Photo Retoucher
✨Edits photos: cleans up skin, replaces backgrounds, corrects colour, and prepares images for catalogues, advertising and online stores.
Prospects & pay
What the work is like
💼 Job market
🇺🇸 $93.5k a year on average · -5.6% jobs by 2035 · 600 openings a year
Photographic process workers & processing machine operators — US: Census ACS 2020–24 (full-time), BLS projections 2025–35
🇬🇧 £32.6k median a year · 18,000 jobs
Photographers, audio-visual and broadcasting equipment operators — UK: ONS ASHE 2025 (full-time)
🤖 AI & automation
Neural networks already retouch and swap backgrounds in seconds; fine artistic retouching for top shoots will remain.
Who it suits
Interests: 🎨 Drawing and design, 💄 Beauty, style, fashion, 💻 Coding and digital.
Key strengths: artistic taste, attention to detail.
Where to study
- Course Retouching courses and Adobe/Capture One training
- Bachelor's BA Photography
Key school subjects (A-level / IB / AP): Art & Design.
🧗 Retouching courses and a strong portfolio, sometimes a photography degree. Well-paid retouching is in fashion and advertising in London, New York and Paris; AI is taking bulk editing.
Universities
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London London · €35.5k/yr
BA £30,890/yr (2026/27); portfolio + interview; Attestat + UAL Foundation Diploma (£24,660) - Slade School of Fine Art, University College London London
BA/BFA Fine Art: portfolio and interview decide; an art foundation is usually expected * - Glasgow School of Art Glasgow · €28k–28.5k/yr
Portfolio; ≈£24–25k/yr (secondary sources); merit fee discounts for international students; International Foundation *
🇺🇸 United States
- Rhode Island School of Design Providence · €57.8k/yr
portfolio required; TOEFL/IELTS/DET for non-native speakers; ≈ $94k/yr with housing - School of the Art Institute of Chicago Chicago · €52.6k/yr
portfolio required; $59.5k for 30 credits + tech fee; TOEFL/IELTS/DET for non-native speakers - Parsons School of Design New York · €55.5k/yr
portfolio and the Parsons Challenge; TOEFL/IELTS/DET for non-native speakers
🇩🇪 Germany
- Berlin University of the Arts Berlin · free
No tuition (≈ €120 semester fee); entrance exams/portfolio; German depends on programme, often B1 to apply, C1 to enrol - Kunstakademie Düsseldorf Düsseldorf · free
No tuition; admission by portfolio (Mappe); basic German, check with the academy * - Academy of Fine Arts Munich Munich · free
No tuition; admission by portfolio and exam; basic German, check with the academy *
🇳🇱 Netherlands
- Gerrit Rietveld Academie Amsterdam
Art school: portfolio and entrance exam matter more than the certificate; taught in English * - Design Academy Eindhoven Eindhoven
Portfolio and selection assignments; taught in English, IELTS ≈ 6.0 * - Royal Academy of Art The Hague The Hague
Portfolio and entrance exam; some programmes in English *
🇫🇷 France
- Beaux-Arts de Paris Paris
Entrance concours: portfolio + interview; French test for foreign applicants * - École des Arts Décoratifs – PSL Paris
Entrance concours: portfolio, tasks, interview; taught in French * - ENSCI – Les Ateliers Paris
Entrance concours: portfolio + interview; taught in French *
🇮🇹 Italy
- Brera Academy of Fine Arts Milan
AFAM academy: entrance exam/portfolio, Italian B2 (test for foreigners), Universitaly pre-enrolment * - Politecnico di Milano School of Design Milan · €160–3.9k/yr
Design admission test (TOL), B2 in the language of study; 12 school years, else a university year or foundation * - NABA – Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti Milan · €22.3k/yr
Private academy: admission test/portfolio, programmes in English or Italian; non-EU fee €22,250 a year
🇪🇸 Spain
- Complutense University of Madrid (Fine Arts) Madrid · €6.8k–8.2k/yr
Spanish B2 required; homologation + UNEDasiss, PCE; non-EU pay 4th-attempt rate - University of Barcelona (Fine Arts) Barcelona · €1.8k/yr
Homologation + UNEDasiss, PCE; Catalan/Spanish classes; non-EU €30/ECTS * - Elisava Barcelona School of Design and Engineering Barcelona
Private school (UVic-UCC): own selection, interview/portfolio *
🇨🇿 Czech Republic
- Academy of Fine Arts in Prague Prague · free
Talent exams/portfolio; free in Czech (Czech ≈B2); English programmes charge fees, not checked * - Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (UMPRUM) Prague · free
Talent exams/portfolio; free in Czech (Czech ≈B2); English programmes charge fees, not checked * - Brno University of Technology (Faculty of Fine Arts) Brno · free
Talent exams/portfolio; free in Czech (Czech ≈B2); English programmes charge fees, not checked *
Things to know
🪑 Sitting at a computer all day
Similar careers
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