Photo Editor for Coffee Table Book – Vibrant Portraits, All Skin Tones (Lightroom, No AI)

I’m looking for a skilled photo editor to edit the final images so they look vibrant, warm, polished and consistent from the first page to the last.
What you’ll do

-Edit about 250 portrait and group photos of dark and light skinned people from RAW (.NEF) files shot on a Nikon Z5.
-Correct exposure and white balance. Photos were taken in both sunny and overcast light, so they need to match.
-Create a warm, vibrant, professional look while keeping every skin tone true and rich, from light to very deep.
-Bring out hair texture and detail, like curls, coils, locs and braids, without over-sharpening.
-Light retouching: remove small distractions like stray trash or blemishes. No heavy skin smoothing. Skin should look natural, with texture.
-Deliver full-resolution JPEGs ready for print, keeping my original file names.
-No AI, please

All editing must be done by hand by you. No AI editing apps, AI auto-editing services or AI-generated changes to faces, skin, hair or backgrounds. These are real people, and their photos need to look like them. If I find AI tools were used, the work won’t be accepted.

Requirements
-Proven experience editing darker skin tones. Your portfolio must show skin that looks rich and glowing, not orange, gray or ashy.
-Strong skills in Adobe Lightroom. Photoshop is a plus.
-Experience with portrait, fashion or editorial editing.
-Understanding of print and how colors on screen look on paper.
-A good eye for consistency across a large set of photos.
-Reliable internet for downloading and uploading large RAW files through Google Drive.
-Clear communication in English and on-time delivery.

Test edit
Shortlisted applicants will get a few test photos to edit before I hire. This shows me how you handle different light and skin tones.

Timeline:
Photos sent by: [November 9]
First batch of 10 for feedback: [November 12]
All edits delivered by: [November 25]

How to apply:
Start your application with the words “ROOTED Glow” so I know you read the full post.
Send a link to your portfolio, including portraits of people with deep skin tones.
Tell me how you keep dark skin rich and natural when you make a photo more vibrant (2–3 sentences).
Confirm you will edit without any AI tools.
Tell me how many photos you can edit per day.