There are lots of photo retouching companies in various parts of the world who have come up with the promise of exciting services. But the fact is, very few photo retouching companies are worthy and capable.
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Following are the main factors that the best photo retouching company must possess:
1- Creative Mind: Just learning the vast business opportunity in image editing and jumping into it doesn’t make a graphic designer capable enough to cater to the highly demanding job requirements. The most important thing that is required is “The Creative Mind”. Each image is different from the other, just like all fingers are not the same. In the absence of creativity and an artistic frame of mind, the optimized result cannot be achieved.
2- Relevant Education & Certification: Education is the foundation of knowledge. The retouchers must have pursued a Multimedia and Graphic Design course. The relevant online certification should be a must.
3- Experience: The experience doesn’t only relate to the number of years, but also in using various graphic design software, editing techniques & tools. Apart from that, exposure to diversified projects with varied complexities and challenges to attend them also gives rich experience.
4- Infrastructure: The professional post-production company must possess a strong and robust infrastructure to meet the high volume production requirements. Whether it is a convenient workstation layout in the office, high-performance computers & monitors, super-fast internet lines, uninterrupted power source, powerful servers, and latest graphic design software such as Adobe Photoshop and tools, all these are a must.
5- Full Security: A responsible company will always put extreme focus on full Data Security and protection. To ensure these, various mechanisms, tools, and policies are implemented. The photo processing agency must investigate and identify the risks and do everything to protect the customers’ precious data and files.
6- Service: A mature company should always offer a plethora of image editing services instead of confining itself to just a couple of services. The photographers, advertising agencies, fashion brands have a diversified requirement that needs a combination of editing services. Because of this, the organization should provide a complete package and end-to-end services.
7- Quick Turnaround: Time is the essence of any business collaboration. In the fast workflow environment, the entire process of shoot-to-online has to be very quick. The editing service company must be able to provide quick turnaround time for all projects irrespective of their size and volume. This can be successfully achieved if the editing company has different teams with an adequate number of retouchers having varied skill sets.
8- Project Management: Any project cannot be directly sent to the team, a Project Manager must be allocated for each project. He should guide and drive the entire process in a timebound manner. The Project Manager ensures the process, activities, and quality assurance is rightly ensured. This is the most critical part of success.
9- Process & Quality Assurance: The key differentiator between a Freelancer and a Reputed Company is the “The Process & Quality Assurance”. The company always works on the pre-defined process to ensure the best utilization of manpower, resources, and time. This ensures no deviation takes place and adds to the output quality control. It is essential to have a Quality Control team check every image for adherence to requirements and best practices are followed while producing the result.
10- Budget-friendly Cost: Quality comes at a price. But in today’s turbulent economic scenario due to the Covid-19 impact, the companies have considerably cut down their budget. Being a responsible, and reliable post-production company, it is necessary to keep the service reasonably priced and budget-friendly to the customers. This builds trust and brings a win-win situation to everyone.
11- After-Sales: Special focus should be given on After-Sales or upon the submission of the project, for the customers’ feedback. This ensures how much you have excelled on to the customers’ expectations. This is a very good indicator for continuous improvement in the services.
The above 11 points bring emphasis on how to become a trusted and reliable partner and create a reputation as one of the best photo retouching companies in the USA, Europe, and Australia. The 11 factors serve as a checklist for the customers to select a vendor partner for all digital imaging requirements. Being the contributor and partner in the customers’ success story is of prime importance.