Photo retouching services are becoming more and more popular every day among beginning and busy photographers. Dozens of branded albums, advertising banners, billboards, flyers, portfolios of professional photographers, and even your photos for social networks require photo retouching.
This is so important because cameras capture almost everything, even the smallest details, including skin defects. It can be anything like a wart on your back that you don’t want to be visible or a pimple that has appeared on your face just before the photo session. Speaking of fashion photos, everything should be at the highest level, and in this case, you won’t do without advanced or high-end photo retouching services.
Since the demand for image retouching is very high, you can find many companies on the net offering these services at different costs. But how to define the best one?
Today I will show you my results of cooperating with 11 various picture retouching services. To compare the quality of their work, I sent them the same unretouched photo of a girl with problem skin and asked them to perform professional portrait retouching.
Contents
Top 13 Photo Retouching Services + Before/After Photo Samples
Once I attached the photo, I specified my requirements for each service. Of course, they were identical. Here they are:
- Basic image retouching
- Fixing defects
- Giving the portrait a pop look, while preserving the natural skin tone
- Adjust contrast, exposure, WB, and lighting
When I received my photos, I examined them carefully and made a list starting from the best result that fully corresponds to my demands. Let’s see what I got.
1. FixThePhoto
Price: $5
Time: 20 hours
Pros:
- Perfect hair retouching
- Fast turnaround
- Some needless tiny details are removed
- Minor skin imperfections are fixed
- Cheap prices
- Ideal work with shadows
- Natural teeth whitening
At the moment, these guys are the top 1 for any request related to photo retouching services online. Visit site Fixthephoto and just view their before and after photo gallery!! I decided to test them and the result even exceeded my expectations. The cost was $5. I made a payment through PayPal and in about 20 hours get the retouched photo in my e-mail.
It is really easy to differentiate pro photo retouching from a cheap one. The main difference is the advanced approach to body and face retouching. In my BEFORE photo, you can notice stray hair that looks untidy in the frame, small wrinkles, moles, and lack of shadows in the eye area. All this makes the photo too plain, although it was taken with professional equipment in the studio.
A distinctive feature of this photo retouching company is communication with clients. You can tell a retoucher what exactly you need, and he/she will do everything in accordance with your specific requirements.
The retouches improve the hair professionally, remove flyaway, so it became smooth and pleasant to look at. They also removed wrinkles and moles (I asked them to do it) and added some shadows to the eye area. Besides, retouchers enhanced a model’s teeth, so they are a tone whiter. This was done in order to match the overall picture since while fixing the minor defects, experts performed a slight color correction and made the skin tone a little livelier.
2. WeEditPhotos
Price: $5
Time: 24 hours
Pros:
- Improved shadows
- Wrinkles and pimples are removed
- Smooth hair
- Slight color correction
Cons:
- It takes them longer to fulfill the order
These guys also charged at 5 bucks for one photo, but work took them several hours longer. However, this professional photo retouching service often gives out pleasant discounts.
Since I used one image for all services and my requirements concerning photo retouching were identical, I won’t repeat them every time and will talk about the final result. It’s worth mentioning that retouchers from WeEditPhotos demonstrated no less professional skills, but their approach to picture retouching was a bit different. They kept several flaws intact in order to make the image look natural, although I find this a bit inappropriate for a professional studio photo.
I got the finished work in about 24 hours. The result was quite predictable since I already ordered photo retouching from them a couple of times before. Examining the photo from top to bottom, I can notice that hair wasn’t properly improved, as there is still some flyaway, which looks a bit messy.
Face retouching is almost the same as FixThePhoto provided with insufficient shadows under the eyes being the only exception. The skin on the body was also skillfully enhanced, as there are no distracting imperfections visible. However, I didn’t like that the retoucher left a mole near the left breast. In my opinion, it doesn’t really look attractive.
3. Offshore Clipping Path
Price: $ 4
Time: 24 hours
Pros:
- Affordable pricing
- Quick turnaround
- Blemish removal
- Teeth whitening
- Flawless skin
- Hair retouching
- Color correction
Cons:
Service is not available in Asian countries
Offshore Clipping Path is on our list with its excellence in skills in online photo retouching services. I heard a lot about them as their services expand through different parts of the world, and that is why I decided to try them out.
At first, I doubted if such a renowned company could pay heed to its client properly although I was proved wrong afterward.
The retouchers are very responsive while communicating and attentive while examining. They were very perceptive of every detail I asked them to.
They demonstrated their skill with perfection, and the outcome was impressive. And that made me realize once more, ‘experience does matter.’
It is pretty much easy to distinguish the raw one and the processed one. They have smoothened the skin flawlessly. Not only did they remove wrinkles, pimples, and pores from the face, but also they put a shadow near the eye.
Also, they removed the strands of hair, fixed some tiny details, enhanced the tone, and whitened the teeth. They worked with color correction as well which made the overall image more dynamic.
4. Wedding-Retouching
Price: $5
Time: 24-38 hours
Pros:
- They removed some pimples and moles
- Improved shadows
- Hair looks better
- Light color correction
Cons:
- Some parts of the photo are missed or poorly retouched
- The neck area required better retouching
Wedding-Retouching is mentioned in many photo retouching services reviews, and it confidently occupies its honorable third place. Several drawbacks don’t allow it to the top of this list. The first is time – you can wait up to 40 hours before you get your finished work. The second is not a very attentive work. Retouchers sometimes forget to finish some areas and simply switch to other parts of my photo.
To explain why I don’t put this photo retouching service in the first place, I attach one more picture, highlighting the defect that they hadn’t fixed. It immediately strikes the eye and their work seems unfinished. The guys cut the hair too sharply without smoothing the ends. It seems that the hair strands were cut out with scissors and left without further retouching.
Speaking about the rest of photo retouching, Wedding-Retouching performed everything on a fairly high level, they cleaned skin, added some shadows, removed wrinkles, and made her eyes more expressive.
Retouchers also pleased me with subtle color correction, so the skin tone became softer and warmer. Moving a bit lower to the rest of the body, I don’t like that retoucher ignored the mole, and the neck was completely untouched (only color correction is visible).
5. High End Beauty Retouching
Price: $10
Time: 2 days
Pros:
- All skin imperfections were removed
- They added shadows
- High-End touches
- The skin in problem areas is smoothened
- Hair straightening
- Dodge&Burn is perfect
Cons:
- Too expensive
- Long turnaround
High End Beauty Retouching is one of the best photo retouching services that can compete, but its price and speed issues don’t allow it to do this, so it takes the deserved fourth place on my top 13 photo retouching services list.
These guys perform picture retouching on a quite high level, however, after reading a few dozen comments and reviews, I realized that they aren’t always attentive while examining the retouched image. My photo wasn’t an exception. Zooming in, you can notice that the hair covers part of the eye, and if earlier it wasn’t very noticeable, now it is very annoying.
The rest of the work is done perfectly. All minor defects, pimples, pores, wrinkles, and moles were eliminated (with the exception of the abovementioned). Photo retouching is as close as possible to those retouchers demonstrated, but I wish color correction was warmer. Though being professionally retouched, the picture looks too cold and simple. Also, I don’t like that retouchers added too many shadows to the model’s hair, thereby lowering their tone.
6. Nude Retouching
Price: $5
Time: 24-40 hours
Pros:
- Hair retouching
- Removal of excessive shadows
- They got rid of minor defects
Cons:
- Some natural shadows were removed
This company offers pro photo retouching with a focus on nude or boudoir photography. I was a bit hesitant at first since my image doesn’t fit this category but I decided to contact them and ask whether they accept this kind of photo. They pleasantly agreed. I expected an impressive result but was quite confused when saw the retouched photo.
At first glance, everything is good. But when you zoom in on the photo, you notice that the skin texture in many areas is either distorted or unrealistic. Most likely, they used the simplest method to remove small defects instead of using the Frequency Separation technique. Moreover, many shadows that made the face round were removed. Now it looks flat.
I like their work with hair, but not in all areas. I wish they had removed all the pimples. As for the neck – I give a satisfactory mark. The necessary shadows were removed and they added more shadows in strange places. The skin texture is too smooth.
7. ColorExpertsbd
Price: $6.99
Time: 1-2 days
Pros:
- Wrinkles on the skin are eliminated
- The texture is retouched
- Slight color correction
Cons:
- Hair is poorly retouched
- Not a very neat work
These guys are one of the newcomers on the photo retouching services market but have already established themselves as good service with basic capabilities. On the main website, I didn’t find before and after photo examples.
Also, I was very confused by the prices. They have many strange tables where basic image retouching costs $2.99 and glamorous one – $6.99. I didn’t find any information concerning what is included and which kind of photo retouching should be ordered for this or that photos.
However, when I contacted technical support, I received an answer quickly. They have provided me with a full list of all the changes that will be made.
Well, after ordering and waiting for 32 hours, I received the finished photo. The result was predictable. There are many small imperfections, the biggest one is the work with the model’s hair. It is retouched only in some areas, selectively, and it looks very unattractive and ridiculous.
The skin is retouched at a decent level, the texture is smooth, pimples and wrinkles are removed. But the skin color is horrible and pale. I really like how these guys work with shadows, they are drawn well, nothing excessive, but again, only in some places.
For instance, the neck area and left shoulder are poorly retouched. The eyes were too brightened and ceased to attract attention. Also, they removed shadows below the nose, which made the face unnatural.
8. Tucia
Price: $24
Time: 2-3 days
Pros:
- Hair is retouched well
- Wrinkles are removed
Cons:
- The model’s body is modified
- Some areas of the skin are too smoothed out
- Very expensive compared to competitors
Tucia picture retouching service appeared not long ago on the market and these guys decided to go a slightly different way. To buy/order image retouching, you have to buy in-system currency, which is very inconvenient. For the basic photo retouch, you will pay 1 credit (converted into dollars – $8), and for professional image retouching, which I have ordered, you will pay $24.
Realizing that the price is too high, compared to other professional photo retouching services mentioned above, I expected to see a little more than I got. Look at the model’s right hand in the BEFORE and AFTER image. I don’t understand how it has happened and why, but retouchers have simply changed it, adding some bulge. Moreover, they have repeated the same mistake two more times, already in more inconspicuous areas. I marked them, you can compare. Also, not a single mole was eliminated.
Examining other areas, I don’t have many questions. The skin texture is preserved, though oversaturated with shadows. Pimples and pores are hidden/removed. Hair is retouched quite precisely, without any complaints.
However, look at the photo from top to bottom a few times, and you will notice some redness at the bottom. Retouchers tried to make smooth transitions, preserving the shadows, but it didn’t work out very well.
9. Retouchgem
Price: $7.50
Time: 1-2 days
Pros:
- Hair is retouched
- Elimination of some small pimples
Cons:
- Uneven color pattern
- Pale skin
- Too many shadows
- Some skin areas are simply smudged
I don’t know what kind of problems this photo touch up service has with the website, but it just stops working every two days. For instance, now, as I am writing this article, it doesn’t work. It was especially interesting when, after I made the order and paid, the site stopped loading and opening.
Examining the retouched image in detail, I didn’t notice any work done with her eyes. The pores were preserved, the texture wasn’t changed at all. Moreover, look at the skin tone, then at the neck and hands. In each of these parts, you will see a different shade. I don’t understand why this is happening. The photo is too overloaded with shadows. Retouchers also completely changed the hair color.
This service only eliminated some small pimples and removed a few hairs. I ordered photo retouching, but for the most part, I received a poorly done color correction with oversaturated shadows.
10. Retouchup
Price: $5
Time: 3 days
Pros:
- Elimination of pimples, pores
Cons:
- Skin texture and hair are ruined
- No shadows
- Unrealistic skin tone
- Many stray hairs
Unfortunately, there are very few examples of works on the Retouchup website and all of them have low resolution. Their prices don’t differ from other image retouching services. The speed of work generally takes about three days.
When I opened the result, I saw a poorly done retouching of face and hair. The hair seems to be sticking out from all sides, it became faded and split. The skin of the face is too smoothed out, without any texture. The shadows are completely removed, which made the face very flat.
The skin tone became gray and unpleasant. Retouchers didn’t even use a single tool to please the client a little. Alongside the face, eyes are too striking and resemble lenses.
11. Digi5studios
Price: $8
Time: 3 days
Pros:
- Pimples are eliminated
Cons:
- Terrible work with the texture
- Everything is smudged
- No work done on shadows
- Hair is ruined
- Unnecessary tan
Despite the fact that this photo retouching company previously specialized in product and car retouching, I decided to test what they are capable of when it comes to portrait and fashion retouching. These are new services for Digi5studios.
The price as such isn’t indicated on the website. You order services for credits, 1 credit = $8. The result was ready in 3 days, but what I received, couldn’t be called the finished work.
The BEFORE photo, as you can see, is better than the AFTER one. Retouchers from Digi5studios ruined the texture of the skin, now it is simply absent. The hair is smudged and looks as unrealistic as possible. No one worked on the shadows.
Important shadows and texture are distorted, you can notice how the lips merge with the face; it looks very unattractive. All that was done more or less decently is the elimination of pimples. There is really not a lot of them in the shot.
Also, retouchers tried to perform slight color correction, making the photo more pleasant. But due to the fact that there is no sharpness and shadows, the result turned out to be not really beautiful.
12. Clipping Path Creative Inc
price: 3.5
Time: 24 hours
Pros:
- Lowest price
- Fastest turnaround
- Glare removal
- 24 Hours support
- Unlimited modifications
- Remove pimple, wrinkles, and beauty retouch
- Photo color correction
- Restore old photo to new
- Remove blemish
- Whitening teeth
Cons:
- Don’t accept nude, porn images
- Service is not available in the Asia continent.
Clipping Path Creative Inc is listed in the top 10 cause they provided high-end photo retouching services with the fastest delivery. At first, we have sent an image as a trial to check their quality. We were really impressed with their quality of free work. After that, we have checked their customer’s reviews and decided to send 100 images for beauty retouch. They did this task within a short time.
They didn’t remove wrinkles and pimples only, they make our images much glamour. The total price was approx $350 for 100 images and we have paid via PayPal. The support team was very cooperative and helpful. We will highly recommend hiring this company for any kind of photo retouching task.
13. Ephotovn
Price: $3.00
Time: Less than 24 hours
Pros:
- Perfect hair retouching
- Natural teeth whitening
- Natural skin retouching
- Great color correction
- Fast turnaround time
- Cheaper than others
Using advanced editing tools, Ephotovn’s professional editor made subtle adjustments that brought out the best in the image. The close attention to detail ensured that all corrections are accurate and natural looking. The end result is an image that looks professional and polished without appearing overly edited or artificial.
Some significant blemish, though, was removed but the skin texture remains amazingly natural-looking and not over-retouched.
Overall, Ephotovn’s result was amazing and the edits and retouches were professionally done. They also offer better prices for huge batches of images or long-term cooperation. As for this image, the price for the edit is also very cheap at only $3.00 for this image with a speedy turnaround time of less than 24 hours.
Criteria for Choosing the Best Photo Editing Service
I selected several criteria necessary to form a thorough, honest, and bias-free opinion on photo retouching services. The following aspects should be taken into consideration:
Quality of results. The services are supposed to deliver qualitative images, without a great number of visible flaws that need to be fixed.
Turnaround. Professional photo retouching services should work fast. However, it is doesn’t mean that the photo has to be ready within a couple of hours, it is impossible. The work on one image can’t last longer than two days.
Price. This aspect also plays a great role in photo retouching services reviews. Many professional services aren’t cheap. But an expensive price isn’t a definite sign of a well-done job. Famous image retouching companies sometimes provide their clients with discounts as a pleasant bonus.
Customer support. Respectable services usually have responsive and effective customer support available on their websites.
Order placement. The process of image upload has to be understandable, fast, and don’t cause any inconveniences.
Ease of use. The website and all its sections should have a simple, modern, and, at the same time, intuitive design.
Website content. Plenty of image retouching services have created their own blogs. The info there needs to be up-to-date, relevant, and interesting for readers.
