Difference Between Photo Editing and Retouching in Photoshop

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Photo Editing Mar 1, 2025

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Difference Between Photo Editing and Retouching in Photoshop

Often clients call the final touch or photo enhancement "editing" and "retouching", thinking of the terms as the same. However, photo editing and retouching are completely different. While photo editing is simple, photo retouching comes in layers. So, if you are here to know the distinction between these two terms, continue reading and I will explain in detail.

What is Photo Editing

Photo editing is enhancing the image quality with basic editing techniques. The basic alteration includes- brightness, contrast, white balance, and color adjustment, sharpening images, resizing, cropping, basic background removal, and adding filters.

You do not need advanced tools to do photo editing. You can do it with any device and enhance your image quality within minutes. However, you can not do complex editing like sky replacement, adding or removing elements, and others.

What is Photo Retouching

Photo retouching is the advanced version of photo editing where you can do simple and complex editing with ease and take your image to the next level. Photo retouching includes - background removal, metal smoothing, noise reduction, changing gemstone colors, mirror effect, recoloring, photo correction, portrait retouching, skin smoothening, stray hair removal, wrinkle removal, resizing, cropping, and much more advanced editing.

You need advanced tools like Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom to do photo retouching. The process is time-consuming however, professional photo retouching is essential to make your images flawless and publish them on your website and social media to attract the target audience.

Difference Between Photo Editing and Retouching

Let's see the key differences between photo editing and retouching.

Category

Photo Editing

Photo Retouching

Photo Manipulation

Basic

 Minor Alteration

Basic

 Advanced

 Custom

 Complex

Services Include

Brightness Adjustment

Color & Contrast Adjustment

White Balance Adjustment

Resizing

Cropping

Straightening

Sharpening

Adding Filters

Complex Photo Retouching

Noise Reduction

Metal Smoothening

Mirror Effect

Color Correction

Recoloring

Ghost Bust Removal

Skin retouching

Dust, Dirt, Scratch Removal

Shadow Adjustment

Adding and removing objects

Wrinkle Removal

Other Retouching According to Niche

Usage

Social Media Posts 

Product Photography

Portrait Photography

Real Estate 

Jewelry Photography

Beauty Photography

Clipping Path 

Ghost Mannequin 

Ecommerce Photography and more

Tools

Smartphone

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop 

Lightroom

Skill Required

Basic Editing Skill

Expert Photoshop and Lightroom knowledge and Experience

Photo Editing Services in Detail

Photo editing services are different from photo retouching. Let's see how they work. Brightness Adjustment- Fix the overall light and darkness of the image. For example, if your image turns out too dark, you can make it brighter and adjust it according to the setting.

Color and Contrast Adjustment- Adjust the light and dark areas in the image, ensuring the image looks well-balanced.

White Balance Adjustment- Modify color temperature to bring the natural color of the object. For example, changing the color temperature to make the yellow object appear its natural color.

Crop and Resize the Image- You can crop and resize the images according to your needs with professional photo editing.

Straightening- If your image turns out slightly tilted or in landscape mode, you can straighten it or make it vertical.

Sharpening- You can make your images appear clearer, sharper, and crispier with simple photo editing.

Adding Filters- Download free photo editors like YouCam Makeup, Canva, PhotoPad, and others to add various types of filters easily and enhance image quality.

Background Change or Removal- You can do basic background removal or change the background with photo editing. However, ensure it looks perfect and well-balanced.

Photo Editing Services in Detail

Photo Retouching Services in Detailed

The photo retouching niche is vast and it varies based on image complexity and niche. So, I have categorized it into three types. Check out these three photo retouching categories to understand jewelry photo retouching services better.

Basic Photo Retouching: As the name suggests, basic photo retouching is the simple alterations of the subject. For example, for jewelry retouching basic photo retouching includes less design and simple edge, single diamond, and single gemstone. For product photography, clipping path, background removal, crop and resize, and others fall under basic retouching. For basic portrait retouching, dust and

Complex Photo Retouching: Complex or extensive photo retouching is time-consuming and hard to perform. However, extensive retouching is necessary to remove flaws and make your image "Picture Perfect". So, how to do complex photo retouching? Jewelry images need extensive retouching the most. This is the reason many of the best retouching and editing companies do not offer jewelry retouching. In complex jewelry photo retouching, you need to edit numerous edges, multiple colors, multiple diamonds and gemstones, long chains, cluster rings, and others.

For extensive product photography post-processing, shadow masking, color correction, image sharpening, compositing images, and others. For real estate extensive photo retouching, merging different exposures, object removal and adding, recoloring, sky replacement, and others. Every photography niche has complex retouching and it is super time-consuming like often one jewelry image takes a group of people retouching it for hours. The same goes for other niches.

Custom Photo Retouching: You can customize retouching according to your needs. You will tell your requirements and professional retouchers will follow it accordingly. For example, if product photo instructions are background removal, dust and dirt removal, color correction, lighting adjustments, and enhancing the overall image quality, you need to make retouches accordingly.

Basic retouching, custom retouching, and extensive retouching pricing are different. So, if you want to hire a professional, make negotiations first.

Photo Retouching Services in Detailed

Summing Up

Was the differences between photo editing and retouching clear? If yes, while handling a client, keep these two terms in mind. Clearly understand what they want and clarify the services better to deliver better results, strengthen the bond, and save time.

Last but not least, if you need professional help in retouching or editing your images, contact Color Clipping Ltd. We have been dominating the market for over a decade and have thousands of happy clients all over the world. Our company is famous for capturing the brand essence and delivering the images on time. We can handle bulk projects and complex images with ease, ensuring you get the results you paid for. Visit our website now, take our free trial, and judge our editing quality to make the order.

FAQ

It may take five minutes to five hours or more. It depends on the image complexity. For example, one jewelry photo may take hours to retouch, while a product photo may take just fifteen minutes.
The pricing varies based on the company, image complexity, and your requirements. Consult with the company to negotiate the project and pricing.
Color Clipping is a professional photo retouching company offering jewelry, products, ecommerce, real estate, ghost mannequins, school photos, clipping path, and many more editing and retouching services for over a decade. Their customer service, photo retouching technique and quality, affordable pricing, and on-time delivery stand them out from the competitors. Also, they do just not talk the talk but prove their skill with action. You can take their free trial and see their retouching techniques.

Faria Ahammed Juthi Photo
Written by

Faria Ahammed Juthi

Hi, it's Faria, Content Executive from Color Clipping Ltd with a passion to contribute knowledge sharing more simply. Keep learning and growing with us.