Photography Retouching Cost: What to Expect for Editing Services

How much does photo retouching cost? This guide covers rates for portrait retouching, commercial editing, beauty retouching, and what's included at different price points.

The Difference Between Basic Editing and Retouching

Most photography packages include basic editing: color correction, exposure adjustment, contrast, and sharpening. Retouching is a more intensive process — removing blemishes, smoothing skin, whitening teeth, eliminating distracting elements from backgrounds, body reshaping, or compositing multiple images together. Retouching services are often priced separately from basic editing, particularly for commercial work.

Portrait Retouching Rates

• Basic portrait retouch (blemish removal, color, crop): $5–$20 per image
• Standard portrait retouch (skin smoothing, teeth, eyes): $15–$40 per image
• High-end beauty retouch (frequency separation, dodge and burn): $50–$150 per image
• Composite creation (background replacement, complex compositing): $100–$500+ per image

Commercial and Product Retouching

Product and commercial retouching is among the most time-intensive and expensive. Ghost removal, reflection cleanup, background removal with path, color correction to match brand standards, and adding shadow or reflections all require skilled Photoshop work. Commercial product retouching rates: $25–$100 per image for standard work, $150–$500+ per image for complex compositing or beauty/jewelry work.

Real Estate Photo Editing

Real estate editing is usually included in photography package pricing, but additional services like sky replacement, virtual staging, object removal, and day-to-dusk conversion are often priced separately: $5–$20 per image for sky replacement, $50–$150 per room for virtual staging, and $15–$40 per image for day-to-dusk conversion.

What's Standard vs. What Costs Extra

Standard (typically included): global color correction, basic exposure and contrast, cropping, straightening, noise reduction. Extra: targeted skin retouching, object removal, background replacement, body reshaping, composite work, and rush turnaround. Always clarify the editing scope in your contract to avoid surprise invoices after delivery.