How Long Does It Take To Edit Product Photos

While taking product photos, you probably wonder how long does it take to edit product photos for everyone.

In reality, timing varies according to the photo editing task you are performing. But many times, we have seen a common pattern among product photo editors.

Hence, knowing the timing would help you determine how long you should take to edit photos. Meanwhile, you get to be completely sure about the timing when hiring someone.

We will go over how to reduce the product photo editing time as a bonus.

How Long Does It Take To Edit Product Photos

Most professional product photo editors take around 5 minutes to edit. On the other hand, many complex product photo editing tasks may require approx.10 minutes on average. Hence, anything in between would take these times. 

Plus, it’s rare for any designer to take more than 10 minutes on a single product. Nonetheless, some designers may prefer to edit images for a longer time. 

Things That Determine The Time Of Product Photo Editing

We have different things that determine the time it takes to edit a product photo. Always consider these steps when determining the timeframe of a product editing task. Let’s review these reasons one after another: 

#1 Type of Product Images: How much time the photo editing task would take will be determined according to the type of product images it needs.

#2 Number of Edits the Photo Needs: Not all photos are the same type of errors. Therefore, the photo editing task can vary greatly depending on the error count. 

#3 Workflow of the Designer: While most of the designers follow a generic workflow, some might be different. It’s a good idea to get in touch with the designer or studio to get exact info about the designer’s workflow.  

#4 Number of designers working on the project: In case a huge number of designers are working on your project, it’s most likely your project’s timeframe would be a lot smaller. Check why; you should consider the number of designers editing your photos.

The time frame for editing some of the product photos.

Let’s review some of the common photo editing tasks and the time they need. We have calculated different tasks of photo editors and found some basic time frames. The following knowledge will help you a lot when hiring

Basic Adjustment (3 Minutes)

The basic adjustment starts with the functions such as cropping and adjusting the alignment. Along with these adjustments, editors fix blurriness, chromatic aberration, and similar adjustments. 

To be specific, these are basic photo editing tasks that don’t take much time. Yet, these are some of the crucial adjustments that are essential. For most photo editors, it would not take more than 2 to 3 minutes to complete the basic adjustment.

Improving Brightness (5 Minutes)

Adjusting the brightness of images may involve adjusting the curves. Using these curve adjustments, we manipulate the highest and the lowest points of brightness. As a result, you could fix errors such as over-exposure.

Within the same step, you get to improve the photo’s contrast. Improving contrast gives your image a great aesthetic to look at. Hence, combining brightness and contrast would not exceed the 5-minute mark. 

Color Correction (8 Minutes)

Afterward, you may want to improve the color of your product image. As the lighting of the product image may not always be correct, color correction is needed. Perhaps, color correction is a bit of an intricate task and needs proper attention while doing it.

Fixing the colors of the product image takes time because of the detailed sliders. While adjusting, even the slightest movement can cause discoloration. Be sure to take time for the color correction process of your product images. 

Adjusting Sharpness (2 Minutes)

The sharpness of your product images often would not be up to the mark. Hence, adjusting the sharpness of the image is the easiest way to make the product image look good. Perhaps it will not take more than 2 minutes to complete for any qualified photo editor.

Though sharpness is not mandatory, improving it would provide you with a much cleaner product image. It’s one of the great photo editing steps. As a result, it offers you clear visibility of the product.

Image Retouching (10 Minutes)

Believe it or not, retouching is a must for many product images. Retouching the product photos makes them look polished and smooth. As a result, you get great-looking product photos that don’t contain any sort of errors at all. 

To be fair, image retouching needs enough time to complete. When it gets done in a rush or hurry, the retouching might get an error. For the following reason, you need to assign enough time for it.

Applying Filters And Custom Brushes (15 Minutes)

At last, we come to the filters and custom brushes. It’s not a mandatory step, but for a few to create product image composition, using filters becomes crucial. Plus, the photo editor needed a higher skill set to take on filtering tasks.

Coming into the custom brushes, Adding custom brushes can help you depict any sort of creative ideas. However, adding the filtering tasks will take around 15 minutes to complete its process. 

How To Estimate A Photo Editing Task Turnover Time?

Average product photo editing tasks can take around 10 minutes to complete, so you need to take at least 10 minutes to do your photo editing task. But if it is taking way more than the mentioned time frame. 

Another useful way to find out the turnover time of your task is to verify the editing process. Afterward, you need to calculate the required timeframe and estimate the total time. Either way, make sure you estimate the time frame before doing a product photo editing job.  

How To Reduce The Product Photo Editing Time

You have simple ways to reduce product photo editing time. Below we have listed the technique that would lead you to a faster photo editing process. Let’s get into the details right now:

• Use Presets: Use presets when you have less time to edit photos. Thankfully, you don’t have to create a preset yourself. You can find and download Photoshop photo editing presents online. 
• Go for a Simpler Process: Another option is to avoid some photo editing steps. You might not want to adjust the sharpness when the image is already sharp enough.
• Hire Professionals: The last thing you should go for is to hire a designer or studio for product photo editing jobs. Experts can provide you with premium results yet take a fraction of the actual cost. 

Below are the questions on the timing of the product photo editing task. 

Why Do Photographers Take A Long Time To Edit Photos?

Photographers specialize in taking photos and do photo editing part-time. Hence, they take a bit of time to make sure you get interesting images. In some instances, photographers may prefer to outsource the photo editing time, which takes enough time to complete. 

Does A Product Photographer Edit Their Photo?

Most of the time, photographers make small and minor adjustments to the image. Hence, the rest of the photographers like to source high-end editing and retouching tasks. When photographers outsource photos, it’s most likely the cost is included within the photograph package.

Conclusion

When you are sure about how long does it take to edit product photos, you could outsource the editing tasks on the go. 

As you know the exact timeframe, no one can ask for an unfair amount of time when editing your photos. 

Hence, you could set a specific timeframe which it could take for the specific task. Undoubtedly, the knowledge would help you go ahead as a photographer. 

When you hire other people, make sure they are capable and ask a fair amount of times. It makes your project a lot smoother.