Portrait retouching for Halper Fine Art
I’m looking for an experienced retoucher to work directly with me on fine art portraits of children and families. The standard is advertising-quality retouching that holds up in large wall prints.
My subjects are real people who never have professional makeup or hair styling for their portraits. The goal is to make them look like their best selves while preserving their identity, expression and natural appearance.
View the Halper Fine Art gallery
Finished Halper Fine Art portraits
Download and inspect the samples
Start with these five full-resolution before-and-after examples: two group portraits and three individual portraits. Please open them in Photoshop and look closely at the corrections before considering your bid.
Download before-and-after samples
Five Photoshop files, approximately 896 MB total. Download the complete folder or individual files. No Dropbox account is required; if prompted, choose “Or continue with download only.”
Each file contains Before and After layers, plus inspection curves, at its original dimensions, 16-bit grayscale format and color profile. After is visible when the file opens. Turn it off and turn Before on to compare. Use the light, dark or solarization curves to reveal uneven repairs and changes in grain, then switch them off to judge the normal image. Examine the fine detail and the portrait as a whole.
Sample 01 Group: 6000 × 6000 pixels · 182.5 MB
Sample 02 Group: 7500 × 7500 pixels · 280.2 MB
Sample 03 Portrait: 4000 × 4000 pixels · 76.1 MB
Sample 04 Portrait: 4500 × 4500 pixels · 94.3 MB
Sample 05 Portrait: 7500 × 7500 pixels · 263.0 MB
The work
Most source images are around 50 megapixels and may be printed as large as 50 inches. Assignments include complex skin correction, hair cleanup, clothing and background repairs, composites and directed body refinement. Skin texture, grain and shadow detail must hold up under close inspection, with the original lighting and focus preserved.
Overall brightness, density, color and contrast must remain unchanged. I handle that treatment; your role is corrective retouching.
You need a strong eye, the ability to follow detailed directions and a willingness to adapt to my established style. Advertising work with children and real people is especially relevant. Beauty or fashion experience alone does not establish a fit. Local AI tools may help with some repairs, but you must be able to do the work manually when appropriate.
Working together
This is remote freelance work, paid per image. I expect 60–80 portraits to arrive between now and January 2027, with substantial work coming in January. Retouching can continue afterward. As images arrive, I’d like four or five finished portraits a week, with at least three generally needed.
I want one dependable person I can work with directly: someone who communicates clearly in written and spoken English, is responsive, will speak by phone and keeps deadlines. A small studio is welcome if one experienced retoucher who has been there a while will handle the work and collaborate with me. Any change of retoucher would need my agreement.
Outside California is preferred. Elsewhere in the world is welcome if communication and scheduling work well.
Rates and your bid
The work should be bid. I pay professional rates: most individual portraits pay $50–100, and group portraits generally pay $100–200, depending on complexity, in US dollars. These ranges are a guide, and we have some flexibility for a retoucher whose experience and quality of work are a strong fit. Please tell us what you would charge after reviewing the samples. We’ll agree the scope and price for each assignment before work begins.
Next steps
After inspecting the samples, email office@halperfineart.com with your interest, expected pricing, a portfolio link and a brief account of your relevant experience.
If there appears to be a fit, I’ll want to examine full-resolution before-and-after files you personally retouched, showing only the corrections. Examples with children, families or other real people are particularly useful; website-size images cannot show the detail I need to see.
Promising candidates will have a phone conversation with me before any test or first assignment. If you don’t have suitable before-and-after files, tell us; strong experience and other work may still warrant a conversation. We’ll discuss the image, timing and payment terms before you start. Further workflow and training material will be shared as we move forward.
— Mark Robert Halper