Photo Editing & Retouching for Independent Fashion Designers
Professional photo editing for independent fashion designers, graded as one collection, from $0.50 an image. Editing buys back the studio you could not afford — one grade across the set, carried from the lookbook into the e-commerce cut-outs. Pixel Retouching has run this work since 2014, from ISO-certified studios in Singapore and Dhaka.
After editBefore
Hover to see before
Send three looks from the shoot. Back graded as a set, not as three images.
The studio behind established brands, at emerging-designer scale
No minimum order and no retainer. The same retouchers and the same ISO process, whether it is a first collection or a two-hundredth.
The Problems Specific to a First Collection
None of these are skill problems. They are consequences of shooting a collection without a studio budget.
The light moved during the shoot
One borrowed day means morning daylight and afternoon daylight, and looks shot four hours apart do not match. It is invisible while shooting and obvious the moment the lookbook is laid out as a grid.
Fit samples are not final garments
The sample is often one size, pinned at the back and sitting badly at the shoulder. Correcting the drape so it reflects the finished garment is legitimate, but there is a line between that and misrepresenting the fit.
Lookbook and shop are different jobs
Buyers want the atmosphere, e-commerce wants the cut-out. Most designers treat those as two projects and end up with two visual identities from one collection.
Construction has to survive zoom
A stockist looks closely at the seam, the finish and the lining. That is where a collection is judged as professional or not, and it is exactly what a careless edit softens away.
What We Deliver for a Collection
Everything from one shoot, graded together, in every form the collection needs to exist in.
- Consistency
- One grade across the whole shoot, regardless of when it was shot
- Lookbook
- Atmosphere kept, colour and exposure reconciled
- E-commerce
- Cut-outs and ghost mannequin from the same set
- Construction
- Seams, linings and finish kept crisp at zoom
- Line sheets
- Flat, clean product images for stockists and wholesale
- Turnaround
- 24 hours standard, with a confirmed date on a full collection
Send the whole shoot rather than a selection. Grading a set is what makes it look like a collection, and that only works if we see all of it.
What We Edit for a Designer
Five jobs across a collection shoot. Each links to the service page that explains the technique.
Shot in the Studio Corner, Listed on White
Independent labels photograph samples wherever there is light, which usually means against a wall with a skirting board, a socket and the edge of a rail in shot. Lifting the piece out cleanly matters more here than for a brand with a studio: the garment is the only thing you have to sell with, and chalk marks, pins and packing creases come out in the same pass while the drape stays as it is.
- Room, rail and skirting removed
- Chalk, pins and sample marks cleaned
- Packing creases eased without flattening drape
- Weave and fabric texture preserved
How this is done: Apparel Editing
Try it on 3 imagesShape Corrected Where the Sample Sat Badly
A one-size sample rarely hangs the way the finished garment will. Shoulders squared, a sleeve line straightened and a hem levelled so the photograph reflects the piece you actually made — without altering the cut into something the buyer will not receive.
- Shoulder and sleeve line corrected
- Hem and symmetry levelled
- Pinning and clamping hidden
- Cut and proportion never changed
How this is done: Ghost Mannequin
Try it on 3 images
A Different Backdrop, After the Shoot
The seamless you had on the day is not always the one the campaign needs three weeks later. The backdrop is replaced rather than recoloured, so the light falling on it still matches the light on the model — a flat colour swap behind a lit subject is obvious immediately, and hair against a new background is where it shows first.
- Backdrop replaced, not tinted
- Light on the wall matched to the subject
- Hair edges rebuilt against the new colour
- Any brand colour from one shoot
How this is done: Photo Enhancement
Try it on 3 imagesFlyaway Hair and Set Clean-up
On-model work has a second subject in it, and the parts that distract are almost always around the edges: strands lifting off the head, a shadow the stand threw on the seamless, tape on the floor. These come out without touching the model — we clean what distracts and leave the person alone, because a look that only works on an edited body is not a look you can sell.
- Flyaway strands tidied, hairline kept
- Stand shadows and set marks removed
- Skin left as photographed
- Backdrop evened behind the subject
How this is done: Ghost Mannequin
Try it on 3 images
Colourways You Have Not Sampled Yet
Most first collections are sampled in one colour and sold in three. Additional colourways are generated from the photographed piece, with the colour rebuilt through the original texture, so a line sheet can show the full range before the fabric is even cut.
- Every colourway from one sampled piece
- Colour rebuilt through texture and drape
- Matched to a fabric swatch or Pantone
- Line sheets complete before production
How this is done: Colour Change
Try it on 3 imagesThe Services a Collection Bundles
Apparel work, ghost mannequin, colour and enhancement. Each page carries its own rate and before-and-after.
How a Collection Runs
Treated as one set from the start, because that is the only way it ends up looking like one.
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01
Send the whole shoot, not a selection
Consistency is a property of the set. Seeing everything, including the looks you are unsure about, is what lets us grade the collection rather than a sample of it.
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We set the grade on one look
The treatment is agreed on a single image before it goes across the shoot, so a change of mind costs a conversation rather than the whole batch.
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Hand-edited by one retoucher
The same person works the collection so it holds together, with a second editor reviewing it as a set rather than file by file.
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Delivered in every form you need
Lookbook files, e-commerce cut-outs and line-sheet product images together, named to your convention. Revisions are unlimited.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you make photographs from a one-day shoot look consistent?
Yes, and it is the main reason designers come to us. Daylight shifts across a shoot and looks photographed four hours apart do not match, which is invisible while shooting and obvious in a lookbook grid. Reconciling them to one grade is straightforward for a retoucher and nearly impossible to fix afterwards yourself.
Will you correct how the sample fits the model?
Within limits we are explicit about. Squaring a shoulder, straightening a sleeve line, levelling a hem and hiding pins are fair, because they show the finished garment rather than a one-size sample. Changing the cut or the proportion is not, because the buyer would receive something different from what they saw.
Can I get e-commerce images without a second shoot?
Usually yes. Product cut-outs and ghost mannequin images can be built from the same shoot, so the shop and the lookbook share one identity. Where a garment was only photographed on a model at an angle that cannot produce a clean product shot we will say so rather than deliver something compromised.
Can you show colourways I have not sampled?
Yes. One photographed piece generates the range, with the colour rebuilt through the original texture and drape so linen still reads as linen. Match it to a fabric swatch you post to us or a Pantone reference, and your line sheet can be complete before production starts.
How is this different from your apparel photo editing service?
The apparel service page explains each technique and what it costs. This page is about the designer’s situation: one shoot, shifting light, fit samples rather than production garments, and the need for a lookbook and a shop to look like the same brand. Every row above links back to the service doing the work.
Is my unreleased collection kept confidential?
Yes. Client work is confidential by default — stored securely, deleted on request, and never used in our portfolio or marketing without written permission. We sign NDAs on request, which matters more for an unreleased collection than almost any other work we take.
I only have a handful of images. Is that too small an order?
No. There is no minimum and no retainer — a single image is a valid order. Discounts begin at ten images, so a full collection qualifies naturally, but nothing stops you sending three looks to start.
How do I test it before committing the collection?
Send three looks through the free trial, ideally from different points in the shooting day so the light differs. Getting those three to sit together is exactly the problem, so it is also the fairest test. No card, no account, and you keep the files.
Industries We Also Edit For
Different way of selling, different brief. Same price list and the same production floor.
Send Three Looks From Different Points in the Day
If those three sit together as a set, the whole collection will.