There has been a major growth of professional photo editors in the past few years. As the IT sector is growing the potential growth of a photo editor or graphic designer is also constantly increasing. People now are highly getting interested in expanding their career in this field called photo editing.
Lots of newbies are entering this competitive market of photo editing but are constantly asking themselves a question “is there a chance of growing a career in this field?”
If you really want to be successful and have the will to work hard then yes there are lots of chances or ways to pursue photo editing as a career. Because there are various kinds of ways to find the perfect Photo editing jobs online and offline which will give you a healthy pay cheque.
How to get a Photo editing job?
There are different ways you can find the most suitable job as a photo editor. There are higher chances of earning a healthy amount of money from this job field. But, I already told you before that this is a very competitive industry with a worth of $36 billion. The projected employment rate of this sector has increased by about 5% from 2016 to 2026. So now you can imagine; that what are the chances to get a job from this field.
The toughest person has the potential to survive and later dominate in this industry. There are a few basic areas where you need to be experienced and knowledgeable about to be a successful photo editor. You should be able to be an expert in the following things to get a photo editing job in less time.
Adobe Photoshop
This is the photo editing tool every graphic designer or photo editor has heard about and knows how to use it. Photoshop is the best tools for retouching, fixing and manipulating any sort of image to make it look more attractive and indulging. A photo editor should be knowledgeable and experienced about each and every function and tool of Photoshop. You should be a master in the image editing techniques like clipping path, beauty retouching, image manipulation, background removing, layer masking, body reshaping, etc. Being a pro in using this application and the methods will help you to get a good paid job as a photo editor easily in this vast market. Always keep in mind that customer wants quality and only a pro can give them a quality work.
Lightroom
Another advanced photo editing tool developed by Adobe is Lightroom. The best friend of a photographer is this tool. If you’re planning to target professional portrait, landscape, wedding, real estate or travel photographer as your future clients then my mate you should be a pro in using a Lightroom. Lightroom is the best tool for enhancing a Photographer’s captures. It has lots of filters, adjustment tools, batch processing, presets, etc only to edit professional photographs of a photographer. If you can learn the uses of this tool and become an expert on it then handling a lot of clients will become easier for you.
Illustrator
There is no limit of the fact that how much effective and helpful the Adobe Illustrator is for a Graphic designer. You can illustrate or design a professional logo, business card, flyers, brochures, web template, cartoon, book cover, etc using an illustrator. This is the tool which can be used to edit images and give them a highly intuitive background. If you’re an expert in using this tool then trust me you can do almost anything you want with an image.
English writing skill (Communication skill)
This is the most necessary skill you should have to impress a client to give the order to you. You should have a good English writing skill which will help you to communicate and persuade the client to work with you or hire you. In an interview the interviewer will choose you by checking your English proficiency and confidence while talking. If you cannot be good in this then handling international clients and working with them will be very much difficult for you. Develop you English writing skills as there are different ways it will help you in your career as a photo editor.
Creativity
If you want to rule this industry then only creativity can help you. Photo editors nowadays are using the same old tricks again and again while handling a client’s job. If you can find some new and easier techniques to do the same task with more perfection using creativity then the chances of you becoming the best is 90% positive. Start being creative is you want people to hire you and give you your demanded salary.
Places to get photo editing jobs
So far you know that what are the skills required to get photo editing jobs. Now I’ll tell you the places from you can actually get a legit job from. These places are already helping a lot of photo editors and designers to work and earn from jobs that are paying a good amount. The places are as follows –
Marketplace
A marketplace is the best place to get clients that are actually searching for a professional photo editor and are also paying them a healthy amount of money for the service. The buyer is the client and the seller is the person providing the service. You have to build gigs and offer in your seller profile and let clients knock your door after checking your gigs or offers. A gig is simply the portfolio of the service you offer for example your gig should say “Offering Photo editing service”.
You may have to bid on projects available on the service you want to offer like a photo editing service. The marketplace will take a small commission from the sum of money you will get paid from the buyer and you can also withdraw money to your local bank accounts and cards from the marketplace. There different marketplaces to find valid clients from. The best and most highest paying marketplaces are listed below –
- Upwork
- Freelancer
- Fiverr
- Peopleperhour
- Truelancer
- Indeed.com
Get jobs from Photo editing company
There are some professional photo editing companies that are hiring professional photo editors from around the globe and are paying them a good salary for their work. These photo editing companies are already among the market leaders and are providing services to thousands of clients worldwide every year. Handling this much quantity of clients at a time gets tough for them with the help of their office based designers and editors. To increase workforce they hire home based freelance photo editors and are paying them a good salary based on their quality of work.
Types of work for a photo editor
Now there are different types of photo editing jobs available for you to specialize in. Which one should be best for you? It’s your decision to make.
You should still have a list of the photo editing jobs every client wants. As photo editing has various categories there is a demand for the category listed below. Choose the best one that suits you from this list –
- Background removal – This is the type of Photo editing where the client wants the background of the image to be removed or changed into a different background.
- Image retouching – This is the type of photo editing where the client wants the subject or object in the image to have proper color, skin tone, softness, sharpness. And they also want all the spots and flaws or dents to get removed from the image.
- Image manipulation – This is the type of photo editing service where the client would want you to crop someone or something out of the image without making the image look fake. Manipulation has a great demand in the market.
- Image Restoration – This is the type of image editing technique where you will need to restore some damaged images to the way it was while clicked for the first time.
Alternative ways to earn money
Marketplaces and Photo editing companies aren’t the only ways by which you can get jobs as a photo editing expert. There are some other alternatives for finding clients for you. It includes self branding or being a helping hand. These ways are –
YouTube Marketing
YouTube has become the fastest way of reaching to the clients you want. Using marketing techniques to get subscribers and views on your photo editing tutorial videos will help you create a brand out of yourself. Open a YouTube channel and keep getting subscribers to increase your revenue from YouTube. YouTube also pays you for your videos getting viewed and shared.
Behance
Another way to increase your professional presence in the social world is to create portfolios on Behance. Lots of professional photographers and businesses searches on behance to find a worthy photo editing expert to edit their images. These clients offer a good amount of salary if they love your portfolio.
Facebook page
Facebook as marketers say that is the best place to get legit clients. Facebook has world’s highest users. The market you can target using facebook is huge and getting a job using facebook has also become easy because of their new jobs section page. Still, you can open a facebook page showing offers and your works of photo editing to capture clients through your facebook page.
Creative market
There are some creative markets that help you sell your graphic design mockups and photo editing presets through their website. Such markets are Envato elements, Freepik, Shutterstock, etc. You can sell your designs and other works using this creative market and earn money online as a photo editor/graphic designer.
Help blogger
Bloggers are the person who needs lots of edited images or graphic designs to use them as attractive images on their blog articles. You can find many bloggers from checking out their blogs using Google and can contact them using email or social accounts. If you can arrange a good deal with them then getting a client for a long run will become easy for you.
Related forum
There are lots of forums related to photo editing available on Google. You can find lots of clients searching for a professional image retouching expert. They hire them for a long run as a freelancer and pay them in an hourly rate or sometimes depending on the work. Visit such forums and get inside communities to earn more.
Conclusion
There are lots of scopes for a professional or even an amateur graphic designer or image editor to get a job online or even offline. Earning is very easy in this competitive market if you can work smartly. Less effort plus more conversion is achievable if the above ideas are utilized properly.
Just focus on your work and be confident. Keep data of each and every account and stay engaged to generate a healthy income from this vast market of graphic designing and photo editing.
