Seeking a highly experienced portrait retoucher for ongoing, remote, project based work.
This is not beginner level work. I need someone who normally retouches for advertising or other high detail assignments and who brings a very strong eye for natural, refined adjustments.
I create fine art portraits of families and children. Retouching must be subtle and precise. The goal is always to make people look like their best selves without altering who they are.
PLEASE ONLY REPLY IF YOU MEET THE FOLLOWING:
You have extensive experience retouching people in a natural and believable way. Your talents must extend beyond models, you will be retouching real people who did not have the benefit of professional makeup, hair, and wardrobe.
You are comfortable and experienced with complex skin correction, hair removal, clothing corrections, composites, and body shaping when needed.
You follow detailed directions well and can match an established style. This may mean adjusting your normal approach or style, and absolutely means a willingness to adjust your aesthetic to ours.
You can handle about six batches per year of 15-20 images on a reliable schedule. You prioritize keeping your word and making your deadlines without compromising the quality of your work. You aren't resistant to picking up the phone and are willing and able to communicate verbally.
You can match grain and maintain clean shadow detail without the file falling apart.
You have a natural eye for what looks good, for seeing what needs to be done.
You have the ability and willingness to use AI tools locally in an image when they are helpful, but also understand the technology is still very limited for truly high end work, and are capable of doing all the work without AI when appropriate.
TO APPLY:
Send a portfolio link or clear before and after samples, with the ability to provide full resolution before and after files later in the process.
Include examples that show skin work, hair cleanup, and body refinement. Details are everything, and you will be asked to share high resolution files later in this process. Web sized files aren't generally useful to see detail. Most of our files are about 50MP and print very large.
A resume, client list, or accounting of your experience and skills.
Color effects, density shifts, and filter based enhancements are not relevant and we would prefer to not see those adjustments in your samples. We would also prefer not to see models, as much as possible in your samples.
A link to a website is also useful, especially if it includes the types of images and retouching described here.
COMPENSATION:
This is paid per image. Individual facial portraits usually pay $50-75, and most group portraits can vary from $80-175, depending on difficulty. Compensation is open to discussion. I am looking for pure, high level retouching (skin, body, clothing) ability, never global corrections or changing the "look" of an image.
Please reply through Craigslist and keep the subject line intact.
NOTE:
Attention to detail is everything in retouching, so please read through before responding.