How can McKenna help you streamline your photography workflow? With photo editing and retouching services!
First, let’s start with what photo editing is and why photographers do it. Photo editing refers to the process of altering or enhancing images to improve the appearance or convey a specific message. This process can include a range of adjustments, from basic corrections such as color and contrast adjustments to more complex retouching tasks like improving skin textures, removing unwanted elements, swapping heads, or applying artistic effects. At McKenna, our photo editing is facilitated by highly trained staff using a variety of software tools, with Adobe Photoshop being among the most popular.
Whether you’re working with portraits, landscapes, animals, macro photography, or black and white images, McKenna optimizes your photos to achieve the best possible results for printing. Our retouchers utilize advanced techniques to achieve results that may be difficult for others to replicate.
Why is Photo Editing Necessary?
This might seem like a silly question to some of us; nevertheless, we must mention it. Firstly, professional retouching helps correct imperfections that may have occurred during the photo-taking process, such as unwanted moiré patterns, poor lighting, focus issues, fingerprints on the lens, or dust spots on the sensor. Secondly, it allows photographers to convey a specific mood or aesthetic that wasn’t captured in camera. These enhancements are the final touches we would’ve added in the darkroom.
Before the invention of color film, black and white photography was the only option available. Today, choosing black and white photography allows for a specific mood, conveying timelessness, simplifying compositions, or expressing artistic vision. At McKenna, we are committed to delivering exceptional quality printing from your professional images. We’ve even created our very own Black and White Image Tone for Metal Prints, which helps neutralize the magenta, cyan, and yellow used in our multi-color printing process for Metals. The end results give you a truer, more classic black and white look under natural daylight. Not only are our skilled retouchers trained in the latest software, but at McKenna, we understand the vital role photo editing plays in professional photography.
Save Time with McKenna’s Professional Retouching Services
Having us edit your photos can significantly enhance the quality of your final prints. By trusting us with your photo editing, you are more likely to achieve results that capture attention and convey the intended message. Additionally, we can maintain consistency across a series of images and products, which is especially important for your branding and marketing.
McKenna is a recognized leader in the professional photography community with a team of skilled photo retouchers who are very familiar with our products and can tailor edits to suit a specific medium. For instance, sharpness can be adjusted for Fine Art Prints since they have less texture compared to Canvas Gallery Wraps. Also, contrast and saturation can be adjusted on Metal Prints since they possess a high-contrast and highly saturated look, while Luster Prints do not.
In last month’s blog, I discussed our Color Correction Services, which involve making overall and minor adjustments to the photo. In contrast, our professional retouching services focus on localized and major adjustments. For example, an underexposed photo can be improved with overall color correction, while head/eye swaps would qualify for retouching. Whatever your needs may be, we have you covered.
How to Order Photo Retouching
Upon placing your order, you can add retouching services with or without products. Our “Retouch and Standard Color Correct Only” feature in Easy Order allows you to send us your images without ordering a product. Just tell us what you want, and we’ll send you an estimate.
Example: “Remove the lines from the girls’ legs. It’s for a large poster.” – Tina’s Photography
Type of Photo Editing Services We Offer
Standard Retouching
Examples of standard retouching include simple blemish removal, softening of lines, removal of slight glass glare, and basic stray hair removal. This is charged based on the number of heads/faces.
Extensive Retouching
This includes more extreme instances of blemish removal and glass glare, as well as more complex stray hair removal, braces removal, and head/eye swaps.
Artwork Manipulation
If your project requires advanced alterations, we can provide additional file manipulation on a per-minute basis, with estimates available upon request. Artwork examples include things like:
- Adding or removing people, pets, objects, etc.
- Replacing backgrounds
- Removing moire patterns and noise
- Banding
- Artifacting
- Overexposure
- Sharpening or over-sharpening
- Photo Restoration
Quality Service in a Timely Manner
Typically, the photo editing process takes about two business days to complete, after which we will send you the files via digital transfer. On larger prints, we request your approval before they go into production.
Professionally edited photos from McKenna can significantly improve your photography. If you haven’t yet tried our Retouching Services, I encourage you to give us a chance. I believe you will be pleasantly surprised by the results.
What Are Photographers Saying About Our Retouching Services?
Jan Griswol of Jan Murphy Griswold Photography in Burlington, NJ
“McKenna’s customer service is second to none! In the retouching department, Eric assisted me with edits on a large landscape image, providing expert skills in color adjustment and object placement to create a perfectly balanced final product. He really goes the extra mile, down to the last detail.”
Jennifer Ryan
“I really enjoyed working with you guys! My orders came securely packaged and quickly. I highly recommend McKenna. I had my photos retouched, and customer service helped me submit my photos to the talented retouching team. They were very delightful to work with; they helped me navigate the website and were very helpful and kind to the “not so tech-savvy” person like me. Overall, I’m completely satisfied and will definitely use them in the future. Thank you!”
Amy Storm of Eye Of A Storm Photography in Mount Vernon, SD
“McKenna stepped up and saved the day for me on my image for final retouches. My client wanted a very large print, and after being on the phone with McKenna, they helped me in every way of file resizing, fine detail touch-ups, and getting this large image to me so my client could display it in their home. It is stunning, and I could not have done it without McKenna’s outstanding service. This is why I have continued to use them…they make me look good!”
Fritz Brueggman of Shutterbug in Wray, CO
“We have found McKenna’s retouching to be a valuable tool. When we have complicated glass glare or retouching that is more complicated than we want to spend the time doing, using McKenna is worth the few extra dollars in the time it saves us. Recently, we had a more complicated job, which involved removing an individual from the middle of a group photographed in an outdoor scene. They did a wonderful job of removing that individual and moving another person in to fill the spot. We highly recommend McKenna for all your retouching and artwork needs!”
Brian Clark of Old Farmer Photography in Kirkwood, IL
“McKenna always goes above and beyond. Eric’s phenomenal retouching has saved many of my photos, and their expert guidance on papers, printing, and editing software ensures every image looks its best. Without a doubt, McKenna has been the best printing company I’ve worked with.”
Images by Tina’s Photography (volleyball image) and Denison Photography (large family photo).
This blog was written by Eric Garcia-March, our in-house Photography Education Specialist. Prior to McKenna, Eric was a commercial photographer for over 15 years and taught classes at the Image Processing and Multimedia Technology Center in Spain and post-production classes at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City.