Photo-Editor: ‘Play’ with Pictures

Career Tips | June 23, 2012 | Share

We live in a world that is so competitive that even people with a great college degree cannot get themselves a job. As for the people who are yet to enter college, better choose your course carefully, choose the one which will guarantee a job placement or help you start a business of your own.

Now, one job that can guarantee you a pretty nice earning is that of a ‘Photo-editor’. This job will never make you run out of business once you have firmly set your feet in it, as it is in constant and a popular demand in the world of print media–especially in magazines or ad campaigns for fashion houses. But if you are looking for recognition then this is not the job for you, as the work of a photo-editor rarely gets recognized but it is one of great responsibility.
The ads, pictures and photos you see everywhere are not just a work of a photographer but great deal of it has been handled by a photo-editor. His job is to edit and be creative with it. After a production or a shoot is completed by a photographer, it is a photo-editor’s job to give the pictures depth, plus make them more pleasant and dramatic.

To become a photo-editor, a person should be creative and have a very fine eye for detail and aesthetic. On the other hand, the best part about this profession is that a person can wake up one day and decide to become a photo-editor, though it will take time to learn and absorb the art. The job takes more than skills to get your work recognized.

To start with, get yourself enrolled in an institute that offers a diploma course in editing (surely there will be one in your state or area). While you are still learning, to help you kick off and test your skills, a handful of projects will be given to you at college itself. Secondly, get to know people who are in this profession and build up contacts. It will prove to be very beneficial once you actually enter the field.

There is a slight disadvantage to this job, nowadays amateurs can also edit pictures with the help of websites which provide automatic editing. But amateurs cannot get in the way of your profession or make you lose your clientele as well-known and established firms will be depending on you.

The starting salary for this profession may be low. But with time, knowledge and experience, one day you will be earning enough to put your children through college.

To be in this profession you have to be committed and self-motivated, as it takes a lot of patience, sitting for hours in front of a computer, trying to get that right effect and tone for a picture and fixing blemishes in a model’s skin. Also, you must be able to say ‘no’ when projects are given because there are times when an editor is flooded with projects and accepts all the projects in greed for more money but cannot finish them all. This can lead to a bad reputation and may put you at a risk of losing clients.

The job of a photo-editor is exciting and stressful at the same time, but if balanced correctly, one can thoroughly enjoy his life and work ‘playing’ with the pictures.

Pelhineal Langngap