Also called: Retouching Artist, Digital Imaging Specialist
Perfects photos for ads, magazines, and online stores.
You clean up a perfume bottle's reflections, smooth wrinkles in a fashion shoot, and make 200 product photos match perfectly.
Estimate.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Certificate, about 1 year after high school. Certificate or associate; Photoshop mastery.
Ways in: Certification, Self-taught, 2-year college. Training cost: Under $15k.
Majors to look at: Photography, Digital Imaging.
Shrinking. Declining.
High risk for 10 years. AI editing tools now handle most cleanup, skin smoothing and batch color-matching, so retouching jobs are falling.
Classes: Photography, Digital media, Art and design.
Official data: O*NET occupation 27-4021.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.