Hi beautiful people!

I want to talk about something that doesn’t get discussed nearly enough in photography… editing.

More specifically – the moment I realised that editing my own photos was quietly stealing my time, my energy, and my income.

Years Behind a Screen

For over 23 years of my photography career, I edited every single image myself.

On average, for every full day of shooting, I would spend at least another full day sitting behind a computer editing. More often than not, that meant late nights, racing deadlines, poor sleep, and feeling mentally drained before the next shoot even began.

My relationship with my wife and kids suffered at times. And if I’m being honest, I know I’m not alone here – I’ve had this same conversation with countless photographers over the years.

“I spend way too much time editing.”
“I’ve just finished a full day shooting and now I’m up half the night editing.”
“I’ve thought about outsourcing… but what about quality?”
“I have my own style – how would I even teach someone else?”

I get it. I really do. I had those exact same thoughts.

Do You Want to Be an Editor or a Photographer?

When students ask me about Photoshop, Lightroom, blending bracketed images, HDR or fixing window exposures, my answer is usually pretty simple:

Do you want to be an editor… or do you want to be a photographer?

Now here’s the important part – I actually love editing. I still edit my own personal photos to this day.

But in 2018, I reached a very clear turning point in my business. I realised that photography and editing are two very different careers, with two very different skill sets.

Trying to be great at both at the same time was actually devaluing my time.

The Moment It Clicked (The Maths That Changed Everything)

Let me explain this with a simple example.

Let’s say, hypothetically, as a real estate photographer you have the capacity to earn $1,000 in a day.

If you shoot one day and then spend the next day editing, your effective day rate isn’t $1,000 anymore – it’s actually $500 per day.

Over a five-day week, that usually looks like:

• 2.5 days shooting
• 2.5 days editing
• $2,500 per week

Great money – but now let’s change just one thing.

What Happens When You Outsource Editing

If you outsource your editing, you instantly remove the bottleneck.

You now have the *capacity* to shoot every day if you want – or, more importantly, you only need to shoot a few days to earn the same income.

Using my own pricing as an example:

• 2 houses per day
• 20 images per house
• 40 images total
• Editing cost ≈ $1 per image

That’s about $40 per day in editing costs.

Working just 2.5 days per week, my editing costs came to roughly $100 per week.

So the numbers looked like this:

• Edit my own images: $2,500 per week working 5 days
• Outsource editing: $2,400 per week working 2.5 days

Read that again.

Almost the same income – in half the time.

The Biggest Mistake I Made

One of the biggest mistakes I made in my earlier photography businesses was insisting on doing everything myself.

Editing doesn’t increase your income.

It actually reduces your hourly rate.

The only thing that increases your income is shooting more – or freeing up time so you *can* shoot more if you choose.

The Hidden Benefits No One Talks About

Beyond the numbers, outsourcing editing changed my life in ways I didn’t fully appreciate at the time:

• Faster turnaround times (24–48 hours)
• More time with my family
• More energy and creativity on shoots
• Consistent, reliable editing quality
• Access to extra services like sky replacements and virtual furniture (virtual staging)
• No more late nights staring at a screen

Most importantly – it gave me my time back.

A Better Question to Ask Yourself

In my opinion, the real question isn’t:

“Should I outsource my editing?”

The better questions are:

• What am I missing out on by not outsourcing?
• How much income am I leaving on the table?
• How many nights am I giving away to my computer?

I only teach systems that I’ve tested and lived myself.

Outsourcing editing has been part of my business from day one since launching my real estate photography model – and it has been genuinely life-changing.

Learn the System I Use

If you want to learn how I built a profitable, flexible real estate photography business, including the exact systems I use for shooting, outsourcing, pricing and workflow – I built this training for you.

You can take a look at it here:
Join the Real Estate Photography MASTERCLASS

If you’re completely new to photography and want to start for free, you can also join my Real Estate Photography FUNDAMENTALS course.

I hope this helps shift your perspective the way it did mine.

Wishing you every success,
Nath