could be 2–3 hours of work, even for people who already know the tools well. When you consider what those hours cost in salary, outsourcing often breaks even or saves money while freeing up your team for other projects.

Ready to see what consistent, professional photo editing looks like?

Try two free edits

Which editing tasks should your team outsource?

To decide which editing tasks to outsource, think about your workflow and which tasks eat up the most time without requiring deep brand knowledge or creative decision-making. For example:

High-volume, low-creativity tasks:

• Background removal and clipping path services: Basic cutouts that follow clear specifications.
• Bulk retouching: Consistent adjustments across product catalogs and seasonal campaigns.
• Color and other general corrections: Standard photo retouching adjustments that follow brand guidelines.
• Shadow and reflection work: Technical enhancements that require precision but not creativity.

Complex but routine edits:

• Ghost mannequin: Apparel photography that needs to show fit and drape consistently.
• Sports photography cleanup: Action shot enhancement and standardization.
• Corporate headshot processing: Standardized retouching across employee photos.
• Product consistency: Ensuring thousands of products follow the same visual standards—or apparel is perfectly symmetric.

And here’s what we suggest to keep in-house:

• Creative concepting: Initial vision and artistic direction.
• Brand-critical decisions: Color choices and styling that define your brand’s visual identity.
• Photo selection: Choosing which shots best represent your brand and message.
• Campaign strategy: How visuals fit into your broader marketing goals.

The key is knowing which photo editing services you need for each type of project and delegating accordingly. You don’t necessarily need to outsource everything, just what makes sense for your team’s resources, workflows, and skills. 

Photo outsourcing benefits for your team and business

The more obvious cost savings aside, you’ll likely also notice your people have more energy for complex projects and deadlines become less stressful. Here’s what typically happens across different levels of your organization when you start outsourcing your photo editing.

For creative directors:

• Teams tackle complex creative challenges instead of spending time on technical busy work.
• Campaigns move from concept to launch without getting stuck waiting for photos to be edited.
• You know exactly what editing costs instead of guessing how much internal time projects will need.

For team members:

• Designers and marketers spend time on projects that actually use their specialized skills.
• Repetitive tasks that drain creative energy get handled by someone else.
• Time gets freed up for learning new techniques and taking on challenging projects.

For the business overall:

• Product launches and campaigns happen faster without editing delays or numerous approvals between team members.
• You can create more content without needing to hire more people to handle the extra work.
• Professional standards get maintained across all visual content, which is particularly important if you sell on marketplaces like Amazon.

Should you consider AI editing instead of outsourcing?

AI editing tools promise quick fixes but often create more problems than they solve for professional teams. You might end up spending more time and money fixing AI mistakes than if you’d used human editors from the start—and AI is notoriously ineffective for maintaining consistency and making those small, precise fixes.

When fully outsourcing photo edits to AI, teams often encounter these challenges.:

• Inconsistent results: The same edit on similar images produces different outcomes.
• Complex subject struggles: Hair, transparent objects, and intricate details confuse algorithms and they don’t deliver a high-quality edit.
• No problem-solving: Can’t always adapt when unusual scenarios come up in real projects, like when you’re retouching portrait photos and need to keep someone’s natural freckles or distinctive features while smoothing overall skin texture.
• Quality control gaps: No revision process when the AI delivers poor results.
• Communication barriers: Can’t always explain specific requirements or request adjustments.
• Security concerns: Uploading client photos or images with people in them to AI platforms raises privacy concerns, since you can’t always control how those platforms store or use the images.

Professional editing services like Path give you the speed and cost efficiency you want from AI, but with actual people handling your work. You get consistent results, direct communication when you need changes or have any questions, and the flexibility to handle complex requests that algorithms might struggle with. 

Every image gets edited to the same professional standard, whether it’s 10 photos or 1,000. When unusual requests come up or you need revisions, you can actually talk to someone who understands your specific needs. Plus, your files are handled securely with proper accountability, and anyone on your team can place orders without needing to learn prompt engineering or worry about how to phrase requests correctly.

Don’t risk your brand’s visuals on AI tools—trust Path’s human editors for consistent, enterprise-level photo editing that scales with your team.

Work with Path’s editors

How to choose the right editing partner for your project

Not every photo editing service works well for larger teams. The right partner should handle 1,000+ images monthly without delays, maintain consistent quality across big projects, and meet tight deadlines when needed. 

You also need secure file handling for brand materials, real people for support (not just chatbots), and pricing that’s transparent with bulk discounts.

Watch out for these red flags when shortlisting photo editing services:

• AI-only services claiming professional quality
• Bulk pricing that isn’t transparent 
• Chat-only support that can’t handle complex requests
• No revision options when professional work needs adjustments

Path works well for enterprise teams because we use human editors exclusively, offer volume pricing and different types of photo editing services, and provide support with 24/7 availability. We’ve built our reputation working with enterprise clients across industries, and teams processing thousands of images annually can even become affiliates to earn commission on referrals.

How to get started with outsourced editing 

Making the switch to outsourced photo editing doesn’t require overhauling your entire workflow overnight. Most teams start by testing the process with a small batch of typical work, then gradually increase volume as they see how it fits their needs and timeline.

1. Try it with real editing requests: Path offers two free edits so you can test the process with actual images from your current projects. Pick something representative of what your team usually handles.
2. Build up gradually: Once you see how it works, you can buy Path credits to handle larger batches when your workload increases. Credits don’t expire, so you can purchase them when it fits your budget cycle—and you also get bonus credits when you top up.
3. Scale to enterprise pricing: Teams regularly processing 1,000+ images monthly can access bulk rates starting from $0.25 per image, making large-scale outsourcing more economical.

Why enterprise teams enjoy working with Path for their photo edits

Professional sports photographers like those working with multiple teams each season have found that outsourcing routine editing work lets them focus on capturing the action and building client relationships instead of spending hours in post-production. But they’re not the only ones.

Creative agencies, ecommerce brands, and other companies that use visuals also share similar feedback. They can now dedicate their talent to strategy and creative problem-solving instead of routine technical work that would require proper training and systems.

Outsource editing and let your teams focus on what they do best

We’re certain your teams don’t want to spend hours editing photos, when there are more impactful and rewarding tasks and projects to tackle. With a choice between spending valuable time and energy on these routine tasks or delegating them to specialists who can candle them faster and more consistently, we believe it’s an easy decision.

Instead of letting the AI deliver work that needs double-checking or redoing, free your creative talent to focus on the work that actually differentiates your brand and drives business results.

Start with a small test batch to see how professional editing fits into your workflow. Once you experience the time savings and quality improvements, you’ll wonder why you waited so long to make the switch!

Editing thousands of images each month? Get enterprise pricing and priority support.

Contact for bulk rates

The post The Smart Way for Creative Teams to Scale: Outsource Photo Editing, Not Creativity appeared first on Path Edits.

Affiliate programs often get dismissed as something only solopreneurs and influencers can benefit from. But your entire team, agency, or department can turn your professional networks into serious passive income through team affiliate marketing.

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You use your combined professional relationships to refer people who need editing services for different purposes than what you do. Photo editing affiliate programs like ours work particularly well because they offer high-value services, repeat customers, and longer commission windows. Read on for tips on how to make the most of it.

Why choose the Path affiliate program for photo editing

Here’s how Path’s affiliate program stands out compared to typical industry affiliate programs:

You earn for 12 months, not just once. Most affiliate programs pay you once when someone buys, then you’re done. Path pays you 20% commission on every single order that customer places for their entire first year. One good referral keeps paying you for months.

It doesn’t have income limits. There are no earning caps or referral limits. Refer 5 customers or 50—you get paid for all of them.

Our program works for individuals and businesses. Your agency can participate as a team, pooling referrals and sharing commissions however you want.

You get a longer tracking window. Path tracks your referrals for 60 days using cookies. Most programs only track for 30 days, so you have more time for people to actually place their first order.

The program has a low payout threshold. You get automatic monthly payouts via Wise once you hit just $25. 

You receive Industry-competitive rates. Photo editing services typically offer 15–50% commissions, but most pay only on the first purchase. Path’s 20% rate for 12 months means you earn significantly more per referral over time. For example, if a customer spends $500 total on Path editing services in their first year, you earn $100 compared to just $20 from a typical one-time commission program.

You’re recommending quality service. Path uses human editors, not AI. It makes referrals easier because you’re recommending a service that actually works and has a good, established reputation with tons of 5-star reviews.

How the Path affiliate program works 

Getting started with our affiliate program takes just 5 minutes:

1. Apply online: Fill out our application form. We manually review each application, which usually takes 1–3 business days.
2. Get your link: Once approved, you get access to your affiliate dashboard and unique referral link. The dashboard shows real-time stats on clicks, conversions, and earnings.
3. Share and earn: When someone signs up with Path through your link, they get 20% off their first order. You earn 20% commission on that order plus every order they place for the next 12 months.
4. Get paid automatically: We send payments via Wise. Once you earn $25 or more, you get paid automatically in the first two weeks of each month.

We designed this affiliate program for photo editing to be simple enough for you and your team to share your links and get paid without waiting for large withdrawal thresholds.

Who should join the Path affiliate program 

Our program works best for teams already working in creative and photography spaces. Remember, your team’s combined network is bigger than any individual’s, and you’re not referring Path to competitors, but people who need editing for different purposes or different scales than your work. Below are some ideas and tips for specific referral opportunities for each type of business.

Creative agencies and studios

You outsource editing work, have clients who need consistent photo editing, and can recommend Path when clients need more support. For example, small business clients who need product photos but can’t afford full agency services, startup clients doing their own photography who need professional editing, freelancers you work with who need editing support, corporate clients’ in-house teams handling basic photography, and marketing teams  you work with on different projects.

Ecommerce teams and managers

Product photography is part of your daily routine, and you know how frustrating inconsistent editing can be. You can recommend Path to other ecommerce brands in non-competing industries, suppliers who need better product photos for catalogs, and retailers you sell through, such as ecommerce shops that might need different edits for different marketplaces.

Sports photography businesses

You can refer other photographers in different specialties (real estate, weddings, events), smaller companies who can’t afford your services but need editing, and freelancers you collaborate with or mentor. Even venues you shoot for might benefit from a variety of edits when they advertise competitions or events across social media, websites, and print materials like leaflets or posters.

Corporate photography services

Your ongoing relationships with HR departments and corporate clients can create natural moments where editing recommendations come up in conversation. For example, you might deliver a series of team headshots but their marketing team will need to use them in different formats across websites, LinkedIn, or  other platforms.

Solo professionals and freelancers

Content creators, photography educators, consultants, business coaches, and equipment vendors all connect with people who need editing help. And unlike agencies and larger brands, solo professionals and freelancers often share behind the scenes of their workflow and tools with others in the same space.

How to maximize your Path affiliate earnings 

Successful referrals generally come from understanding your network and making the conversation feel natural, not forced:

• Start with pain points: Your network deals with editing challenges, such as inconsistent quality, slow turnarounds, high costs, no dedicated editing staff. These conversations are where Path fits naturally.
• Make it helpful, not salesy: Work Path into existing conversations, emails, and social posts. You’re sharing a useful resource, not pushing affiliate links.
• Time it right: Promote during busy seasons when people need more editing help, such as during holiday ecommerce prep, sports championships, school headshot seasons.
• Track your progress: Our dashboard shows which referral sources convert best, so you can double down on what’s working and improve campaigns that might not be performing well.

Natural referral touchpoints

If you’re wondering what actual conversations might look like, we have some ideas below. The main idea is to frame your content as helping others, not promoting yourself, because you want your network to trust you, not see you as salesy.

For agencies and studios:

• “If you ever need editing support beyond our scope, I have a great resource.”
• Include Path in a “resources we recommend” section in project wrap-up emails.
• Mention Path in casual conversations about workflow challenges at networking events.
• “Hey, found this editing service that might help with your editing backlog.”

For ecommerce teams:

• “Your online store photos could really benefit from professional editing.”
• Casual chats about business challenges at industry conferences.
• LinkedIn posts: “Here’s how we streamline our product photography workflow.”
• Include Path in a “Resources that might help your business” section in supplier newsletters.

For photographers:

• “If you need future editing support, here’s what I recommend.”
• Answer questions or share editing tips in photography Facebook groups, especially during busy wedding seasons.
• Recommend Path to photographers you’re helping during mentoring conversations.

General social sharing ideas:

• “Great tools for small businesses” roundups.
• “Resources we recommend” posts.
• Answering industry questions without revealing your own processes.

How to sign up as an affiliate with Path

Ready to get started as our affiliate? Here’s how it works:

1. Fill out the application. Head to our affiliate page and complete the form. We’ll ask about your business and how you plan to share Path with your network.
2. Wait for approval. We review each application manually, which usually takes 1–3 business days. Having an established business in creative or photography spaces definitely helps.
3. Get your dashboard and link. Once approved, you’ll get login details for your affiliate dashboard and your unique referral link. Everything updates in real-time so you can track your progress.
4. Focus on your existing network first. Spend your first 30 days talking to people you already know rather than trying to find new contacts. Your established relationships are where you’ll see the best results.

Start earning passive income with Path today

If you’re looking to earn passive income from recommending a reputable service to your network, Path’s affiliate program is a great fit. You earn 20% commissions for 12 months, there are no earning caps, and it’s designed for teams and agencies who want to monetize relationships without competing with similar businesses. Apply today and start earning!

Earn 20% commissions while helping others level up their visuals—with a human-powered photo editing partner they trust..

Learn more

The post Earn 20% Commissions for 12 Months With the Path Affiliate Program appeared first on Path Edits.

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Choose from 25 supported currencies

Previously, you were able to convert prices to your local currency, but you were still billed in USD. That has all changed.

Now, when you select a currency, that’s also the currency you’ll be billed in. That means no foreign transaction or currency conversion fees from your issuing financial institution.

Here are the currencies you can choose from, in alphabetical order:

• AED د.إ: UAE dirham
• AUD$: Australian dollar
• BDT ৳: Bangladeshi taka
• BRL R$: Brazilian real
• GBP £: British pound sterling
• CAD$: Canadian dollar
• CLP$: Chilean peso
• CZK Kč: Czech koruna
• DKK kr: Danish krone
• EUR €: Euro
• HKD$: Hong Kong dollar
• HUF Ft: Hungarian forint
• ILS ₪: Israeli new shekel
• LBP ل.ل: Lebanese pound
• MXN$: Mexican peso
• NZD$: New Zealand dollar
• NOK kr: Norwegian krone
• SAR ر.س: Saudi riyal
• SGD$: Singapore dollar
• SEK kr: Swedish krona
• CHF: Swiss franc
• TRY ₺: Turkish lira
• USD $: US dollar
• VND ₫: Vietnamese dong
• ZAR R: South African rand

If a specific currency is unavailable for a particular location, the default currency will be set to USD.

Change the currency anytime

Head to the upper right corner of the website to select the currency of your choice.

Our site automatically detects your location based on the IP address your device is connected to, and so we’ll adjust to your local currency for you. If your currency isn’t available, the default is USD. You can override this at any time.

If you create a Path account, we’ll default to the address associated with your account settings—even if you’re physically in a different location or country.

You can change the currency at any point. Maybe you want to see the prices listed in USD, but once you place your order, you want to change it to CAD. You can go ahead and do that at any time—as long as you haven’t entered and submitted your payment information yet.

Pay for orders without conversion fees

The amount shown during checkout will match the amount charged to your credit card, as long as the card is in the same currency you selected on the website.

If the card is in a different currency, your card issuer may apply additional foreign transaction or currency conversion fees. This may mean there’s a slight difference from billing and invoices than what’s actually been charged to your account. However, Path doesn’t issue or receive any foreign transaction or currency conversion fees—this all happens with your financial institution.

Your invoices will list the currency you used to pay for the order. A copy of the invoice is automatically sent to your email right after you submit payment, so you’ll be able to review it straight away.

If you missed or misplaced the email, you can always access and download invoices in the customer dashboard. You can also check out billing history, outstanding invoices, and unpaid orders in the customer dashboard.

Path does it best

Ever since we started this business, we’ve been aware of the stiff competition. That’s why we’re so committed to adding a human touch to every project—completing every edit by hand and even using real customer support agents instead of AI to walk you through the ordering process or troubleshoot any issues you might have.

Now, currency conversion is another area our competitors can’t beat. And while it’s not necessarily a “human” element, it’s a major differentiator.

We scoured the websites of our competitors and can’t find a single one that offers this option. As a global service provider, we care about everyone’s needs—not just the clients who use US dollars. Just another way Path delivers the most convenient, affordable, and quality photo edits to professionals around the world.

Save money and time with Path professional photo edits

We know how important it is to cut costs without sacrificing the quality of your work. That’s why we’re always looking for ways to improve your experience and make it more convenient to get your photos professionally edited.

The post Now You Can Choose From 25 Global Currencies for Path Orders appeared first on Path Edits.

You might not know, but our operations are based in Gaibandha, Bangladesh—one of Bangladesh’s poorest districts.

Over 47% of people in Gaibandha live below the poverty line. And frequent flooding, cyclones and other disasters pose incredible challenges that keep people in a state of struggle.

This is where I grew up, and where I started Path alongside my family.

30,000 sales and marketing pros get our insights, tips, and best practices delivered weekly.

And from the beginning, we’ve made it our mission to give back. To make sure that we were taking the resources that came to us, and using them to help make change in our village. 

Since we started out as a small family business, we’ve put over $800,000 back into our community through our charitable projects and contributions. And today I’m proud to announce that we’re taking that even further, with the founding of our newly registered charity, the Anisa Foundation.

The Anisa Foundation is dedicated to making sure everyone in Gaibandha has access to the resources they need to live a good life, from life-saving disaster relief and healthcare to life-changing education and opportunities.

The foundation is named after my mother, Anisa. She has always been the beating heart of the good work we’re doing in Gaibandha. She’s now set to lead the whole family as we aim to make an even bigger difference in people’s lives. 

I also want to say a massive thank you, to everyone who has been part of this journey with us. 5% of the revenue we bring in through Path is dedicated to transforming lives in Gaibandha. So if you’ve ever placed an order with us, thank you. We very literally couldn’t do this without you, and we’re so grateful for your support. 

If you want to learn more about the work we’re doing through the Anisa Foundation you can read more about us right here, or you can contact us if you want to find out more about how you can help.

Every order, partnership and contribution makes it possible for us to help more people—and there are so many more people we want to help.

Join us, and be part of making a big difference in a place where it’s needed most. 

The post Introducing the Anisa Foundation, Our Brand New Registered Charity appeared first on Path Edits.

If you own an ecommerce brand, you’ll want to hire a pro with product photography expertise. To avoid sticker shock (or get stuck with bad images), we’ll break down the costs of product photography and why it’s worth it to invest in a knowledgeable photographer.

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How much does product photography cost in 2024?

Product photography costs vary depending on several factors including the type of product, the number of products you need photographed (most photographers discount bulk orders), the style you’re looking for (e.g., white background or lifestyle), and your turnaround time.

To give you a better idea of product photography rates, here are a handful of pricing structures (from real companies):

Products on White Photography charges anywhere between $29.99 and $39.99 per photo.

ProductPhoto.com is a bit more affordable, with product photography pricing available as low as $7 per image.

And Soona charges a starter pack of $39 for two images.

Finally, Squareshot has pay-as-you-go as well as membership plans which grant subscribers access to a certain number of monthly photos at a set price depending on their plan. The $39/month subscription gets you $40 per image pricing and two rounds of revisions, while the higher tiered plan costs $159/month plus $35/image.

You’re going to find a wide range of prices, partly due to differences in what’s included in the base cost.

You’ll find that many individual photographers don’t post their rates on their websites. Many times, you’ll need to reach out with information about the project. You might find some pricing, though. Denver-based photographer Leigh Germy, for example, charges $100/hour for product design—while her portraiture photography goes for $300/hour.

How much brands pay for product photography in 2023

To find out what real-world ecommerce brands pay on average per photo, we surveyed some business owners to get their insights.

Celestial Silk

Estimated cost per photo: $25–$80

CEO and founder of pillowcase brand Celestial Silk Danielle Jackson says she uses a combination of outsourced and in-house product photography. Whenever they need live models in the shots, they outsource the photos at $80 apiece. But for more straightforward and less complex images, they shoot in-house at about $25 each.

Lēto Foods

Estimated cost per photo: $90–$250

Lēto Foods, which sells smoothies for pregnancy health, knew the importance of investing in high-quality product photography to successfully launch their ecommerce brand. For most of the images, founder and CEO Amanda Gorter and her team shipped their products to an ecommerce photography company and paid $90/shot. They also worked with a local photographer and food stylist to come up with more creative and special shots—investing closer to $250/image for these.

Cooper’s Treats

Estimated cost per photo: $40–$60

Premium dog treat company Cooper’s Treats uses a photographer who charges $40 per shot plus a flat startup fee, which works out to be a total of about $50 per image. The photographer also sends over images they haven’t culled as the top shots, offering them at half the price. Cooper’s Treats receives edited images, though sometimes they have to crop for a specific use case like Facebook ads or marketing emails. Owner Alex Willen sometimes drives the products from San Diego to their photographer in Los Angeles, and other times they mail the products for about $30–$40.

Carigu

Estimated cost per photo: $9–$28

Australia-based chef gear and accessory brand Carigu outsources their product photography. The images are priced differently depending on the style of the shot. Traditional ecommerce photos—white background, for example—cost them about $9 per image. For more creative lifestyle shots, they pay closer to $28 per photo.

Moriarty’s Gem Art

Estimated cost per photo: $10

Jeff Moriarty of Moriarty’s Gem Art prioritizes product photography because it’s so important for capturing the details in their jewelry—essential for online shoppers looking for these types of items. They hire a local photographer to come to their business every week or two to take both photos and videos of their products. The photographer charges $50 per hour and gets about 5 shots per hour, coming in at about $10 per shot. Each shoot takes 4–6 hours, yielding 20–30 shots for a $200–$300 investment.

“The results of [our photographer’s] work are amazing. It leads to improved sales and conversion rates, so we will continue to invest in her.” – Jeff Moriarty, Moriarty’s Gem Art

Quality Logo Products

Estimated cost per photo: 75¢–$15

Quality Logo Products sells customizable promotional goods and takes a hybrid approach to their product photography. They invest more in unique photography, including 360-degree shots, for best selling products. For less popular items, they outsource the shots and skip the 360-degree views. On average, in-house product photos cost about $3 per regular image and $15 per 360-degree shot. Outsourced shots are much more affordable at about 75¢ apiece. “Our in-house production quality is also significantly higher than that of outside vendors, so it’s worth the money and effort,” says co-founder/president Bret Bonnet.

The Hussl Co.

Estimated cost per photo: $1.16

The Hussl Co. CEO Chase Scroggins hired a “skilled but amateur photographer” for $75/hour to shoot product images for his apparel company. He hired a model and also modeled the clothes himself. The photoshoot took two and a half hours (that’s $187.50 for the photographer) and he ended up with 162 usable shots, 20 of which have been useful for marketing materials and product listings.

Factors impacting product photography costs

Here are a few things you’ll want to note:

• White background: Is this included or an extra cost?
• Clipping path: Do they provide this with each image?
• Worldwide Royalty Free Unlimited Use: Are there image restrictions or licensing fees?
• File types: What is included in the base price?
• Turnaround time: Most pros charge extra for rush projects.
• Retouching: Do they include any basic edits?
• Travel fees: If travel will be required, discuss those fees right away.

Choose your photographer (or photography company) depending on your needs: Take your time frame, outsourced tasks, and products into account. And you don’t want to just go with the most affordable option. Budget is, of course, something to keep in mind, but product images can make or break an ecommerce venture.

Product photography costs

A lot goes into those pretty product shots. Photography equipment and space are expensive, an assistant might be necessary, and cameras and lenses require regular cleaning and appropriate storage. On top of that, there are yearly business costs (like marketing material and a website) and costs for professional photo editing software.

While pro photographers probably don’t want to calculate how much they’ve invested in their business, we’re going to break it down below, so you know exactly why and how photography fees are set.

Equipment

For most product photographers, equipment will make up the bulk of their expenses. Professional-quality cameras, lenses, and lighting tools are expensive.

Camera body

Estimated cost: $3,000–$5,500

Contrary to what most consumers imagine, professional-grade cameras are sold without lenses—and they’re expensive. A decent camera body will start at about $3,000, and many cost more.

We surveyed a small group of professional product photographers and found that over 60% of them spent between $3,000 and $5,500 on their main camera body. And most professional photographers own at least two camera bodies (a main one and a backup), although the backup camera might be cheaper or older.

Pro-quality camera bodies are built with more durable materials, they’re weather-sealed, have higher burst rates, larger buffers, better autofocus capabilities, dual memory card slots, and have GPS and WiFi technologies included. They’re also compatible with a wide assortment of high-grade lenses.

Lenses

Estimated costs: $1,000–$20,000

While most photographers will have just a few camera bodies, they’ll likely have a plethora of lens options. High-quality used lenses start at around $1000 each, and new lenses start at around $1500 each (and that’s considered a rather affordable price point). Generally, the jump from mid- to high-range prices is what separates enthusiast-quality lenses from professional-quality.

It’s not unusual for new, pro-grade lenses to go for $5,000 to $12,000 or more per lens. The photographers we surveyed spent anywhere from $10,000 to over $20,000 on their collection of lenses.

More expensive lenses usually have higher-quality glass, better sensors, more features, a faster autofocus motor, more effective subject isolation, and are weather resistant. The glass elements that are used in professional lenses go through more rigorous testing and have a more rigid inspection process. They typically have faster, constant aperture lenses that produce better images in low-light situations and product images with better color quality.

Props

Estimated costs: $1,000

To keep ecommerce product shots interesting, pro photographers keep a multitude of props handy. The cost varies greatly from a few bucks (think garage sales or thrift shops) to hundreds of dollars.

Bigger or more elaborate props like backdrops, floor drops, and rugs, can add up quickly. And due to the nature of product images, having a variety of blocks and boxes to work with is a necessity. Even if those props cost under $100 each, many product photographers probably have around $1,000 dollars worth of props at their disposal.

If you want to learn more about product photography props, take a look at this great resource: How to Prop Up Products With Blocks to Create Eye-Catching Product Photos.

Lighting

Estimated costs: $15,000

Lighting might be one of the most expensive additional items that pro photographers use. Why? Getting a great product image in a photography studio setting requires more than a good flash. Photographers also need to have light meters, reflectors, stands, boom arms, reflectors, balancer cards, and grips. The photographers we surveyed have spent over $15,000 on lighting equipment.

Curious about how that breaks down? A cheap stand costs about $100, but many quality stands cost over $500, and boom arms can cost around $1,000. A nice flash runs around $500 to $1000—the same goes for a nice light meter. Professional-quality light reflectors will be about $100 each. And the list goes on. Plus, professional photo studios will need multiples of most of these items, so it gets expensive quickly.

Miscellaneous equipment

Estimated costs: $1,000–$10,000

Along with lighting equipment, there are a whole bunch of other necessary items. Filters ($10 to a couple of hundred dollars), at least one camera bag (around $200), a shutter remote, spare batteries, and camera and lens cleaning supplies. Compared to other costs incurred, these are small-ticket items for photographers, but they’re absolutely necessary.

“My camera bag has roughly $8,000 worth of gear in it at any given moment,” says photographer Brendan Williams. There isn’t a shortcut to becoming a professional product photographer. It takes skill and usually a hefty financial investment, not only for equipment but also for studio space, employees, business expenses, and more.

Studio fees

Estimated costs: $500–$800/day

The cost of studio space depends on whether it’s rented or owned and the photographer’s location. If you own the space, the cost will depend on your mortgage situation. The photographers that we surveyed noted that a typical studio rental fee costs about $500 to $800 per day. Studio rental fees may or may not include some equipment use.

“Note: if you hire a professional photographer, they’ll likely have all this equipment. Likewise, if you’re outsourcing the whole thing (for example, shipping your products to a studio like Products on White Photography, you won’t need to pay for any of this equipment).”

People

Estimated costs: $25–$500+ per hour

When you’re paying for product photography, you’re not just paying for one photographer. The cost likely covers assistants, administrative staff, stylists, and possibly models.

One larger product photography company that participated in our survey said they regularly employ a few contractors and probably spend around $80,000 per year on their account manager, assistants, bookkeeper, etc.

Here’s an average breakdown of some of the manpower costs (just for the day of the shoot):

• Photography assistants: $15 per hour
• Models and talent: $50 or more per hour
• Hair and makeup stylists: $50 or more per hour, each
• Photo stylist: $25 or more per hour

Beyond shooting days, most businesses also have support, admin, or bookkeeping staff.

Hiring a photographer

A good photographer isn’t cheap, and hopefully, now you realize why. It’s a lot more than taking a few pretty pictures (although yes, you want to hire someone who can do that).

Interested in hiring a product photographer? Make sure you do your due diligence before making a decision: How to Hire a Product Photographer: 11 Questions You Need to Ask.

Professional photographers use different pricing systems:

• Hourly: $100 or more
• Day rate: $500 or more
• Packages: varies
• Subscription: varies
• Per photo: $25 or more (save money by buying a package)

Thoroughly review any prospective photographer’s rates and pricing structures. You’ll want a plan that will work with your ecommerce business as-is and the option to change plans as your business grows.

Are you a photographer that wants to explore a package pricing structure? Here’s how to build, price, and sell product photography packages.

Photographers work either freelance or in-house, which can impact pricing and the amount of work they can handle. Expect the same quality no matter how a photographer has set up their business, but understand that a solo freelance photographer will only be able to handle a certain amount of work. In-house photographers usually have a team to lean on.

Regardless of whether they work for themselves or a larger company, photographers that do high-end commercial work need to have an inventory of equipment and people at their fingertips.

Business expenses

Estimated costs: $2,900–$3,700

Like other companies, photographers have regular business costs:

• Business registration: $300–$600
• Computer: $1,500+ or more
• Website: $300+
• Marketing: $300+
• Insurance: $500–$1,000

One professional product photography company we surveyed spends over $10,000 per year on business costs. Again, this will vary depending on whether the photographer works freelance or in-house at a larger studio.

Post-processing

Estimated costs: $120–$700/year

In the grand scheme, easy photo editing software subscription costs are low-cost for product photographers. Photoshop, Lightroom, Canva, are all less than $700 per year each (and Canva is currently an affordable $120 a year). The real cost of post-processing is time.

Photo editing takes a skilled person and a lot of time. Of the product photographers that we surveyed, photo editing was one of the most commonly outsourced tasks—simply because of time constraints.

Image source

Outsourcing photo edits to a professional team like Path is a great way to keep costs down and maintain your high-quality standards. (Path pricing is transparent and straightforward with costs starting at 25¢ per image.) And outsourcing tasks such as photo editing can be especially helpful if you’re working with a freelance photographer (or you are a freelance photographer).

Storage

Since pro photographers have to maintain and share countless files, they also have to pay for image storage and organization solutions:

• Digital asset management (DAM) system: $350+ per year (a 2018 survey found that $51,999 was the average yearly DAM cost)

• Server space: $100–$300 per month for a smaller business
• Memory cards: around $100
• Memory card reader: around $20–$80
• Portable storage drive: roughly $100–$800
• Tech resources for maintenance: varies
• Cables for image transfers: around $10–$50

Where to save money vs. where to invest

Product photos aren’t something you want to skimp on, but there are a few ways to save a bit of money.

Moving forward with your product photography

That product photography quote that you received is probably looking a lot more affordable now. (Ahem, photographers, the new year would be a great time to raise your prices.)

Producing high-quality product images is expensive, but there are plenty of reasons it’s so costly. Those images are an investment in your ecommerce company and, for photographers, they’re the result of years of experience, a vast network, and a strategically built business.

The post How Much Does Product Photography Cost in 2024? appeared first on Path Edits.

Many times automation mitigates human error. But there are contexts where tech makes its own flaws.

This is the case when it comes to automated photo editing.

Your photos are what your audience has to get an impression of your product, subject, brand, or whatever else you’re representing. If it’s a poor image, they’re going to think the brand is of the same quality. And that’s not what’s going to drive sales.

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So, what are the pros and cons to automated photo editing, and does it ever make sense to use it? Let’s take a look:

A breakdown of the difference between automation and AI

While automation and AI are often interchangeably used, they actually refer to different things. Let’s take a look at the definition of each:

What is automation?

Automation is when you use technology to set up systems and processes that begin and end on their own. In business, automation happens in almost every single department. You can automate marketing, inventory management, HR, and even photo editing.

What is AI?

AI stands for “artificial intelligence” and refers to machine learning. Essentially, this technology replicates or replaces human intelligence, and it’s more successful for basic tasks and concepts. Over time, this technology “learns” and becomes more powerful—sort of like forecasting for inventory based on historical data. If you give more input to the computers, they can learn more effectively.

What’s the difference between automation and AI?

While automation and AI both rely on some sort of human involvement during the setup, AI gives computers more independence. Automated workflows and sequences happen based on parameters you’ve set manually, whereas AI involves machine learning which includes advanced data analysis and predictive modeling.

Automation and AI in photo editing

So, what does this all have to do with photo editing?

In photo editing, you can use automation to accomplish tedious, time-consuming edits. For example, if you need to put everything on a white background, you can use automation to apply the edit to a large batch of images. Some companies also make the mistake of using automation for detail-oriented edits, like clipping paths. These often result in Photoshop fails—remember the Target thigh gap debacle of 2014?

Drawbacks of automation and AI

Outsourcing your work to computers isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be. In fact, automation and AI can actually ruin your product shots and send you back to square one.

You’re limited in what you can do

While AI might have its place for basic edits, the technology is very limiting, especially from a creative standpoint. Manually editing photographs is still a more widespread technique than using a tool that relies on artificial intelligence because you have a stronger control over the way the image transforms. With an AI-powered tool, you’re limited to algorithms.

This means you might not get the perfect look, and it almost always requires manual tweaking. Plus, the results could be subpar, in which case you might have to start all over and do it by hand—which takes even more time than just editing by hand in the first place.

You don’t exercise creativity

Because AI is so limiting, it also prohibits creativity. This can be stifling and take the passion out of your work. AI can’t take creative direction. As such, you still have to do a fair bit of manual work.

Imperfections happen

Quality control is extremely important when you’re letting machines do some of the editing work for you. The most tiring factor in manual image editing is that it requires graphic designers to put on their eagle eye lenses to pinpoint the smallest anomaly in the picture. Many photographers and brands are trolled when Photoshopping goes wrong.

And while you might think using automation and AI will help you spend less time on time-consuming edits, this could actually make your job harder and more time-intensive in the long run.

Instead of looking at shots to see how you can manipulate them, you’re looking at shots to see how they’ve been manipulated and if they need to be fixed. And then doing the work of fixing them when needed. When all is said and done, you might’ve been able to do it faster with a human.

Manual work is required

Sensing a theme? Automation and AI don’t completely eradicate the need to do edits by hand. You still need to review each image before handing it off to the computers.

There are a variety of images that need different treatments. You should analyze the photograph first and then decide how you want to approach it.

It’s also important to perform a quality check after the software has manipulated your image. as well as perform quality checks and spot edits afterwards. The key benefit of AI is having good manual editing skills and being able to deliver on your client’s brief. Without this skill, you’re likely going to seek out a different photographer.

High-quality photography only

If you’re using an automated tool, you’ll likely need to provide high-quality, high-res original source images as much as possible. No smartphone product photography here! You should use high-quality JPEG files or non-compressed formats. Compression can mess things up with AI-based background removal.

The trick is that the removed background has to be relatively distinct from the subject. If your background is sharp and the foreground is sharp, the algorithms struggle to detect edges well as they typically use contrast detection. So if you’re not working with a high-quality camera and lens, your shots might not be suited for an AI-based photo editor.

Benefits of automation and AI in photo editing

There are certainly scenarios where it makes sense to take advantage of automation and AI to speed up your editing workflow.

Handle large batches of edits

Product launches, start of the season, a new fiscal year, new collections, seasonal changes, upcoming trade shows—there are lots of times when a large batch of photos that need editing come across your desk.

When you have lots of edits and impossible deadlines, automation and AI can help speed things up. Give the simple tasks, like basic background removal or resizing, to the computers so you can focus on the more important and creative details.

Stay within budget

Using photo-editing technology can be budget-friendly, especially if it means you don’t have to invest in employee hours or financial resources to accomplish the edits.

Keep in mind, though, that even if it’s free to start with—if you or your team needs to spend a significant amount of time reviewing or fixing mistakes, it might not be as budget-friendly as you initially thought.

Take care of all your simple edits

AI has its time and place, and simplicity is key. The less complicated your edit, the more likely it will be suited for AI.

For example, you can use an automated tool to work with basic images with higher levels of contrast. As far as a complex photograph is concerned, it’s better to build up the layers for a more refined result. Amazon product photos are another good example of photos that might work for an AI-based photo editor.

But if you’re using the images on a website or in a catalog with a particular specification, AI will likely not be very helpful as it will only address specific use cases. For example, product photography for cosmetics and jewelry often require very specific shadows which, at times, are manually created. This isn’t effectively handled through AI.

Get tedious edits off your plate

Those simple, basic edits are also the most tedious and frustrating ones. They take the most time and attention to detail. But they’re foundational to an effective product photo. That’s why AI makes a good “assistant” to take those tedious edits off your plate.

AI is ideal for automating specific tasks in a workflow, but manual editing is still the way to go for achieving a specific look.

AI and photography

Did you ever think the people you see in photos online could be fake? As in, those aren’t actually photos of anyone. Instead, AI creates visuals of real-looking humans. Sounds great because you don’t need a budget for models or signed releases to use the images. But in reality, these images are often distorted and can breed mistrust with your audience.

Here’s an example from Generated Photos. It might be free, but this person’s face looks unrealistic.

Automation and photo editing

Remember, automation and AI might be similar but they’re two different things. Automations are especially ideal for speeding up your workflow. You can use actions and plugins in Photoshop to make your job easier.

But if you’re outsourcing the photo editing, you want to steer clear of automation. Some companies use automated technology and even AI to accomplish their photo edits. This leads to mistakes, which defeats the purpose of outsourcing in the first place. So when you outsource, look for a company that does every edit by hand. Our designers, for example, zoom in up to 300% to get pixel perfect edits every time.

AI and photo editing

AI also has its use for photo editing, digital asset management (DAM) in particular. With AI, you can automatically tag and add metadata to your image files for easy organization and retrieval. In some cases, the technology uses the photos themselves to extract product information, for even more advanced DAM.

AI tools for photo editing

If you want to use AI for basic photo edits, you can try the following tools:

• Photoshop
• Picsart
• Canva
• Pixlr

Should you use automated and AI-powered photo editing?

The answer, like most questions in business, is that it depends. There’s always a time and place for automation and AI, but you don’t want to go overboard. Sometimes, your product photos need a human touch.

Automate photo editing FAQs

Which AI tool is best for photo editing?

Photoshop is the best tool for photo editing, and it also includes an AI feature.

Can I use AI to edit pictures?

Yes, you can use AI to edit pictures. AI is commonly used for things like background removal and color correction. However, it can produce imperfect and low-quality results that require checking and fixing by hand.

What is the free AI tool for image edit?

Most “free” AI tools for image editing include a limited version of or limited time access to its paid platform. So while AI tools for image editing may call themselves free, you may need to pay to achieve quality results. Some options include Canva, Picsart, and Pixlr.

How do I edit 100 photos at once?

You can edit 100 photos at once by sending them to a professional photo editing studio like Path. Path is available 24/7 and has a team of 300+ designers who can handle bulk orders of all sizes, often delivering results within just 6 hours.

How do I automate Photoshop editing?

You can automate Photoshop editing by performing actions in bulk.

The post Can Robots Edit Photos Better than Humans? appeared first on Path Edits.

Not sure which other photo editing tricks can bring the needed drama and extra definition to your product images? Let’s explore your options with before / after examples so you can learn to spot the needed photo editing technique.

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1. Background removal via image masking

While clipping paths are ideal for removing backgrounds from items with straightforward edges, not every job is clean. In some cases, we have hair, fur, grass, and other fine details that don’t lend themselves to the nice clean lines we use when we create clipping paths. For images with these hairy details, image masking, compared to clipping paths, is the way to go.

Image masking is a more advanced method of background removal that’s also more detailed and time-consuming. This is why we use it as needed, not as a go-to choice.

The masking post-production technique uses artificial intelligence (AI) to recognize the borders of an object and make some parts of the image transparent, bringing pixel intensity of the identified parts to zero.

Generally, the more complex your object’s silhouette, the higher resolution you’ll need to use when editing—and the more likely image masking will yield cleaner, true-to-life results.

2. Get rid of product blemishes and imperfections

However carefully you handle your object during a photoshoot, the inevitable fingerprint, dust, smudge, or otherwise imperfect spot will make an appearance.

If you have these issues in your shot, photo retouching can help. The best retouching method depends largely on the material and reflectiveness of the item.

In the example below, a chair image was improved by removing the inconsistent spots that appear on the fuzzy suede-like material. The original image shows the fabric’s imperfections, whereas the edited image shows the product as it’s meant to be displayed.

3. Smooth wrinkles on fabric

While you want to iron or steam any fabrics prior to shooting, wrinkles and imperfections are also typically inevitable. Photoshoots are long and models are only human—an odd deep crease is almost unavoidable on most of the fabrics. You can use a “digital iron” to smooth out those wrinkles in Photoshop.

In this case, the Healing Brush Tool, Clone Stamp, and Content Aware Fill Tool help to make a perfect photo even with slight imperfections.

Check out how retouching turned a pair of messy, heavily creased shorts into a neat pair from visibly natural materials in the example below from fashion boutique Motif Concept Store.

4. Add or remove reflections

While some lighting effects are intentional, product shots can also end up with the occasional glare, reflection, or otherwise unwanted distraction due to light. Natural lighting is best for product photography, but you can’t control it. And setting up artificial lighting for your product photoshoot requires advanced skills and expensive equipment.

In other cases, you might want to add a reflection of a product to your shot. Maybe you weren’t able to get the angle right, the lighting wasn’t working, or you didn’t have a reflective surface available for the shoot. This is also possible in Photoshop. These images work well in print and digital ads, social media imagery, emails, and other marketing collateral.

5. Remove price tags and hangers

When shooting products, it’s best to remove price tags, hangers, and other distracting elements prior to taking the pictures. But that’s not always possible. Sometimes, you need to rely on Photoshop to remove these items after the fact.

And while it might seem straightforward, removing these unwanted elements may involve a combination of post-editing techniques like clipping paths, image masking, the healing brush, and more.

6. Change colors in Photoshop instead of taking new shots

When you have a product available in a number of colors or prints, but otherwise the design is exactly the same, you can simply change the color in Photoshop. Rather than spending time and money on coordinating an entirely new shoot for each new print or variant, you can prep your images using the content you already have.

Best part is, because it’s tedious and not too advanced, color change is a service you can easily outsource. Check out how natural the edited khaki shorts look in the example below.

7. Add shadow for dimension on white background

It may seem trivial to a novice in ecommerce sales, but every seasoned etailer knows the value of a drop shadow in the background. It gives an object extra dimension and depth, helping it jump off the page instead of looking flat and lifeless. Moreover, items look more realistic with a shadow.

See how a small natural show turns this flat image of earrings into a more realistic photo that jumps off the screen. It almost gives it a 3D-like quality.

Creating realistic drop shadows to a series of products styled as a web catalog needs a lot of attention, as the shadows should contribute to the general feel of consistency and professionalism, as opposed to creating a chaotic feel to the listings. And you want to make sure your shadows are realistic. Bad shadows could make your image look low-quality and spark mistrust in your audience.

8. Add a ghost mannequin for apparel product photos

To do ghost mannequin edits, you’ll need to know ahead of time. While other editing techniques can be applied to almost any product image, ghost mannequin photos must be shot and edited a certain way. You can’t just shoot an image of a T-shirt in a flat lay mode and then convert it to the ghost mannequin type. You have to take a picture of a garment on a mannequin to enable further manipulations.

This image editing technique is a popular compromise for brands that need models for their apparel photos but don’t have the ability to hire models for shoots. So it has the best of both worlds: it doesn’t cost a small fortune, but it looks almost as if worn by a person, making it easier for potential buyers to picture wearing it.

Depending on the garment cut, you may need to do one or a combination of ghost mannequin services: neck joint service, bottom joint service, or sleeve joint service. The most advanced technique in this category is called mannequin to model, where a piece of clothing is Photoshopped onto a model. The trick here is to make sure both plastic and live models are in the same pose.

Product photo enhancements as a service

Ecommerce photos almost always go through post-processing enhancements to be able to effectively do their job of attracting customers, educating them about the product, and ultimately converting them into buyers.

No Photoshop skills or spare time to do it yourself? You can outsource the most tedious and time-consuming edits to Path, your virtual photo-editing studio. Our edits start at just 39¢ per photo, and every edit is completed by hand—not some automated, mistake-prone software. 

The post Beyond Clipping Paths: 8 Ways to Improve Product Photos in Post-Production appeared first on Path Edits.

Outsourcing doesn’t need to be some forbidden word. Many of the most successful entrepreneurs outsource to help them focus on what they do best.

In this article, we’re going to cover everything you need to know about how to outsource your ecommerce business tasks and which areas are best to hand off to a qualified third-party professional.

30,000 sales and marketing pros get our insights, tips, and best practices delivered weekly.

What is ecommerce outsourcing?

Ecommerce outsourcing is when an ecommerce business pays a third-party vendor to manage various aspects of the business. Many ecommerce businesses outsource tasks to increase bandwidth, move more quickly, or get expertise in an area they lack resources. As many businesses look to be more efficient and keep costs low, more are turning to ecommerce outsourcing given the many benefits outsourcing provides.

Deloitte reports global spending on outsourcing could reach upwards of $731 billion in 2023. And a 2022 survey found that over one-third of businesses are actually increasing the amount of work they outsource. Nearly half of businesses were already in the process of outsourcing or looking to improve their outsourcing strategy at the time the survey was taken.

Editor’s note: Outsourcing isn’t to be confused with automation. Automation is when you use tools to automatically fire off specific actions, according to established variables or prerequisites.

Outsourcing is less of a “set it and forget it” deal. Instead, it requires more trust due to a hand-off of certain business functions to an external resource to handle independently. Just like with hiring the right employees, the vendors you choose will have a direct impact on what you’re able to accomplish.

Of course, outsourcing isn’t a one-size-fits-all strategy, there are different types of outsourcing each of which may be best suited for your specific needs.

Types of ecommerce outsourcing

Here are the types of outsourcing you’ll need to be aware of to make the best decision for your business.

Local ecommerce outsourcing

Local outsourcing is when you work with vendors at a local level. For example, you could hire an advertising agency in your town to help drive traffic to your ecommerce business, an especially strategic move if you’re targeting people who live in the area. You could also hire a local social media firm to help assist in getting the word out about your products.

Benefits of local outsourcing

• Close proximity to your vendor: While businesses have benefited massively from a global economy, being able to meet with your vendors in person can bring peace of mind and create more rapport.
• Localized expertise: Your vendor will deeply understand the challenges and pain points of your local market. They can even advise you with insights about your target audience.

Nearshore ecommerce outsourcing

Nearshore outsourcing is when you work with a vendor located in your greater surrounding area. For example, if you’re in the United States and work with an outsourcing vendor in Canada, that would fall under the nearshore outsourcing umbrella.

Benefits of nearshore outsourcing

• Similar time zones: When working with a nearshore vendor, you can communicate during your regular business hours. While this can be convenient, it does have the downside in that you don’t get the added benefit of having work done overnight.
• Similar culture and working environments: Working with a vendor who shares similar culture and work environments can help save time on communication and outsourcing processes. That said, as the world has become more globalized, this benefit can often be overstated. Many outsourcing firms from all over the world have capable and talented employees who can work with you on your every need.
• Predictable costs: Working with a nearshore outsourcing firm can be helpful when budgeting because you’re more likely to be familiar with how much a particular service is supposed to cost.

Offshore ecommerce outsourcing

Offshore outsourcing is when you work with a vendor located in a different country, typically overseas—hence the term “offshore.” As business becomes more globally connected, offshore outsourcing is becoming increasingly common. According to data shared by Microsourcing, some of the most common offshore outsourcing tasks include IT, finance, and payroll, with many businesses using offshore outsourcing to assist.

Benefits of offshore outsourcing

• Cost effective: Working with an offshore vendor is one way to keep your costs low. That isn’t to suggest you should take advantage of your vendors to get the absolute lowest quote—you still need quality work, after all. But there can be some pretty significant cost benefits to using offshore outsourcing.
• 24/7 coverage: Having someone work on your tasks overnight can give you a serious advantage. If you need a design request fulfilled overnight for an important presentation in the morning, waking up to it can be a game changer. 

Why should you outsource? 3 major benefits of ecommerce outsourcing

Businesses turn to outsourcing for many reasons. For some, it’s a purely cost decision. For others, being able to outsource an important component of business can help a business scale. As a business owner, knowing certain tasks are completed like clock-work can help keep you focused on your biggest-win opportunities.

Here are some of the major benefits of ecommerce outsourcing.

1. Outsourcing can save you money

According to Deloitte, 88% of businesses said they were able to save money by outsourcing. Outsourcing can help you control costs by allowing you to strategically invest in the services you need, rather than having to spend money on hiring new full-time employees as well as additional equipment, software, and tools.

Many businesses find themselves in the place of needing help, but not quite ready to make an additional in-house hire. Because outsourcing vendors handle all the logistics of the given tasks, you can get quality expertise at a fraction of the cost.

2. Ecommerce outsourcing allows you to focus on your strengths

Instead of spending time on tedious and time-consuming tasks, ecommerce outsourcing allows you to focus on your strengths. For example, if you’re good at marketing, but it takes two hours to create and edit a product image to use on social media, you could use our clipping path photo editing service to take the cut-outs completely off your plate.

You can then use those extra hours to drive awareness to your business, a much better use of your time. Growing a business is difficult, outsourcing can help you stay on track and avoid burnout.

3. Outsourcing helps you scale your business more quickly

Perhaps the biggest and most obvious benefit of ecommerce outsourcing is how it allows you to grow your business quickly. According to a survey conducted by Clutch, over 90% of small businesses have plans to use outsourcing in 2022 to help them grow.

You can focus on the revenue-generating aspects of your business rather than being bogged down by the necessary—but not big picture—needs of your business.

Which tasks to outsource in your ecommerce business

The benefits of outsourcing are clear, but what should you outsource? Let’s take a look at some of the specific tasks you can outsource.

Photo editing

Photo editing is one of those tasks that can be incredibly time-consuming but also essential to virtually any product-based business. The last thing you want is to use low-quality and poorly edited images, which ultimately reflects the quality of your brand.

If your images aren’t high-quality, will your products be?

Editing photos can take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour per shot. This time adds up, especially if you’re not a photo editing expert. Photo editing can often take away valuable hours that can be used to focus on the essential—which is why it often makes so much sense to outsource.

Here are some of the photo editing tasks you can consider outsourcing:

• Clipping paths and image masking for background removal
• Color variants to launch new prints or add more color to your photos instead of holding a whole new photoshoot
• Ghost mannequin to bring your apparel product photos to life
• Photo retouching to remove wrinkles from fabric, smudges on your product, glares, and other imperfections

We handle your tedious and time-consuming edits so you can focus on more important tasks or your advanced edits done in-house.

Product photography

Photo editing isn’t the only photo-related task you should consider outsourcing. Using ecommerce outsourcing for product photography can save you even more time and money.

Product photography is essential to your ecommerce business because your product photos are how your potential customers get to know about your product—product images replace that in-store product experience. In fact, one Weebly survey found that more than three-quarters of people find quality product images to be “very influential” to their purchase decision.

White background product photos are perfect for outsourcing. If you plan on using white backgrounds for your product photos, it’s not as simple as just taking a product photo and removing the background. For the highest quality images, you have to customize the lighting for every shot and angle if you want to get your photos right. Let the product photography experts handle it. 

Silk dress brand VAUGHAN outsources simple photo retouching jobs. It was a no-brainer, as the brand didn’t need to waste money on an in-house graphic designer when a basic knowledge of Photoshop will do the trick. VAUGHAN outsources tasks like background removal and change so it can sell on Amazon.

If you want the highest quality product photos, it almost always makes sense to hire outside professional photographers to help you with your shoot. Here are some places to start your search for expert product photographers:

• Products on White Photography
• Squareshot
• Slack’s professional photographer channel
• Fstoppers, The LawTog, or Ladies Behind The Lens Facebook groups

Marketing and social media

Marketers are feeling more spread thin than ever. According to Semrush, nearly 64% of marketers said they wish they had more time and resources to focus on their core tasks in marketing. Ecommerce outsourcing can not only help support your marketing team, but it can help keep costs low by not having to hire additional full-time employees.

Here are a few of the things you can outsource within marketing:

• Social media: While social media can be an incredibly powerful tool, keeping up to date with the latest trends, best practices, not to mention time spent posting can get time consuming, quickly. Working with an ecommerce outsourcing vendor to tackle social media is one of the easiest ways to free up time. From editing images to the right dimensions for a specific social media platform or even the actual posting itself, there’s no shortage of tasks you can outsource for social media.

Motif Concept Store, an apparel brand for women, uses outsourcing to help with both its product photography and social media marketing.

• Content creation: Not only does posting on social media take time, but so does creating the actual content itself, not to mention your other content marketing tasks. Whether you need help with blog posts optimized for SEO or strategic marketing campaigns that require specific images or assets, outsourcing your content creation can, again, help save you significant amounts of time and money.
• Community management: You can use an ecommerce outsourcing vendor to help you stay on top of questions and inquiries across social media and your standard support channels. Having a team available to answer support-related inquiries around the clock can help you provide a world-class customer experience.

When outsourcing marketing and social media tasks, consider vendors who have experience in multiple social media platforms as well as experience with community management.

Web development and IT

Website maintenance is a never-ending process. Using a vendor specializing in web development can be invaluable in helping keep your site secure, technically optimized, and help take basic web development tasks off your plate.

Here are a few things you can outsource to a web development firm.

• Maintaining your ecommerce store: You can outsource the maintenance of your ecommerce store including, updating plugins, security patches, resolving server downtime and more.
• Running site speed and technical SEO audits: Your site speed is incredibly important when it comes to conversions. A slow site is detrimental to your bottom line. Additionally, having an outsourcing vendor audit your site for SEO improvements can go a long way in ensuring your site ranks well in search.
• Uploading images and product photos: Send over your images and product photos to your outsourced web development and IT team and let them handle the rest.
• Publishing blog content: Creating content is time consuming no matter how you slice it. Use an outsourcing partner to take that final draft and upload it to your website. A 2020 report by the Content Marketing Institute found that 84% of businesses have outsourced at least one aspect of their content marketing efforts.
• Building landing pages for new product launches: Stop wasting time building the perfect landing page and instead outsource the task to a vendor that has marketing chops.
• Setting up new email accounts: Have a systemized process for creating new email accounts and other important software you use to run your business.

Be sure to check out review sites like Clutch, GoodFirms, and G2 which each have detailed reviews of hundreds of web development and IT vendors.

Manufacturing

What’s great about outsourcing your manufacturing is you can focus more on brainstorming new product ideas and then letting your vendor take care of the rest. “We put the entire operation on our 3PL partner and now I don’t even think about it. It ended up costing less than paying for everything we need to keep doing self fulfillment,” says Allen Walton, founder of surveillance gear company, SpyGuy.

Outsourcing vendors that specialize in manufacturing have the systems, tools, and resources to help you create your products at scale. Manufacturing and fulfillment vendors can help with:

• Product development: You can hire a partner to help develop your product concept and bring it to life. 
• Holding raw materials: Your outsourced manufacturer can hold all the raw materials needed for production so you don’t have to invest in renting additional space.
• Manufacturing expertise: A strategic vendor can help provide improvements on the overall production process and introduce ways to decrease costs and improve your bottom line.

Virtual assistance

There are some truly incredible virtual assistant companies that operate all over the world that can help take those mundane tasks off your todo list. Using virtual assistants you can have them:

• Manage email: Keep track of important emails and stop being overwhelmed with your inbox.
• Answer and make calls: A dedicated virtual assistant can help screen your calls and answer any incoming calls related to your business.
• Customer service: Use a VA to respond to basic customer service inquiries or requests.
• Data entry: With a virtual assistant vendor you no longer need to spend hours of your time entering basic data into a spreadsheet.
• Slide decks: A VA can also help put together a deck for an important presentation as well.
• Research: Your VA can be a great resource to help you do research on potential product ideas, competitors, and best practices to grow your business.

Pro tip: When choosing a VA vendor, remember to account for timezones, so you know exactly what to expect for your outsourcing workflow.

VAs are often available at an affordable rate. Wise Advise virtual assistants, for example, have VA services available for just $25/hour.

Business operations

As your company grows, don’t let the increase of admin tasks bog you down. Outsourcing some of the operational aspects of your business can help you focus on your core strengths.

Here are some related tasks you can outsource:

• HR documentation: You can outsource everything from standard employee contracts to creating onboarding documentation for new hires as well as standard operating procedures (SOPS) for your company to follow.
• Shipping: Stop wasting your time going to and from the post office. Find a third-party logistics (3PL) vendor to take care of shipping and fulfillment.
• Data analysis: Your vendor can help you with data analysis regarding your business’s performance and more.

Accounting

If finances and accounting isn’t your strong suit, you should definitely consider outsourcing this critical part of your business. Even if you enjoy accounting, it may not be the best use of your time.

Keeping track of your sales, customers, and metrics can get pretty chaotic, pretty quick. An outside vendor can help you with your accounting to ensure you have an accurate and up to date picture of your finances.

Vendors here can be especially helpful in saving you money on taxes and other other accounting best practices.

3 tips for successful ecommerce outsourcing

Now that we’ve covered all the things you can outsource, here are some extra tips to help you get the most from your outsourcing.

1. Get clear on your goals

Know from the start what you’re hoping to accomplish through outsourcing. Having a clear goal in mind will help ensure you’re getting the best bang for your buck. If you can’t clearly articulate your outsourcing goals, chances are an outsourcing vendor won’t be able to either.

Are you looking to improve your customer service? Are you wanting to optimize your manufacturing and product development process?

Being able to communicate your challenges and goals clearly with your potential vendor will help set you up for long term success.

2. Communication is everything

Open and strong communication with your vendors is a must. Setting communication guidelines and expectations up front is critical for getting the most out of your working relationship. Get in the habit of over communicating across the board to ensure you and your vendors are on the same page.

You should also negotiate with your vendors before signing anything. Make sure the terms are something both you and the vendor are happy with.

In addition, while working with your vendor (and even before you start) get everything in writing. Not only can this help you legally in a worst case scenario, it can also help keep everyone aligned.

3. Choose a flexible outsourcing partner

Businesses are complex and always evolving. Sometimes you may only want an outsourcing partner for a short time. Other times, it makes sense to find a partner long term.

Choose a vendor that is flexible to your needs, both now in the future. For example, if you’re outsourcing manufacturing, can they handle a 10x increase in volume as you expect in Q4? Can your vendor assist in other areas of your business as well?

At Path we have 300+ designers and has been in business for nearly 15 years so you know we’ll be here for a while. Whatever your photo editing needs, there’s a good chance we can handle it.

Looking to outsource your photo editing?

While there’s no shortage of tasks you can outsource, photo editing is the perfect place to start and it can truly be one of the best investments you ever make.

Your talent and creative energy are best spent doing what you love—not fiddling in Photoshop for hours. With Path, you can have professionally edited photos in under 6 hours.

FAQs about ecommerce outsourcing

What is ecommerce outsourcing?

Ecommerce outsourcing is when you choose to work with outside vendors to take care of a specific set of tasks related to your ecommerce business. You can use ecommerce outsourcing for anything from marketing, to finance, to project management.

What are the benefits of outsourcing in ecommerce?

Keeping costs low as you scale. Freeing up time to focus on more strategic initiatives for your business. Utilizing expertise outside of your domain.

The post Ecommerce Outsourcing: Get Back to What’s Important in Your Business appeared first on Path Edits.

Business is business, contractors will fail their deadlines and you will need to fast forward some processes to make up for the lost time en route. Speedy photo editing techniques are a lifesaver for those under time pressure—in fact, the Path team has a 6-hour turn in photo editing as well as a 12-hour time frame.

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Want to know how to edit photos fast? The mission is possible, check these four techniques out.

Why you may need quick image edits

Our clients who order 6-hour photo editing service usually want us to have a 3-hour edits turnaround. But we care for quality more than we care for speed, so we can’t accommodate 3-hour edits on a standard basis. We can consider even more express turnaround on a case-by-case basis though.

These are the most popular reasons why you might need express photo retouching:

Delays from collaborators and partners

To arrange a product photoshoot, you need to:

• rent a studio and photo equipment,
• buy insurance,
• arrange delivery,
• hire models and makeup artists, art director
• choose and hire a photographer and assistant.

These are just some key ingredients that go into an ecommerce product session, and wedding photography is at times as complex.

The more people you have involved in a shoot, the more susceptible you are to delays that fall outside of your control. This may mean you’ll have to make up for the lost time later down the road, often during post-processing edits.

Seasonal sales periods

Many retailers are familiar with the seasonal rush of sales during the holiday shopping period, as well as other regular spikes in demand. Because these spikes are temporary, you can rely on a virtual studio instead of assigning the task to your already busier-than-usual team or spending the time and money hiring a new temporary staff member. These periods are fast-paced, and you might need to output edited product photos at an equally rapid pace.

Jump on trends

Ecommerce is all about selling hot items right now, while they’re in fashion. There are fun toys that all kids at school have or a specific bag that everyone uses for shopping – things that come and go in and out of vogue quickly. In the business of online sales, things move fast and so must you.

Product images from an event

You might also have photos from in-person events, like pop-up shop openings or brand launch parties. Many times, you need to post these images in real-time—or soon after. These photos help spread brand awareness, educate audiences about new outlets and products, and showcase products in a different setting and light.

You’re busy running other aspects of the business

When you started your business, you likely didn’t envision lots of time in front of Photoshop clipping out images or adding ghost mannequins. But these tedious tasks are necessary for high-quality product imagery—and those images are equally important to your bottom line. As a business owner or ecommerce professional, you have tons of tasks and responsibilities on your plate—and photo editing is often at the bottom of the list. However, you still need a photo editing solution to keep up with the pace of your business.

How to get photos edited quickly: 4 tips for faster image editing

Quality photo editing requires money, time, and effort to master complex tools like Lightroom and Photoshop. While both programs are now available at reasonable monthly subscriptions, the learning curve remains substantial. Well, who are we kidding? It’s massive. It takes tons of hours to master Photoshop.

Let’s consider every option for the mission:

Use Photoshop shortcuts: if you already know PS

Using Photoshop shortcuts in photo editing is like using mise-en-place in a busy restaurant. Imagine if you had to make a pesto sauce from scratch every time you do a pasta or meat dish with pesto? Or doing a 50 mil portion of demi-glace every time you need it? When you use shortcuts, the scale is somewhat smaller, but the savings in efficiencies accumulate, as you get to use shortcuts much more often than pesto and demi-glace in the kitchen.

Photoshop shortcuts are essentially a combination of buttons or mouse actions pressed simultaneously that trigger a specific command, which a user could also trigger by opening a series of multiple menu items in software.

Not only is it quicker, but it’s also less draining on your mental power. Shortcuts take one day to train and remember and then they are used on a subconscious level, so it’s like flying on autopilot. Instead of having to focus on clicking a series of submenu items [which are notoriously fine-print and multiple in photo editing software], your fingers just press a familiar key combination.

We have a detailed piece which Photoshop shortcuts to use for editing, but these are some of our team’s favorites:

• P: select Pen tool
• A: select the Direct Selection tool
• H: select Hand tool
• OPTION + click (Alt + click for PC) on point: create a corner at a point as you draw with the Pen tool
• COMMAND + = (CTRL+ = for PC): zoom in
• COMMAND + – (CTRL + – for PC): zoom out
• SHIFT + COMMAND + N (SHIFT + CTRL + N for PC): create a new layer
• FN + SHIFT + F5 (SHIFT + F5 for PC): fill the layer with color

Pros of Photoshop shortcuts

• Photoshop can be easy once you’ve mastered it
• Once you know how to do them, performing basic edits can offer a “brain break” from the other more intense tasks during your workday

Cons of Photoshop shortcuts

• This requires at least a baseline of Photoshop knowledge
• Photoshop takes time to learn and discipline to remember each shortcut before it comes automatically
• If you don’t use your Photoshop shortcut you’ll likely lose them, so it’s only ideal if you get to practice a lot

Perform batch edits: color correction, formatting, resizing & more

Batch edits can save you significantly more time than using shortcuts if you’re dealing with a sequence of images that need similar adjustments.

For example, you can batch edit a series of images shot with the same light in a studio with a model, or a walk in the park in the same weather conditions. In most cases, the settings you apply to tweak the size, formatting, contract, exposure, white balance, clarity, grain, calibration, and sharpening, are going to be the same for the entire series due to similar lighting conditions.

Batch editing and batch color correction methods allow you to apply the same set of edits to a set of chosen images. So once you’ve achieved the right result, you can just apply the edits in bulk to the entire selection.

Different photo editing software programs have different ways of applying a batch editing technique—you’ll need to create a preset in Lightroom, for example—but the principle is the same.

Pros of batch edits

• Tremendous time-saver for color correction, format correction, and resizing of a sequence of similar photos
• Allows for consistency across a series of images, which drives credibility and ensures a professional and clean loo

Cons of batch edits

• To do batch editing, you need to become a master of Photoshop first, which has a huge learning curve
• You may need to still apply other individual edits after batch editing of some more technical general things, like resizing and color correction
• Requires all original images to be shot in a similar way, as this won’t work for images with more variety

Use AI tools: for basic jobs only

Using AI to make image editing faster is a good idea for a basic job with little nuance. Even if you use some sort of artificial intelligence photo editing solution, chances are, you’ll need to apply manual edits after it anyway.

Robots, however trained and advanced, can’t edit photos better than humans for a variety of reasons. So this option is best if you need to edit product images with extremely simple silhouettes shot in the studio with fixed lighting conditions—think straight lines and minimal shadows.

While this is hugely time-saving, you’ll always need to manually review and often make further manual edits, as imperfections are highly likely.

Overall, despite AI getting better, there’s a general consensus that some highly nuanced creative jobs can never be replaced by AI.

Photo editing, copywriting, and customer support can be complemented by the technology, but never fully replaced by it.

Pros of AI editing tools

• Saves time for ecommerce businesses with in-house photography departments and hundreds of thousands of images per annum done in the same studios
• Mastering AI tools usually involves some learning, but not a steep learning curve, as with Photoshop

Cons of AI editing tools

• More complex multi-stage edits are either impossible or require lots of human involvement
• Useful for basic edits only
• Each image requires manual review and often additional adjustments
• Many AI solutions are finicky to work with and make it difficult to refine

Outsource all your tedious edits to a professional photo editing company

You can always outsource your photo editing jobs to a virtual editing studio with a sizable fleet of retouchers, who will perform partial or A–Z editing for your business with an express turnaround fee.

Path offers 6- and 12-hour turnaround times, which allows our clients to avoid tedious editing tasks on a scale—leaving lots of energy for creativity—and efficiently move the images down the marketing pipeline.

Depending on the channel you’re prepping your images for—we can apply multiple edits to achieve a magazine-cover quality. Alternatively, professional retouching services may have preparatory nature—get your product images color-corrected and cut out with a clipping path so you have them ready for your in-house designers for final tweaks.

Pros of outsourcing photo edits

• You have a team of professional designers who already know Photoshop and how to perform edits
• These professionals have expertise in ecommerce photography and can advise you the best way to optimize your shots
• Shift the stress of time pressure and work quality onto a supplier
• Get things done with minimum involvement from your side
• Save your mental capacity and team for creative missions or more important business tasks
• Build a relationship with a supplier who can get to know your products and brand over time

Cons of outsourcing photo edits

• Photo editing agencies may neglect corporate social responsibility (CSR) and exploit talent—ensure your vendor has ethical corporate standards
• Outsourcing your retouching jobs requires good command of technical terms to be done right—make sure you bring references along and educate yourself on the entire menu of services beforehand to avoid any misunderstandings
• The quality of edits may be subpar if you don’t do your due diligence when selecting your photo editing firm.

Express photo editing: quality above all

When it comes to the ROI that high-quality product images have for ecommerce, paying for express turnaround is always an option. It’s the case of marketing budgets well-spent.

In an ideal world, you won’t need to rush through photo edits. But we all know things don’t always go to plan, especially in business. Luckily, we’re here 24/7 so you can get photos edited fast and up to your standards—any day, any time. time-saving to be made on the photo editing stage of your marketing workflow pipeline.

FAQs about how to edit product photos fast

What is the fastest way to edit product photos?

The fastest way to edit product photos is to outsource them to a virtual photo editing studio that offers rush turnaround times. You can also use shortcuts in Photoshop, AI-powered software, and batch editing techniques. The quickest method to process multiple product images is to outsource photo editing to an agency.

How long does it take to edit product photos?

It takes approximately 5 minutes per image to edit product photos. In our survey, a quarter of respondents spent 5 minutes per image, while the second most popular answer was 30 minutes per image. It depends on the quality of the original image, requirements for the output, your editing skills, and your distribution channel.

What is the fastest way to edit multiple photos?

The fastest way to edit multiple photos is to outsource them to a virtual photo editing studio. You can also perform batch edits to a group of images shot with similar lighting and frame.

The post How to Edit Product Photos Fast: What to Do When You Have a Tight Deadline appeared first on Path Edits.

But at a certain point, it makes sense to outsource certain tasks to external companies.

Take product photo editing, for example. Endless hours doing tedious retouches or fighting with Photoshop could be spent time thinking about a new product line, the creative approach for your next shoot, or how to increase sales and grow your business. Outsourcing to a trusted virtual photo editing studio could be just what you need to free up time and spend little capital.

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What is outsource editing?

Outsource editing is when you delegate the post-processing tasks that follow a photography shoot to a third party. When it comes to product photos, it’s best to look for outsourced photo editors who do the work by hand and not using some automated tool or artificial intelligence software.

Even after the perfect shoot, some retouching is almost always required. You might need to remove the background, adjust shadows, add a mannequin, or change the color of the product.

Also known as image editing, post-processing, Photoshopping, image manipulation, and photo enhancement, these tasks prep your images for use on your website, Amazon, social media, or even printed marketing collateral.

Why do companies outsource photo editing services?

According to a 2020 survey from Deloitte, the main objective of outsource editing is cost savings. Flexibility and agility in running a business are two additional important reasons for outsourcing. 

Businesses that outsource photo editing have woken up to the fact that, with a style guide and strong brief, the best photo editors can match their brand look and feel—as if the images were retouched in-house.

As Dell’s division dedicated to serious gamers, Alienware is quite particular about how its supercharged PCs should look. It provides clear guidance to its agencies, photographers, and partners on how to shoot and retouch its products. 

Source: Alienware Brand Guide 2016

From angles to contrast, lighting transitions to background colors and shadows—it doesn’t leave anything to chance. It’s not afraid to ask photographers and art directors to “push the boundaries of product imagery” and choose angles that are “interesting and dramatic.” 

Source: Alienware Brand Guide 2016

An effective photography style guide includes the following, at bare minimum:

• Details around lighting, angles, reflections, and shadows
• Clarity, or how soft or sharp the images should look
• Contrast and color saturation guidance
• How to arrange your products with live models or ghost mannequins

With the confidence that photography partners share brands’ vision and can match look and feel, more and more businesses and photographers alike are outsourcing photo editing services.

Who should outsource photo editing?

Hiring photo editors is one of the smartest things a photographer can do to help their business. But it’s not just photographers. Many other professionals look for help outside their company when it comes to photo editing.

Photography professionals who take product photos for clients

• Director of photography
• Photographer
• Retoucher

These photography experts know how to use editing tools, but prefer to focus on tasks that offer more value to their clients (and charge higher rates for them): finding the unique look for a shoot, solving a creative or a retouching challenge (instead of time-consuming and repetitive edits), etc. 

Image source

Creative professionals at agencies that shoot product photos for brand clients

• Creative producer
• Creative services manager
• Creative director
• Graphic designer
• Art director

Products need to look flawless in advertising, but the masters of creativity can’t spend their time editing. They’re billed by the hour, which means they need to focus their time and efforts on ideating and producing the best campaigns for high-paying clients. 

Image source

Editorial professionals

• Editors
• Web / digital specialist
• Director of publications and design

Any digital or traditional magazine with product reviews, comparisons and guides need to display the featured goods in an attractive and consistent way. Take Wired Magazine’s Bluetooth speaker buyer’s guide, for example. 

Ecommerce professionals in a variety of roles

• Ecommerce manager
• Director of ecommerce and digital marketing
• Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)
• Marketing manager
• Web manager / web content manager
• Founder

People in this list are involved in the production of the shots that will make you click on the “Buy now” button. These professionals might wear the photo editor hat, or decide to work with a trusted partner to reap the benefits of outsourcing. 

7 benefits of outsourcing product photo editing

The cost of basic photo editing should be minimal. But budget still represents a barrier for many professionals.

But it’s important to avoid looking at the cost in isolation, without considering all the benefits that come with photo editing services.

If it wasn’t for some obvious advantages, the professionals listed above wouldn’t outsource their photo editing, right?

This is what you experience when you outsource your photo editing:

1. More capital to reinvest in your business

This might seem counterintuitive, especially if you’re only looking at the money you’re not spending by doing the photo editing yourself. But when you outsource, you don’t have to pay for expensive software or invest in learning to edit like a pro.

2. Time to focus on more important things

As a business owner, there are some tasks you cannot outsource, and these are the ones you should focus on. Delegating tasks like photo editing to a trusted partner frees up time for you to:

• Focus on projects that generate high revenue
• Plan for the future
• Upskill yourself and look out for ideas that will help your business grow
• Have more bandwidth and a smaller to do list
• Spend more time with your friends and family (surely you don’t want to outsource that!)

3. Room to be more creative

Photo editing is not the reason why you started your business, right? Coming up with new ideas to engage with your audience, solving your customers’ problems and creating something new and unexpected sounds more like it. When you outsource, you go back to doing just that.

4. Increased profits

The expression time is money might have been created by someone in the creative industry. In this field, talents bill by the hour and based on the task—the more creative the task, the higher the rate. And if you own a business, a similar principle applies to you. When you focus on strategic tasks, you give yourself the chance to create a unique offering that people are willing to pay a higher price for.

5. Improved efficiency

Dreaming about a perfectly oiled business machine? When you outsource your photo editing, you can reduce the time it takes from photoshoot to image upload or dispatch. Optimizing your internal processes will give you the chance to take on more and different types of projects.

6. New services or lines of revenue

As a photographer, you can add professional photo editing to your list of services, even if you’re not fully proficient in Photoshop. Just get a helping hand from a team of editors. Yes, their services come with a fee, but basic edits often are very affordable and you can add a margin on top of the cost to ensure you make a profit.

7. Reduced stress and burnout prevention

Photoshop is a powerful tool, but learning to use it is hard! Even when you know how to use it, you can still spend hours retouching countless photos, and end up missing deadlines, getting stressed and losing sleep.

Finding a trusted team of editors allows you to:

• Meet tight deadlines. You can submit your photos in the evening and get your edits done overnight. This helps you manage multiple shoots at the same time and never miss a deadline.
• Win the trust of your colleagues and clients. Because promising your photos will be ready by a certain date and having to disappoint your client or colleagues is not very professional, is it?
• Access photo editors as your needs change. If you need to develop product photos only seasonally for example, hiring and managing in-house editors doesn’t make sense. During less busy periods, they will become a cost to the business. Freelancers are not the solution either. Finding them during busy times is hard and they don’t have the same capacity of a whole studio.

How good would you feel if you introduced even just one of these advantages into your busy work life?

Barriers to outsourcing product photo editing

If there are so many advantages, why doesn’t every busy professional outsource photo editing? Unfortunately, there are some perceived barriers that prevent people from outsourcing product photo editing. Perceived, means they’re not real, but influenced by some common psychological bias.

Let’s have a look at these sneaky traps (our minds can be tricky sometimes!) to make sure you don’t fall into them. Professionals who don’t outsource product photo editing:

• Think it’s quicker to do it themselves. These people start by saying: “It’s only a small job” and end up spending the next four hours retouching. The real issue is they don’t realize that a quick retouch multiplied by tens or hundreds of photos requires more time than they think. And if you’re looking for how long it really takes to edit product photos, here is the answer.
• Believe it’s cheaper to do it in-house. Oftentimes, companies or photographers prefer to take care of their photo editing to have more creative control. That’s because they are after a particular look or want to experiment and find it while editing the shots. But with basic photo retouches, outsourcing ends up almost always being cheaper. So before you decide between outsourcing your photo edits or doing them in-house, I highly recommend you read this guide.
• Don’t trust others to do a good job or think they’ll do it better. Do you know those people that are always stressed because they can’t get any help? They believe that no one else on the planet can do what they do. The antidote against this is to convince them to delegate just once and see what happens (usually, after seeing the result is up to their standards, they relax and never look back).
• Worry that it’s too hard or will take too long to explain. This usually happens when complex retouches are involved. Photographers and Art Directors have a vision in their head and struggle to communicate it or think others won’t be able to understand it. But they underestimate that the briefing process has the power to strengthen their vision by making it clearer for themselves and testing it, risk-free, on a first audience: their photography partners.
• Think the admin will take too long. These people often think that it takes longer to find and manage a supplier than doing the retouches themselves. That’s because they have never used an online platform that lets them get a quote, upload their files and download their edited images in 5 simple steps.

How to know it’s time to outsource your photo editing

An easy way to find out if you should outsource your photo editing is considering how much this is costing you. If you do it yourself, it’s free, right? Not really, if you consider the ‘opportunity cost’.

In microeconomic theory, the ‘opportunity cost’ is the loss or the benefit that could have been enjoyed if the alternative option was chosen.

Put simply: would the time dedicated to retouching your product shots generate higher returns if spent on other tasks?

If you’re a photographer you should start by looking at how much you charge for your product photography editing and compare the below:

• a.) Profit from keeping photo edits in-house. Let’s take a photo shoot involving 50 shots. If hand-drawing clipping paths takes five minutes per photo, you’ll need over four hours for the whole batch. You charge $80 per hour, $320 in total. From this you need to detract the pro rata cost of your Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom plan, your equipment and electricity costs, the courses and time you spent to learn how to edit (probably around $10) and you’re left with $310 in profit.
• b.) Profit from outsourcing photo edits. For a photo shoot of 50 shots, outsourcing hand-drawn clipping paths to a photo editing service like Path would cost you $19.5 (no need to worry about photo editing your equipment and electricity costs here). You charge your client $320 as per the example above, which leaves you with $300.5 of profit in your pocket and four hours of free time.
• c.) Profit from the time gained. In the four hours you have up your sleeve, can you squeeze in another product shoot? Assuming your photography rates are higher than your retouching rates, you charge $150 per hour, and once you take out your costs ($20 for transport, equipment, etc. and $19.5 for photo edits) you’re left with $560.5 in profit.

Now add the profit you made outsourcing your photo edits (b) to the one from the time you gained (c). If this is more than the profit you make by keeping your photo edits in-house (a), you know it’s time for you to outsource your photo edits.

Based on our example above (b + c) = $861, which is indeed more than (a) = $310. 

How to outsource product photo editing: 3 easy steps

Now that you’ve realized this is one of the best things you can do for your business and happiness, let’s walk through how to outsource photo edits.

1. Identify which types of edits you can outsource

Tedious edits that require a lot of time, like background removal and basic photo retouching, are ideal to outsource. It’s important to get every edit right because shoppers are on all kinds of devices with all sorts of zoom functionality. You want every pixel to be just right. It’s not exactly a fun creative exercise. Not to mention, these types of edits are generally affordable.

These are some of the photo editing jobs you should consider outsourcing:

• Clipping path. Isolate and cut out products from the background so you can repurpose them for your website, lifestyle composites on social media, and white background shots for Amazon. .
• Image masking. More complex and advanced than basic clipping paths, image masking allows you to cut out items with undefined edges, like hair or fur.
• Photo retouching. Maybe the sample arrived all dinged up—with no time to get a replacement. Maybe your makeup artist missed the mark this time. Whatever it is, the right photo editors can fix scratches and spots, remove wrinkles and imperfections, and enhance the textures in your images.
• Shadows. Shadows give your photos dimension and make your products jump off the page. The challenge is creating shadows that look real. Layering, masking, messing with density, and feathering takes precision and patience—and lots of time.
• Ghost mannequin. When budgets and timelines are tight, mannequins are the perfect substitute for live models. To edit out a mannequin, you have to piece together multiple photos, add depth, increase volume, and give it just enough texture to create a convincing product photo.
• Color variants. When you have several color variants for a single product, it makes sense to shoot it once and change the color later with photo editing software.

2. Create a budget

To know how much you should put aside for your photo editing, consider:

• The subject of your photos. If you have clean-cut and solid-colored products you can normally get away with a small budget. But for fuzzy or intricate shapes or boundaries the editing cost increases.
• The types of edits you need. Usually, clipping path edits and simple photo retouches require less time than complex image masking and drop shadows. A creative or artistic edit also costs more than a standard edit.
  All associated costs, including the time you need to request a quote, liaise with the editors, send or upload the photos, etc. Time spent on these tasks is a cost to your business.
• Your margin. Make sure when you subtract the photo editing and all other costs from the job revenue (if you’re a photographer) or the sale of the product (if you’re an ecommerce business) you end up with a margin you’re happy with.

3. Choose the right partner

Avoid the following red flags when searching for an outsourced photo editing studio:

• High price. These are businesses that combine high-quality output with fast services. As you’d expect, these are attractive features that result in higher-than-average prices.
• Slow turnaround time. These companies offer good editing services, but the only way for them to run a sustainable business is to have small teams that juggle many jobs at the same time—at the expense of your photo edits’ turnaround time.

• Inferior quality. The market offers solutions for everyone. Even those who look for a fast and cheap job. But the issue is that these people end up compromising on the quality of the job. Remember to look for strong portfolios. 

When searching for the best photo editing outsourcing partner, look for:

• Strong previous work. Peruse the website and portfolio. Read customer stories and ensure the studio can help businesses like yours. Look for testimonials from customers with similar products and photos as your business.
• Experience in your industry. Are you in fashion, FMCG or do you sell luxury goods? Every industry has its own visual language and your editing team needs to be familiar with it.
• Customer reviews. Look at Google reviews as well as any profiles on customer review platforms, like Trustpilot. Be wary of potential fake clipping path service reviews.
• Great communication and support availability. When dealing with more complex photo edits, you might worry that editors won’t understand your vision. Communicating with retouchers should be easy. Path’s editors are available 24/7 via email, and we know how to take direction and interpret clients’ needs.. And if something isn’t quite right, we’ll revise the work until you’re happy with it.
• Humans. While AI might have its place for basic edits, the technology is very limiting, especially from a creative standpoint. AI software executes standardized tasks and can’t take creative direction from the customer. Sometimes, your product photos need a human touch.
• Versatility. Look for a company that can do different types of edits. You might receive your edited images and only then realize you need a different type of edit to take the shot to 100%. You want a team that offers all the services you’ll need.
• Turnaround time and rushed jobs. How fast is your team? Can they speed up the clock for you? When time is of the essence, you want editors who can pull out all the stops.
• Corporate social responsibility (CSR). The last thing you want is finding out that your editing partner doesn’t adhere to sustainable and socially responsible practices.
• Competitive pricing. A cheap price isn’t everything, but choosing Path means you can have competitive prices without compromising on quality or speed.
• Security. Security rarely makes it to the list of criteria. But dealing with a supplier that doesn’t take these issues seriously can expose your IT infrastructure to serious risks, which will result in high costs and stress. Make sure you look for their certifications and ask for an NDA.

How much it costs to outsource photo editing

Pricing for Path photo editing services start from 25¢ for shadow edits and 39¢ for clipping path and background removal. There are no monthly or annual subscriptions. You can also save a bit—and speed up the checkout process—with Path credits.

But choosing the right partner shouldn’t be done purely on price.

While cost is a very important factor, there’s more to weighing the costs of outsourced photo editing.

Comparing photo editing prices from the different companies’ websites isn’t straightforward. You can find different approaches to costing: by the hour, per image and per batch (50, 100, and so forth). Some offer you a per-image cost, but are subject to a monthly or annual subscription.

Others don’t communicate prices clearly, and instead entice you to submit a few photos to find out. These companies hope since you’ve already invested a bit of time, you’ll choose them even if their price is higher than other options.

Getting the best results from outsourced photo editors

If you’ve come this far, you’re really committed to getting the best looking photos that generate results for your business. Smart move.

Before we leave you, let us help you bulletproof the process of working with outsourced photo editors with these extra tips.

Think about where the photos will appear

If you’ve taken photos for a landing page, they’ll need to be high-impact and have enough room on either side of the product to interact with some text, i.e. a headline and brief body copy. If they’re for product pages on your online store or third-party marketplaces, you’ll want to have a tighter crop and show the product as true-to-life as possible.

Draw a scamp or develop a mockup

To have a preview of the end result and avoid any creative issues, draw a quick scamp of the webpage, or develop a rough mockup of the packaging or point of sale item you are producing. This will help you test your vision and understand what type of images to choose and the services you need to outsource. 

Think about how you want your customer to feel

What emotion do you want your customer to feel when they see your photo? Do you want to take them to a dream-like, fantasy world, or do you want them to feel energized and ready to take on a new challenge? This will help you get clear on the type of look (and therefore edits) you need to achieve.

Select your shots

Culling is the key to focus your energy on the best shots only and ultimately save time and budget. The good news is that by following the previous tips, you’ll get full clarity on the type of images you need, which drastically speeds up the selection process.

Be clear on which types of edits you need

Once you have selected the shots you need and have a clear idea of their purpose and how they should look, it’s easy to understand what edits you need. Just refer to the section above to see what types of edits you can outsource.

Give clear directions

When it’s time to brief your editors, make sure you give them as much information as possible. Send them your brand or style guide, share the scamps and mockups you’ve created and take them through the vision you have for the look. Invest in this phase, as it’ll help you avoid misunderstanding, and improve your process for next time.

Organize your photos

To make your and your editors’ life easier, define a process to manage your files. Need a hand with that? Here is a simple guide to organize your product photography files.

Ask questions

Asking questions is very important, at every step of the process. When you’re vetting options, it’s how you test your editors’ communication skills and confirm they’re a good fit. When requesting a quote, it gives you confidence you’ll receive the right level of service. From the briefing stage right through the end of the job, asking direct and constructive questions is how you and your editors can align creatively and around the ways of working. 

Provide feedback

Especially for the first few jobs, let the editors know if you’re happy with the work. This gives them a chance to understand how you expect things to be done and rectify any potential issues.

Get started with your outsourced edits

Now you should know how to find out if outsource product photo editing is right for you and what is the best process to follow.

Ready to get a hand with your editing and work happily ever after? Give Path a go. We’ll look after your image edits, so you can get back to the stuff that gives you joy and cha-ching!

The post How to Outsource Product Photo Editing and Work Happily Ever After appeared first on Path Edits.