What's the best way to get into the photo-retouching business and what should I charge?

[MissBlake]

I happen to live in an area with a lot of photographers and photography studios, but not a lot of quality retouch-artists. Local publications are rife with photos that look "off" because of missed details that detract from the over-all quality of the image.

I'm planning to approach photographers and magazines with my work and offer my services. But, I've never been in this business, so I don't know exactly how to proceed. What's the best way to look for work? Most importantly, what are typical fees for retouching? Do artists get paid by the project or buy the hour? How much should I ask for, considering that I'm just starting out? How quickly do clients want their photos back?

Thanks so much for reading my question, and I can't wait to hear what you all have to suggest!

 

[Broken Veteran]

You need a Mac and Photoshop.
A good scanner is $50 thousand dollars.
All my photographers shoot E-6 or slide film.
Then you have to scan them.
Then clean them.
Then re-touch.
Then fix colors.
Then profile match with output colors from where they will be printed.
I get from $15 to $25 each image to fix pictures.
See here.
http://www.lukepowell.com

I did many of these.