"Outsourcing" Photoshop work

[Ash]

I like how many originated white and the texture added after

[adrian tyler]

I was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome on Thursday (OUCH -- painful indeed) in my right wrist/arm. This is definitely putting a damper on my post-processing work flow. Looks like it'll be only my own work for the future unless this painful syndrome can actually be controlled. I have been processing more than my normal work flow since I started taking on weddings from a few area photographers last year. The work generally encompass 400-500 additional images every week or two. I take their portable hard drives, upload their images to my external drives and begin hacking away at them usually through Lightroom and the occasional retouching in CS3.

Anyone else have to deal with this? I have a wrist brace I am to wear when sleeping and I have been told to invest into ergonomically designed computer furniture that will hopefully aid my physical needs better. Oh yeah, I am to cut down on my computer time.

Suggestions would be appreciated -- not meaning to hi-jack the thread, but maybe this applies to others that do post-processing work for other photographers or those that may be considering putting a lot more time into it.

Thanks,
Darr

change mouse hands, i do it from time to time, frustrating at first but not impossible. get a qualified iyengar yoga teachers list for your area and sign up - if you want to you'll be able to "cure" it, something that drugs and furniture will not do.

[darr]

change mouse hands, i do it from time to time, frustrating at first but not impossible. get a qualified iyengar yoga teachers list for your area and sign up - if you want to you'll be able to "cure" it, something that drugs and furniture will not do.

I am switching my mouse from right-side to left-side. Good Idea! I did do a search for the yoga classes and found one in Tallahassee who's web site is down. I will keep trying. I appreciate your response Adrian!

Best,
Darr

[Daniel_Buck]

in my industry (visual effects) carpal tunnel syndrome and other problems with sitting at a computer for 8 to 14+ hours a day (back problems, neck/shoulder problems and so on), most folks find that a wacom tablet is much easier on the wrist. However, it too can have it's own problems, more in the elbow/shoulder area though from what I gather (though not as common). Alot of folks switch off between the two, I do. Some folks sit on big yoga balls instead of chairs, some people stand and work on desks that are much higher up, and so on.

[pablo batt]

give them your camera, your house and car , then you wont have to worry about living your life at all.

[Ben Syverson]

Have you ever dustbusted 8x10 at 2400 DPI?

I wouldn't have them do color correction, but I can definitely see the value in having them do grunt work.

[jnantz]

there are plenty of commercial and wedding and portrait photographers
who send their work out to be worked on. there is a long tradition of doing
this. maybe the difference here is that it is a faceless ( to you anyways ) company
in asia instead of someone that is local &C.

for 10+ months i worked in the darkroom and was training to do the retouching for
a portrait photographer. her time was best spent behind the camera, not
in the dark processing hundreds of sheets of 5x7 film, and then infront of an adams retouching desk, and then back in the dark to proof and later make finished prints.
does that mean she was outsourcing her creativity ?

that is just how much of the commercial photography industry works. a lot of (commercial) photographers
are behind the camera, not infront of the monitor, because that is where their time is best
spent ... just like 20 or 40 or 80 years ago

[nathanm]

On a somewhat related note, I was blown away the day I discovered a company where you can outsource your CLIPPING PATH DRAWING work! Yes, people will hand-draw clipping paths for your pre-press needs! Yikes!!! My jaw just about hit the desk. It was then that I looked into the seventh gate of hell and imagined the horror of having a job doing THE most tedious, eye-wateringly painful Photoshop task ever, ALL DAY LONG!!! Whoever works for that company deserves a medal! Or companies I should say as a current Google search reveals there are more than one. Just amazing!

[Ben Syverson]

If you think that's bad, there are whole post production shops in the developing world that do nothing but rotoscope (which is like clipping path drawing multiplied by every frame of a video sequence), paint work (like Photoshop retouching, but for every frame), wire removal (painting out rigging wires in every frame), and frame-by-frame dustbusting.

The worst part is that they don't even get paid well.