From basic work to highly technical / skilled work.

price range goes from free or $5 to thousands.

is it a nice beauty image for an online port or FB, or months of planning,
shooting and post work for a Dave Hill type 20 shot composite?

so the answer is as vague as the question

Thats a thousands composition but these rates also include studio shooting

It may be... that prices here at Mayhem... may be somewhat unusual compared to other places. IMHO. Heres maybe why:

There are many New Comers to retouching here at Mayhem that will do an image for FREE just to be able to get a good retouching example for his/her portfolio...and to show that they DO have customers.  There are some weekend or late evening retouchers here at Mayhem that are just starting out... and maybe learning the basics possibly... so they charge a low rate or even for free.  Gotta start somewhere... if you are new to a skill set.

Then there are Beginner/Intermediate Retouchers here that will charge $5 - $10 an image depending on their confidence, how many examples they have...and how good their work is looking.  This is a common price around here.  This is a great rate for new or amateur photographers to take a risk with.  I would guess this is the most common price range here at Mayhem.

There are some more Advanced Retouchers here that are charging $20-$25-$40 an image...but the Weekend Photographers around here sometimes dont have very much budget for their Weekend Hobby Photography...so they seem to shy away from these higher prices.  If a photographer is doing a TF shoot or paying a model $25-50-100...then they may or may not have much extra money to include in some retouching.  If its a "Trophy Looking Image" for the photographer or model...then maybe some might spend that much money possibly.   Some really nice stuff gets done around here at that kind of rate.  A bit high for around here possibly...but doable at times for the right images!

In the Real World... Photographers "Get Paid" for a doing an actual budgeted job.  That series of images might even have a budget for a retoucher... if the images are expected to make some real world money.  In this case...retouching is usually a line item and could be $25- $40-$100 hr or by the image.  It depends on how much real cash the image is likely to bring in.  This is Non-Mayhem Commercial kind of work.  Commercial retouching requires great skill and speed and it pays some percentage of the total budget.  If your photographer is shooting a model for a Vogue advertisement that is being charged $120,000 for an ad placement...and is expected to bring in 1.5 million in new revenue if it moves a lot of product...then you might guess the retoucher might be getting $85-$125 an hour... or maybe $800 for the session of 35 images.  When clients are making thousands or millions of dollars off of the images...and products are quickly moving off the racks... then they can afford to actually pay this kind of commercial rate.  For them...  $85hr might be kids change...for us... $85hr sounds pretty good!!!

There are Digital Artists here at Mayhem that do compositing and lush gorgeous background replacements...and these digital artists can get $25-$45 an image approx because what they are doing is harder and very much more complex and artistic.  Everyone can see how complex some of these shots are and how beautifully they come out...so many around here think that price is worth some larger amount.

In business... A Retoucher prices his services based on how much it costs him to do the work and how much overhead he has in his studio (  New PC, Big Video Card, Tablet, Internet, Heat, Elect, Telephone etc) and then adds on some amount as profit onto that price as a profit.  That covers his costs of doing business and his profit margin.  If he is slow...his price goes up because he spends longer.  If he has more overhead than a teenager who gets everything from daddy and has NO real overhead costs...then the kid can under price the more serious businessman.  Some retouchers loose confidence sometimes... and just to get some cash flow...they will reduce their price... to under cut their competition just a bit.  This makes the business man loose some money...but in return for the price cut... he gets a small percentage of real money coming in.  If you do this often enough you end up Out Of Business after 11 months of dreaming.  Takes a lot to be a good retoucher and to begin making some good money. 

If you want to make some real money as a Retoucher:    IMHO...You HAVE TO BE in the Commercial Marketplace...because people who HAVE REAL MONEY...Have a BUDGET...and they pass that real money down to you...as a part of their business expenses.  That is because you help THEM Make a Lot of REAL MONEY from the crummy images of theirs... that you fix up real pretty.   If they make $75,000 from your retouched images...and you both move a lot of products...then they may hire you back again at a great rate...because you ad real value to their food chain! 

If you can create an opportunity for yourself... where your retouching helps someone else move real products... that produce real revenue... then you are going to get some good real money in return.    Retouchers who make good money for other people...usually get paid good money in Return!   Its a life principle.

LOOK FOR THE COMMERCIAL TYPES OF GIGS... People in the commercial world sometimes make Lots of Actual Money...and they will share some of that actual money...WITH YOU... Because you help THEM to Look Good and to move a lot of products.  Because you help them to move a lot of products off of their shelves... They become Richer... because of what You contribute!   I want to hire You...because you help Me make Money!!   How about $125 an hour next time...ive got a really big job coming up... and I want my models to LOOK GREAT again with Your help.  You do great work.  Here is your money.   People at a place like Mayhem who shoot for free...or take images for free... or who are weekend Guys with a Camera (GWC) ...they usually dont have ANY Budgets!  So... that is why Retouchers here at Mayhem dont make too much money either...many people here are lovers of their art, or are beginners, or amateurs, or dont have any budgets at all to work with.  Thats why you see retouchers here Mayhem at the lower price ranges possibly...their photographer clients arent getting paid hardly anything at all either..

Some retouchers here at Mayhem are also starting out in their portfolios and in retouching... and they dont have hardly any retouch examples in their ports yet...so... they are happy to just get an image to work on for free.  Other retouchers here are just starting out or may be hobbyists...and so they have the confidence or skill level where they feel ok to charge $5 or $10 an image.  Those that charge $25-$45 an image are good enough here to begin thinking of looking around at commercial work...otherwise their prices look kind of high to people with NO Budgets...and so they dont get too much work here...Guys with Cameras and people shooting for trade only dont typically have an extra $40 to $100 to spend on retouching their better images.

So... Practice Up!   Pay Your Dues!   Keep an eye out for where the real money is flowing....and get in the way.

great post thanks

I'd say reasonable rates for retouchers are between $125 p/hour for a freelancer and about $600 p/hour for an agency (who a lot of time contracts out to a freelancer). If you break this down per image, could be $1000 for a minor publications cover, $5000 for a major cover, $25 - $50 per image for high volume catalog work (6-10 images p/hour), editorials can be all over the place from free to thousands... The hours really never seem to match up with the work thought... It really depends on the budget and your willingness to do the work (IMO).