newbie question

[mikemeister_admin]

As I'm preparing to move abroad and change life, I'd like to show a bit of my talents in a simple portfolio. I am "specialised" in antique photo restaurations particularly for family. Some say that it's not that bad so I would like to be able to show my work, but I wonder if photo restauration is not a bit narrow "business", so as I don't know any fashion model, do you know if there's is a source for downloading fashion photos to retouch at a reasonnable price with a good resolution (just to show my skills, no business with it), so i don't need "finished" photos, I need good shots unretouched.
Thanks for any input
(sorry for english language mistake, I'm French at the moment  ;D)

[-default]

One place to start is to participate in some of the images provided at www.retouchpro.com/ .  This is a supportive group of people who are interested in learning from one another.  Perhaps you could compare your work with others at that site.

www.flickr.com is another site where you may displaying and discuss your work.

[mikemeister_admin]

thanks a lot, I'll check this out

[mikemeister_admin]

I bet you won't find any REAL fashion photos unretouched. They would never let that get out. For one thing they want all of us to think they weren't retouched at all. Hey, models don't have skin pores, do they? ;-)

I've never worked in it, but everything I've ever heard about the fashion industry is that it's very tough to get into. You'll probably need a lot of "inside" help to get in. You may have to sell your soul or something else to get in. If you do get in that would be great, but the stress may kill you too.

Retouching old family photos may be a tough business too. The problem here is getting business and getting anyone to pay for your services. There isn't a huge industry for retouching old family photos. So you've got to advertise and market like crazy to get the word out that you do this. That will take time and money; maybe lots of both.

It will depend on where "abroad" you are going. The USA doesn't have much of a tradition of looking back into our past. Compared to many places on this earth, we have a pretty short history. That tends to make us less concerned with preserving our history. So, we are less likely to PAY for restoring our history. It just isn't important enough to us.

I have been restoring my family's old photos off and on for a number of years. (Low priority and a slow process.) Of course, there is a lot of variation in the amount of work needed to restore each photo. I've done some in as few as 15 minutes while others take hours. It also depends on how carefully you do this. So, examples...

A lot of my family's slides are very dirty. Much of this is cemented on and doesn't brush off. My film scanner doesn't have ICE or anything like that. Many of the old B&W prints have lots of spots too that wouldn't be helped with ICE. Even with Healing Brush, these take time to get rid of.

The biggest problem is with rips, scratches, and other missing chunks of a photo. If you just buz over them with Healing Brush or Rubber Stamp, it doesn't take as long. However, that doesn't always work very well. Then you have to paint in what might have been there. That may be tricky as you and the customer may have different ideas what is missing. It can take a LOT of time to do this right, in some cases.

My point is that time is money. The more time you spend restoring a photo, the more you have to charge. Can the market stand what you have to charge? How much do you have to charge to cover your overhead? How much more do you have to charge to make enough profit to make a living? What quality of restoration can you do to fit the market? i.e. Do you have to do "quick and dirty" to keep the price down? And the big one: Will enough people pay for your services to keep you in business and making money?

I haven't really paid that much attention to this market, but I can't say I've seen much of a market either. That may be an indication that people aren't willing to pay enough to keep that market going. These are some things to think about.

If you figure out that you can make it, find a family with some old pictures and do a free restoration of a bunch of their photos. That will show you exactly what it will take to do. It will also give you a portfolio. Be sure you get them to sign the portfolio rights over to you.

[mikemeister_admin]

family photos to find isn't a problem at all, since here there's much pictures you can find in any yard sale for 1/2 buck or so...and my family is wide and preservative ;D

I ude to sell the work I do, but I intend to enlarge my skills
I intend to move to UK...tough
here's my latest work made from two old photos

[derekfountain]

I intend to move to UK...tough

I'm afraid the situation in the UK is much the same as Clyde describes. A few years back when I was looking for a change of career I gave serious thought to professional retouching, and I also concluded that there wasn't much of a market for it. There doesn't seem to be much desire for antique photo restoration here either.

Fashion and magazine work clearly needs doing, and I think if you're very, very good, and you find the right niche or role with a studio, you could make a living doing it. But those jobs are few and far between and you'd be very lucky to walk into one.

Me, I ended up sticking with software development. :)

[mikemeister_admin]

Let's be clear....
I wouln't compete with the professionals. It would be just wonderful if i could work in portrait sudio like Venture© or other places like them, most of the time they ask for basic retouching skills, but I know I can do more than red eye removal. I was a former lab technician and as usual I spend 1/2 of my professional life selling cameras, that's why I said that I wanted to change life, doing a bit more than just a saleswoman, start retouching  blemishes and so on

[mikemeister_admin]

So, why wouldn't you compete with pros? Hey, set your goals high! You may not be there yet, but there is no reason why you can't get there some day. If nothing else, the added technical knowledge will help you in sales. OK, maybe not much, but some. The key thing is that you will be growing and expanding your creativity. The personal reward may be all you really need.

And if you get really good, try to compete against the pros. Of course, that will take a lot more than taking out spots and red-eye. In the fashion business you have to be able to change the shapes of models and still keep it looking natural. OK, "natural" may not be the right word as most of those are not how nature makes women. Let's say the fashion and beauty business has visual standards (however unrealistic) that need to be adjusted to get there. For an educational, thought provoking, and quick illustration of fashion retouching check out this:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=hibyAJOSW8U

There is no reason that you can't get to the level that you couldn't be doing this too. It may take some time and it will be hard, but it can be done. Don't quit your day job though.

[mikemeister_admin]

So, why wouldn't you compete with pros? Hey, set your goals high!
Remenber I'm French ;)
If nothing else, the added technical knowledge will help you in sales.
It has already helped me, I was able to explain raw (of digital SLR) to new users when I sold the cameras

There is no reason that you can't get to the level that you couldn't be doing this too. It may take some time and it will be hard, but it can be done. Don't quit your day job though.

It's not an instant goal I know

[mikemeister_admin]

a special query for DerekFountain ::)
can you tell me if you know portrait chainstores such as venture or pixi photo or even retail photo shops of good reputation (such as Fnac right here) or franchises (such as phox in France), it could help me to prospect, in addition to those I found on the web.

thanks so much in advance

links:
www.fnac.com
www.phox.fr