Remove a Background Yourself or Hire an Editor: How Time and Steps Compare

What doing it yourself involves

Doing it yourself means choosing a tool, cutting out the subject, checking the edge and saving a file. With an AI tool such as the background remover the cutting is automatic. With a manual tool you trace the edge yourself.

• Your time goes into learning the tool, checking edges and fixing mistakes. The first photo is slow; later ones go faster.
• You control the result and can redo it any number of times.
• Difficult edges such as hair, fur, glass and thin straps are where the result is most likely to need touching up. Check every result at full size.
• Nothing waits on another person. You can work the minute the photos exist.

What hiring an editor involves

Hiring means finding someone, explaining what you need, sending the photos, waiting and reviewing what comes back.

• Your time goes into briefing and review, not into cutting. A clear brief with the output size, background and file type saves a round of messages.
• An experienced editor handles hard edges with manual work.
• You depend on their schedule, so turnaround is not in your hands.
• Changes mean another message and another wait.
• Ask for a quote on your own photos, and agree on revisions before you start.

Time and steps side by side

• One photo, simple edge: doing it yourself is usually quicker than briefing someone.
• One photo, very hard edge: an editor may save you a long fix, if you can wait.
• Many photos, same kind of subject: with a tool you run the photos one by one on your own schedule; an editor can take the whole set, but you wait for it.
• Photos that arrive every week: learning a tool once pays back; an editor suits when you do not want the work at all.
• Rush job: the tool, because nobody else has to be available.

How to choose in five steps

1. Count the photos

   One, ten or a hundred? Write the number down; it changes the answer more than anything else.

2. Rate the edges

   Smooth edges such as a bottle or box are easy. Hair, fur and glass are hard.

3. Test one photo yourself

   Run one typical photo through a tool and look at the edge at full size. This takes minutes and tells you whether the tool is enough.

4. Decide what 'good enough' means

   A marketplace thumbnail and a printed poster need different edges. Be specific about the use.

5. Send only the failures to an editor

   If most photos pass, keep them and hire help only for the ones with hard edges. For a background colour or transparency, see how to make a transparent background PNG.

Costs you can count without guessing prices

With Methodhelm, the exact credit price is shown before each run, and failed runs return held credits automatically; see the pricing page. Results are kept for 24 hours here, so download what you need. The background remover's result is about 1024 px on the long side, so for a large print ask an editor to work on your original file instead.

Frequently asked questions