The more I know about images and photo editing, the more I realize that we’re absolutely surrounded by a manipulated and enhanced world of images. Newspapers, magazines, billboards, product packaging, promotional materials, the Internet and much of what we see on TV is heavily worked-over. Unless you work in the documentary field, where showing imperfection is the purpose, your images and photos for the web and advertising need to be perfect as well.
Photos for the Web
The first client question is always: “Where do I get photos for my website?” There are several options. You can hire a professional photographer, which might be an option or a must, depending on the nature of your project. If you are in the Czech Republic, I can make recommendations for professional photographers.
For merely illustrative images (i.e. a picture of a phone next to your contacts), I use extensive stock photography sources. The prices are very affordable (as low as 25-50 CZK per picture for web purposes) and if you need the same image in print quality, it can be obtained at a reasonable price. For many websites, this is all that’s needed. But it obviously doesn’t suffice if you need product photos, staff or facility photos etc.
The web is very forgiving when it comes to photo quality. What wouldn’t work for printing may be appropriately edited and ‘air brushed’ to work on the computer screen. In many cases I can edit snapshots.
Photo Editing
Even professional photos need to be edited in size to fit the computer screen. If the quality is very high, batch processing creates standard sized photos. Typical would be a product photo, needed as a small thumbnail on a category page, a little bigger next to product description and in fill-the-screen-as-much-as-possible size for detail view.
However, most images benefit from further editing beyond size. Cropping eleminiates “everything that doesn’t tell the story” – background, furniture next to he subject, etc. It’s simple, fast and always worth it. Because of resizing for the web,blurry images can be fixed by sharpening.
If there are flaws in the image, it’s time to ‘airbrush’ it – retouch it. Red-eye caused by flash is classic. Results are always best when done by hand, even if your fotolab offers automatic red-eye reduction. Skin tones often are a problem. Dust, scratches and cracks appear often on scanned or older photos. All this can be eliminated for ‘picture perfect’ artwork.
Selecting Photos for the Web
Not familiar with the wonders photo editing can do? I prefer you provide as many photos as possible, allowing me to choose. You may underestimate a badly lit photo that has a lot of potential or a blurry photo which has wonderful detail that can be cut out and fixed. The only thing nearly impossible to edit is ‘flare,’ white spots from too much light. If the photo is dark, it can be made lighter, but flared photos permanently lose detail.
To see what can be done with photos, see the “before and after” in Photo Editing Samples.
Prices and Conditions
- I’m able to accept images in most common digital formats on CD, DVD, ZIP or via downloading. Sending them over e-mail is only useful in small amounts.
- I can scan printed materials or photos up to A4 or Letter size (about 30×20 cm), otherwise I can scan them in several parts and blend them together.
- The standard price for photo editing is 500 CZK per hour. Once I know the scope of your project and quality of original material, I can give you a closer estimate.
Can we help improving your photos? Feel free to contact us.
- Free initial site/project overview.
- Flexible photo editing / retouching services, with communication in Czech or English.