Hey guys, I've been wondering - what level of education you all have? self taught, diploma, certificate, AAS, or BA (or the equivalent of)

I have a BFA in advertising photography, but my retouching is mostly self taught.  I started doing independent studies in college for post-production because they weren't really teaching it besides the basics (color correction, print preparation, blemish removal, etc.), so I started with guided self teaching.  I currently do primarily commercial (portraiture and architecture), bulk work, and restoration, not high fashion if that matters to you.  I'm only now transitioning into beauty and fashion freelancing, besides what I've done for my own photographic work in the past, and those techniques are entirely self taught. 

Sorry for the convoluted answer, but a simple "I have a BFA" didn't seem to tell the story accurately.

Thank you very much - I'm actually glad you gave such a detailed explanation, so thank you for taking the time doing it

I have a degree in electrical engineering and computer science  ) nothing related with retouch maybe the webdesign seminars .

I'm self taught as a retoucher.  I took a couple of workshops on Photoshop with Photoshop gurus, but those were a waste of my money, as all they taught were the basics that they teach at any Junior Collage, such as Brighten, Contrast, Hue, Saturation, etc.  They never teach you their real retouching secrets.

Believe it or not, some of the my best skills, I learned from watching Youtube tutorials.  After that, it's just a matter of practicing and coming up with a style you like.

No retouching diploma

I've taken one course at my community college which covered the basics and was really helpful to start me out and that's it, the rest I've learned on my own.  I did go to RIT for a semester but at that point I realized I already knew everything they had to teach about retouching which is part of the reason I dropped out :p

My professional education was on film and it really wasn't all that long ago.  Photography and retouching has changed a lot in a short time.

Laura Bello - My degree is from RIT.  Small world.    You're right.  They didn't teach much about retouching.  You had to really dig for it.  I decided I wanted to go post production rather than shooting rather late in my education, so I stuck it out and found what I could.

Susan Lakin teaches/taught an amazing class about philosophy and ethics and the basics of skin retouching and Patti Russotti in the print (I think?) department is a guru if you do independent study with her.  Beyond that, it's mostly a lot of print and color correction with some light compositing that they teach by default.  I think they've added a post production program since I attended, however.  I graduated in 2006.  I can't speak to the quality and like I said, I know you can self teach from experience.

I do advocate some of the advantages of university besides straight technique training, but those have to be weighed against the astronomical cost.

I was basically self taught, books and magazines until I landed a job as the assistant darkroom man at my local newspaper. We had a staff of excellent award winning photographers, one went on to Life Magazine, another to National Geographic, and it was like getting a free all expenses paid scholarship to study photojournalism. Every one was extremely helpful and I got tons of on the job training, finally becoming a staff photographer.
I still read a lot about new techniques, especially relating to Photoshop, and have looked at a LOT of photographs dating from the Civil War up to the present. I feel that some of the best education comes from looking at great photography and getting a feeling for what makes a good picture.
The technical is important but the artistic is most important. I don't know how many pictures I have seen that meet all the "technical" guidelines; rule of thirds, tonality, composition, etc.) that have just been boring photos. If the soul is in the shot, some of the technical points can be slightly off and it won't matter. A photograph must reach out and grab the viewer to make it worthwhile.
When I made the switch to digital, I was able to find a adult school that had some excellent Photoshop instructors, including one award winning instructor. I started with basic Photoshop but went on to several Cosmetic Surgery classes where I learned how to retouch, but more importantly how much to retouch. I am a photographer not a graphic artist, so I like to keep my retouching reasonable.

I'm a theatre school drop-out musician turned coffee shop owner, turned graphic designer, turned photo retoucher.

Danny

thank you so much everyone!

I have a certificate as graphic designer, specialized in 3D.
But I'm a self-taught retoucher.