How to Send Photos Safely to a Professional Retoucher

Send full-resolution files in one batch, through one link you have opened from a logged-out browser, with reference frames from your own delivered work and a written list of what to keep and what to remove. Settle the privacy questions once — what your client agreement says about third parties, and what the studio does with files — rather than job by job.

A link that asks for access, a set that arrives in three parts, a brief that says "make them look nice": each one costs a round trip, and across time zones a round trip can cost a day. None of them has anything to do with the editing.

What to send

Full resolution, always. You cannot get print-ready files back from web-sized uploads.

Send the format the work needs. Raw for exposure or colour recovery. Layered TIFF or PSD if you have already done work you want kept, with a flattened copy as well if the layered file is very large. A full-resolution JPEG is fine for cosmetic work on a well-exposed frame. The reasoning is in RAW vs JPEG for retouching.

Say what you have already done. A retoucher who knows you applied a colour profile and a lens correction will not undo them.

How to send it

BeEdits accepts files uploaded through the client portal or shared as a Google Drive, Dropbox, WeTransfer or Pixieset link. Whichever route you use:

Test the link from a logged-out browser. Open it in a private window before you send it. A file shared with "anyone with the link" can still be blocked by the permissions on the folder above it.

Send the set in one batch. A set that arrives in pieces gets started twice.

Name the folder so a stranger could file it. "2026-06-garden-wedding-portraits" rather than "Untitled folder (3)".

Check how long the link lasts. Some transfer services expire links after a set period. If yours expires partway through a job, the job stops until you resend.

What goes in the brief

The brief decides whether the first version comes back close.

Reference frames from your own delivered work. Three or four images you are happy with show your look better than any description.

Specific instructions. Everyone asks for "natural" and everyone means something different. Say instead:

• what to keep: freckles, scars, tattoos, skin markings, laugh lines
• what to remove: a named distraction, a stray hand at the frame edge
• what not to do: no slimming, no reshaping, leave the birthmark
• what the frames are for: an A2 print, a square social crop, a website header

The real deadline, not the earliest one you can imagine.

The package you want. If you are unsure, describe what the finished frame has to do and ask which one fits.

The privacy side

Most photographers deal with this by not thinking about it. It takes about ten minutes to settle once.

Read your client agreement. Look for a clause about third-party service providers. If there is none, consider adding a line so the question is answered before a client asks.

Ask the studio what happens to your files. Where they are stored, for how long, and who can open them. A professional service should be able to answer.

Decide on sensitive work in advance. Boudoir, medical images, children, and anything under an NDA or embargo are not reasons to avoid outsourcing. They are reasons to choose deliberately which route each set takes.

Read the terms of free online tools before uploading client files. Some keep uploads or reserve rights over them. That may be acceptable for your own landscapes and very different for someone's portrait.

Before you press send

• Full resolution
• One batch, one link
• Link opened from a logged-out browser
• Reference frames from your own work included
• Keep, remove and do-not instructions written down
• Real deadline stated
• Package chosen, or the requirement described
• Your own backup exists

When the work comes back

Review it at 100% on a proper screen, not on a phone.

Put every note in one message. Eight points in one message is one revision round. Eight separate messages usually means eight rounds.

Be specific. "Frame 12: forehead too smooth, bring back texture" can be acted on. "Doesn't look right" cannot.

Say what worked as well. It shortens the next brief.

If something about a set is unusual — the format, the volume, the deadline — ask before sending rather than sending and hoping.

Turn the brief into a template

Keep a short brief you reuse: what the frames are for, which package, the deadline, links to three reference frames, and two lists — keep, and remove.

With that in place, briefing a job takes five minutes instead of a conversation, and the first version comes back closer because the studio was told what it would otherwise have had to guess.

Add a line for anything unusual about the set, such as a mix of formats, a very tight deadline or a subject who has asked for something specific. The unusual detail is the one a template leaves out, and it is the one most likely to cost a revision.

Common questions

Which file format should I send? Raw if the work involves exposure, colour or shadow recovery; layered TIFF or PSD if you have already done work you want kept; full-resolution JPEG for cosmetic work on a well-exposed frame. Never web-sized files.

Why can the retoucher not open my shared link? Usually because the folder above the file is restricted, even though the link is set to "anyone with the link". Open it in a private browser window before sending.

Do I need to tell clients I use a retoucher? Check your agreement for a clause about third-party service providers. If there is none, consider adding a line so the question is answered before anyone asks.

How do I send files to BeEdits? Upload them through the client portal, or share a Google Drive, Dropbox, WeTransfer or Pixieset link. Make sure the files can be opened without requesting access.

How should I send revision notes? All at once, in one message, with each note tied to a frame number. Eight points in one message is one revision round.

Related reading: How to Choose a Professional Photo Editing Service and How Long Should Professional Photo Retouching Take?.