A legitimate google researcher can probably answer this question in
broader scope than I, but I can tell you from my personal experience
that this used to be a viable service, especially when fine arts
photographers were still using film...... but in recent years, more
and more photographers are doing this themselves because they've
converted to digital photography and/or the have become more
proficient with the systems and software utilized to
enhance/manipulate their own photos. I used to charge over $1K per
photo for a high-end manipulation (airbrushing, multiple exposures,
etc.) then it became more like $200 for high-end (digital, i.e.
Photoshop)and about $45 for a simple manipulation (e.g. a few filters,
some background re-work and some touch-ups) and now my 65 year old
mother and my 11 year old niece can do it with Photoshop, a mouse and
a little patience. Bottom line: we've stopped offering it as a
service... Check out www.elance.com and see how low people will bid
to do this type of work. That will give you some indication... In my
(unresearched, but personal) opinion, it is probably only viable as a
service if it's part of a list of other services offered; in other
words, if you don't have to count on it alone for your bread and
butter.
I'm interested to see what a researcher comes back with. |
