Photographer Irene Rudnyk has an official Instagram profile and a YouTube channel where she often shares multiple tricks and suggestions about her craft. Apparently, one of the most repeated comments in her videos was about hiring image editors on the Fiverr portal, who offer their services for insignificant sums, even as low as 25 cents per image. Irene decided to order three edits of different prices, do the retouching herself, and compare the results.
First of all, we must recognize that the competition within Fiverr is brutal. This 'race to the bottom' presents us with extremely exaggerated offers ("I'll do any kind of Photoshop editing you need!"), loaded with images of questionable quality at best. Fiverr separates these editors into different levels, and some of them seem to have quite a good reputation within the platform.
Thanks to the magic of the web, Irene was able to send one of her images to the editors and receive the retouched versions within 48 hours. In total, she paid for three jobs: 25 cents, 5 dollars, and 10 dollars. The photographer's requirements were quite logical: a vibrant, warm touch, cleaner skin and bright eyes, with an extra dose of red in the hair to match the background.
25 Cents
The 25-cent retouch reminds me of a version of the art in Stieg Larsson's Millennium books, and it's so bad that all we can think about is trolling. Irene was trolled here, and she even paid for it.
5 Dollars
Moving on to the 5-dollar edit, Irene highlighted that the image is indeed more vibrant, that the model's skin is 'perfect' (read "too perfect"), and that the eyes are brighter, but the final result doesn't come together. In fact, the editor turned that girl into a Fremen.
10 Dollars
Finally, the 10-dollar edit delivered an image with more warmth, redder hair and clearer skin, but in the process they ruined her tone. The change in the eyes makes the model look like a Goa'uld, or one of those new vampires that don't burn in the sun. (?)
Irene's Edit
Irene ended up leaning toward the 5-dollar edit, perhaps because it was the least aggressive of all, but without a doubt she prefers to do her own retouching, as we can see in the last image. Personally? I'll stick with the unedited image, or just apply a pinch of brightness, contrast, and saturation. Less is more.
