FAQs

Rob has 30+ years of professional Photoshop experience, including more than 20 years retouching for New Zealand's top bridal magazine Bride and Groom, plus work for major advertising agencies in London, New York, Amsterdam, Brussels, Madrid, and Australia. Every edit is done entirely by hand — no AI tools, no batch processing, no outsourcing. Rob personally works on every single job, which is why clients keep coming back.

Rob uses a carefully selected set of AI tools that he has personally tested and approves of — but only where they genuinely add value and only as one part of the process. Every job is finished by hand with 30+ years of professional Photoshop expertise. AI tools can speed up certain tasks, but they cannot replace the judgement, craft, and attention to detail that make the difference between a good result and a great one. Rob never relies on AI alone, and the final creative decisions are always his.

AI tools fill in damaged or imperfect areas using patterns learned from millions of other images — meaning they subtly replace your photo's real detail with invented detail. Faces can look slightly wrong, textures appear plastic, and colours may be inaccurate to the era or lighting conditions. A trained human eye knows which imperfections to keep and which to remove, because good retouching is about judgement, not pattern-matching. As Rob puts it: "Good retouching should look like a photographic masterpiece — it should look as if it hasn't been retouched at all." That's why Rob uses AI tools selectively and always applies professional finishing — to get the speed benefits without the quality compromises.

In most cases, yes. AI tools often smooth over damage in a way that removes texture and invents detail that wasn't in the original. Rob can work from a fresh scan of your original photo and achieve a far more faithful result. Send both the original and the AI version and Rob will advise honestly on what's achievable.

The saying "you get what you pay for" very much applies here — and in some cases you get more than you bargained for. Cheap overseas services are often located in regions where scams and malware are common, putting your images and personal details at risk. With Mac Artist NZ, your images and intellectual property stay protected and your details are never passed on to any third party. You also deal directly with the person doing the work, not an anonymous third party.

Rob's studio is based in scenic Cable Bay in the Far North of New Zealand — one of the most beautiful locations in the country. All work is handled digitally, so Rob works with clients across New Zealand and around the world. Location is no barrier.

No. Your images are never passed on to anyone else — Rob personally handles every job from start to finish. Images are only ever used on the Mac Artist NZ website with 100% explicit permission from the client.

Rob offers a complete range of hand-crafted Photoshop editing and retouching services, including:

• Wedding photo retouching — adding sparkle, fixing exposures, removing distractions
• Family and heirloom photo restoration — cracks, tears, fading, water damage, foxing
• Adding or removing people or objects from any photo
• Colour correction and skin tone matching
• Hand-colouring black and white photos with period-accurate tones
• Background removal, replacement, or sky swaps
• Commercial and magazine retouching for advertising agencies and photographers
• Pre-press and print production for CMYK output
• Portrait glamour retouching
• Family tree and group photo compositing

If you can imagine it, it can almost certainly be done. Ask Rob — there's no obligation. You can also review the portfolio for examples of previous work.

Yes — photo restoration is some of Rob's most rewarding work. Cracks, tears, missing sections, fading, water and mould damage, scratches, and age spots can all be repaired by hand. The key difference from AI restoration is that Rob only works with what's genuinely in the original image — he never invents detail. The result is a faithful, heirloom-quality restoration that you can confidently frame or pass down to future generations.

Yes. Rob hand-colours black and white photographs using period-accurate, natural tones researched to suit the era of the photo — not the AI-guessed colours that can look garish or anachronistic. The result is a believable, natural colourisation that respects and enhances the original image.

Yes — this is a speciality. Rob can seamlessly remove unwanted people or objects from a photo, or composite someone in who was missing from the shot. Whether it's a gatecrashing stranger in a wedding photo, or a family member who couldn't be there on the day, the result will look completely natural. No one will ever know Rob has been there.

In many cases, yes. If there are other photos from the same session, Rob can composite in a better expression or open eyes so naturally that it's completely undetectable. This is particularly popular with wedding and family group photos, where it's almost impossible to get every person looking their best in a single shot.

Yes. Send your image along with the size you need it printed or displayed, and Rob will advise on the maximum size that can be achieved safely and whether it can be successfully enlarged to the size you need.

Every job is different, so Rob quotes on a case-by-case basis after seeing the image. There's no obligation to proceed after getting a quote. Work is charged by the time it takes — but with 30+ years of experience, Rob works efficiently and can achieve a lot in an hour. Please see the How it Works/Cost page for more detail.

No. Rob will produce a free low-resolution watermarked proof before you commit to anything. You only pay once you've seen the result, approved it, and are completely happy. This makes the whole process risk-free. A more accurate final price is confirmed when the proof is sent, and that price won't change unless additional work is added to the original brief.

No. Mac Artist NZ is not GST registered, and working from a home studio means you get a five-star result at the best possible price — without agency overheads passed on to you.

New Zealand dollars, with no add-ons. Many overseas services quote in USD — remember that the NZD/USD exchange rate can add a significant premium to those prices. With Mac Artist NZ, what you're quoted is what you pay.

Most jobs are completed within 48 hours. Rob personally does every job and never outsources, which keeps quality consistently high. If there's a slightly longer wait for a complex job, you'll be told upfront when you submit your image.

Email your image directly, or use WeTransfer for larger files — it's free and very reliable. Rob will assess the work and come back to you promptly with a quote and timeframe.

Once payment has been received. A screenshot of your bank payment helps speed things along if you're in a hurry.

Yes, absolutely. You'll receive a free proof at every stage of production and can request adjustments at any point. The layered Photoshop file makes additional changes straightforward at any time.

Rob can work with all common image formats — JPEG, TIFF, PNG, RAW, and PSD. JPEG is fine for most jobs. The most important thing is to send the highest resolution version you have — the bigger the file, the better the result.

Your finished image is typically delivered as a high-resolution RGB JPEG, which works for both print and online use. CMYK files can also be supplied if your printer requires it — just let Rob know your printer's colour profile and he'll match it exactly, so there are no surprises when it comes off the press. Other formats are available on request.

300dpi (dots per inch) is the gold standard for print at any size. For an A4 print, that means 2480 x 3508 pixels. That said, many images print beautifully at lower resolutions — Rob will always advise on the best approach for your specific image and the size you need. Printing on canvas is also a great option, as it's very forgiving of lower resolution files and always looks stunning.

Indefinitely — digital files don't degrade or fade the way physical prints do. The main risk is losing the file through a hard drive failure, so always back up to at least two locations (an external drive and cloud storage is ideal). If you ever need a new print made years down the track, you can simply print a fresh one from your file.