Where's A good place to work in New York?

[Johnny retouch]

I may be looking for work as a retoucher in the New York, Long Island area. I have about 4 years experience on Photoshop. What kind of salary can I expect? Thank you.

[Fostercat]

Google will give you the places. Be realistic. Your 4 years experience will amount to about 4 months of experience. You need specific, real world magazine and ad agency retouching experience. You won't be able to pick "a good place". You need to get lucky and find somewhere where you can be the intern. Yeah, unfortunately it's true. Any retouching nowadays is done at the real level. There is no lower to middle ground. My mom can do what most people on this board can do and everyone overestimates their ability. Also, it's not about how many years you've used Photoshop or what skills you might have. You need to be embedded in a high end environment, be insanely diligent and log as many hours as you can - learn from those around you. Everyone has the mistaken assumption that "I can do it. Look!" - there is way more than you can imagine to this job - a large background, not just Photoshop techniques. If you really want it, you can spend a year or two busting your butt where someone will be willing to pay you something. If you're really lucky, you might get some sort of paid gig at the outset, but the place you get that job won't be all that educational for you. Plan to move on when you've mastered what there is to learn at wherever you end up. The more hours you've logged in a real environment the better. After 2 years you might get $60k. Keep it in mind as your travel time and costs from LI will need to be considered.

[Johnny retouch]

Thanks for the insightful letter into the retouching industry of today. I know I didn't mention it in my question, but I did work as a commercial retoucher and illustrator for 30 years, working with the airbrush on reflective art. I was good at that, but I didn't get into photoshop till I was almost 50. Your right about taking the travel time and costs into consideration, when looking for a job in the city. Do you know what starting salary I could expect for an entry position? I do work for portrait photographers on Long Island. If I can't make enough in the city, I'll just continue working out of my home. Maybe I can just pick up more local work. I am 55 years old, with a daughter in college. Thanks again for getting back to me and good luck in your retouching career.

[Little Fisher]

I know this post is old... but have you tried ecommerce yet? You may need experience in ad agencies and magazines to get the big bucks, but you can get your foot in the door with any dot com. The pay is lower for retail ecommerce, but it's a start. Also, a lot of imagery coming out on the internet is becoming more interesting to work on, and the internet is always growing, always needing imagery. You sound like you already have a lot of life experience, and I'd like to be positive and say "you can do it". And you can, if you learn from those around while applying what you already know to it. If you have artistic talent, you can do it faster than those who don't.

LF