FREE TUTORIAL: How I Earn Daily Side-Income Through Photo Editing (2025)

The FREE chapters you're about to learn from are excerpts from a larger guide called "Jide's PhotoshopRequest Cheat Sheet and Guide" which retails for only $10.

The free tutorial you're about to read is complete-enough to get you started with photo-editing as a side hustle. But for more information, and access to all chapters in my guide, feel free to purchase the full guide here. ENJOY, and happy learning!

JIDE'S PHOTOSHOPREQUEST CHEAT SHEET AND GUIDE

1. WELCOME

My name is Jide Okonjo and I am a blogger. However, as a side income on days money is running lower than I'd like it to, I do photo-editing work on a Reddit subreddit called Photoshop Request.

As a person who doesn't like to gatekeep information unnecessarily, especially when I know others could benefit from it too: I am making this guide to show you how you too can benefit from this valuable subreddit.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

• A computer/laptop/PC. You can work on your phone but I don't do it, and I imagine it will be very inconvenient so a laptop is what I will advice.
• An active internet connection.
• Photoshop or any other photo-editing software of your choice (like GIMP, which is a free photo-editing software.)
• A willingness to learn. So much of what I know now was self-taught and I will be providing you with links and resources that helped me. All you need to do is take the time out to learn.

If you have all these, and are ready to start: then LET'S BEGIN!

WHAT TO EXPECT (EARNINGS POTENTIAL)

Before heading in, I need you to tamper your expectations. It is possible to make a lot of money on this subreddit, but that would mean working A LOT of hours, and doing a lot of jobs. You are not the only editor working on photoshop requests. For every new job, expect at least 5-7 other people also submitting edits. Sometimes, requesters will pick your work. Other times, they'll pick someone else's.

There are days that I have done about 15 - 20 edits and only had 1 person buy my work. And then there are days when I do 2 edits only, and those 2 are bought. It is very up and down, and so expect that going in.

For further transparency about earnings potential, I will show you the spreadsheet where I kept my earnings log over a one-month period.

As you can see, there were days where I only made $5 and days when I made $27. Everything adds up, but it's important to not beat yourself up on the days when you maybe don't earn anything. The next day might be more lucrative, or it may not; but the more you work, the more your skill improves. And the more your skill improves, the better your edits will be. Better edits = higher probability of being picked, which means higher chances of money in your pocket.

Just keep doing good work, and the money will follow.

Now that you know what you'll need and what to expect, let's begin with the tutorial.

2. Subreddits to join for Photoshop Requests.

There are 2 major subreddits to join if you wish to earn money from Photoshop Requests. The first and most popular one is:

Photoshop Request: https://www.reddit.com/r/PhotoshopRequest/

The second, which also gets daily requests but isn't as frequent as Photoshop Request is:

Photoshop Requests: https://www.reddit.com/r/PhotoshopRequests/

For the purpose of this cheat sheet, I will primarily focus on Photoshop Request because it's where you will most likely make most of your money.

3. Getting Started

What do you need to be able to start making money on the Subreddit? Well, first and foremost you will need an account on Reddit.

If you don't already have a Reddit account, click here to open a Reddit account.

Now that you have a Reddit account, good job! You will now need to get your karma up. Karma on reddit is basically a numerical score that represents a user's reputation within the community, calculated by how many upvotes they receive on their posts and comments. Think of it as number of 'likes' you've gotten on Reddit.

To get your karma up, basically browse around on Reddit and find cool topics that you're interested in and interact with them. Leave comments on topics you find interesting, complement people or things you wish to complement. Basically go around Reddit threads and engage like a user would on regular social media. Subreddits I would advice you start from if you're looking for good places to start finding interesting conversations and getting upvotes (think 'likes') to grow your Karma are: AskReddit (one of the biggest and most active subreddits) and CasualConversation (the people here are really nice and regularly upvote each other)

Obviously take the time to learn how the platform works by reading threads and seeing how people interact with each other. Of course also be on the r/PhotoshopRequest subreddit and see how people interact as well. Get a lay of the land, and interact like a user. Over time, hopefully you get upvotes and make good interactions, and your karma will naturally begin to rise.

To participate in r/PhotoshopRequest, you will need to have a minimum of 30 combined post + comment karma from other subreddits in order to post or comment in the subreddit. In essence, you should have at least gotten 30 likes from your comments, etc. from your general time on Reddit before you can participate in this subreddit.

Also, your account will need to be at least 10 days old to post or do anything on the subreddit as well, so these 10 days will be a good time to get a lay of the land and get as much good karma as you can. I'd advice you get way more than 30 because just like people can upvote you to increase your karma, people can also downvote you and reduce your karma. I'll advice you have at least 50 karma points before beginning on r/PhotoshopRequest.

4. Understanding Flairs

So on Reddit, there are what we call flairs and basically you can think of flairs as tags. So if you go through the r/PhotoshopRequest subreddit, you will see three different types of flairs on posts: "Paid", "Free", and "Solved".

"Paid" Flair:

A 'paid' flair like you can see under this post above indicates that this user is willing to pay for the edit on whatever image is supplied. This represents PAID work, and it will of course be the work you'll be aiming to do most of the time. HOWEVER, recently, PhotoshopRequest made a new rule.

You see, when I first started on the subreddit, I immediately got to work working on paid requests off the jump. But now, you can't do that anymore. You will first need to do some free requests before you can have access to paid requests.

"Free" Flair:

Free requests appear with this blue flair as you can see in the image above. As a new member, these will be the requests you will be working on at first. According to the subreddit moderators:

"New members will be restricted from participating in paid requests until they have assisted in a certain number of free requests. You'll need to demonstrate your skills on some free requests before you're allowed to comment on paid ones. All edits submitted to paid requests must be watermarked." (We will talk about watermarking in a bit.)

"Solved" Flair:

The "Solved" flair as the name implies signifies that a post has already been completed and a contest has already been won, and a wizard rewarded (all these terms will be explained further in a bit). So basically, it means that you don't need to bother working on this task as the job is already done basically.

These three: 'paid', 'free', and 'solved' are post flairs. But then, there are also USER flairs, and the only user flair that concerns you on this subreddit is the 'Wizard' flair.

The only way you will be able to post a comment in a post (aka a thread) is if you are a wizard, and to be a wizard, you need to turn on the "Wizard" flair which you can find in the sidebar of the PhotoshopRequest page (if you're on a PC). It will appear as the picture above with just your name when the flair is not activated, and so you will have to click on the pencil icon, and select "Wizard". Once you do, you will get the Wizard badge like you see above, and you will then be able to comment in threads. This is how you will be able to actually participate in the thread contests and get money.

5. Contests and How They Work.

So, essentially, 'contests' are what you participate in to make money on r/PhotoshopRequest. This is how it goes:

1. A user (aka 'original poster' aka 'OP') creates a 'thread' (aka a 'post' aka a 'contest') [all these akas mean the same thing and I will be using them interchangeably throughout this sheet].
2. In this thread, the OP makes a request, eg. "make my cheeks look less red" and they attach the image they want edited.
3. Once this happens, a contest is automatically created and what that basically means is that the comments section is now open for everybody to submit their own attempt at an edit. Different wizards, YOU included of course, take the OP's supplied image into your photoediting software (which will more than likely be photoshop unless you choose something different) and you work on the edit.
4. Once done with your edit, you submit your edit as an attached image in the comments section of the post, and that is all. You have successfully participated in a contest.
5. NOTE: And this is a VERY SERIOUS NOTE. If you are submitting an edit in a 'free' thread, you do NOT watermark the image. You simply submit as is. However, if you are submitting in a 'paid' thread, you MUST watermark the image before you submit it. Also, note that in free threads, you do not attach tip jars. However, in paid threads, you must attach a tip jar (in order to get paid).

6. Watermarking (chapter available in full guide)

7. Tip Jars

The tip jar is how you get paid on PhotoshopRequests. You basically choose your preferred payment method (which is completely up to you) and then you attach the hyperlink to text in your comment called "Tip Jar". So let's say you want to receive your tips through Paypal, then you'll get your Paypal link (eg. paypal.com/whatever) but you wouldn't post this long "paypal.com/whatever" link in the comments. You will write Tip Jar and then highlight those words and attach the url as a link to that "Tip Jar" text. So that eventually your Tip Jar will look like this in the comment:

TIP JAR

The most common and most popular services people use to receive tips are Paypal, Buymeacoffee, and Ko-Fi.

If you are Nigerian like me reading this, then you know that a lot of these services aren't really accessible to us here. So the big question of course is: how do I get paid? I'll reveal that to you in the "FAQ & Cheat Tips" section below.

8. Rules of the Subreddit

You are just about ready to start working, heck! You can even start right now. At this point, I have given you most of the information you'll need. But before you go running, you need to know some of the rules of the subreddit:

DON'T EDIT QUESTIONABLE REQUESTS OR THINGS THAT SEEM FRAUDULENT

This is one that has gotten me into trouble two times now, so I'm going to tell you what happened to me so you don't make the same mistake I made.

What was my mistake? A requester asked to help us look like a television screen his brother bought was bashed as a gag gift/prank image for his brother. So innocently thinking nothing of it, I edited that image and next thing I knew, I was hit with a strike.

Why? Because apparently, such images can be used fraudulently and sent to sellers to make it look like property was damaged when in fact nothing of the sort happened.

It is these very small kinda things you should be observant about. If it looks questionable in any way, don't do it. According to the subreddit's guide:

"Don't request or edit:

Anything illegal or for the purpose of fraud, including but not limited to: watermarks, documents, receipts, copyrights, bills, tickets, impersonation, insurance fraud, items for sale, warranty claims, medical records, etc.

Removing famous brand logos or text from posters, album covers, etc is fine."

DON'T WORK ON ANYTHING NSFW

The subreddit doesn't allow pornography, explicit nudity, or x-rays, so if you see a poster has made a request containing any of this, simply click away and move on the next poster's request. YOU DON'T HAVE TO EDIT EVERYTHING. Remember that! Pick only work you know you can handle, and you're sure won't get you into trouble. There are multiple requests every single day, don't waste your time on anything you think could get you in trouble; just move on.

According to the subreddit's guide on the topic of NSFW media, they write:

"No porn, explicit nudity, or x-ray. Requesting or editing fake nudes will result in an immediate and permanent ban. Slightly NSFW material is permitted as long as it's tagged as such."

DON'T STEAL ANOTHER PERSON'S WORK

As simple as that: don't steal. Work on your own edit and don't take somebody else's work and slap your watermark on it. I mean, this should go without saying. WORK ON YOUR OWN EDIT. Of course it doesn't mean you can't get inspired by what other people are doing, or see a good choice somebody made and then incorporate it into yours. But blatantly taking someone else's work and then just putting your own watermark on it, that will lead to a ban on your account. According to the subreddit's rules:

"Taking another editor's work, slapping your watermark on it and offering it up with your tip jar will not be tolerated.

Altering or expanding upon another editor's work is allowed as long as you clearly credit the original editor, you submit as a reply to the original editor, and you do not include your tip jar. Attempting to pass off someone else's work as your own will result in a permanent ban."

9. FAQ & CHEAT TIPS

At this point, you have all you need to begin working on r/PhotoshopRequest. You can go off now and start working. But if you want to stand out, and have an edge over your competitors, then these are some tips I can give you that will help!

10. TIP: A Must Get Extension (chapter available in full guide)

11. TIP: Tip Jar for Nigerians (How to Get Paid as a Nigerian) (chapter available in full guide)

12. HELPFUL RESOURCES (chapter available in full guide)

13. Thank You

I hope you've been able to find this guide and cheat sheet helpful. I can't wait to see you in contests. I hope this venture becomes as good of a side hustle for you, as it has become for me.

Happy editing, and I wish you BIG MONEY!!!