How did you find your way into retouching, and what has kept you in it?

My path into retouching was a bit of a happy accident. I was working as an IT seller in 2005 and somehow just became the go-to person whenever there was an image problem to fix. I quickly realised that retouching scratched a very specific itch - it requires both intense technical precision and genuine artistic intuition at the same time. From there, I spent almost a year working in a typography studio before joining the Glamour Romania team, and things took shape from there.

What has kept me at the tablet for 20 years is the flow state of the work. Every single image is a new puzzle. Even after all this time, there is a quiet, specific satisfaction in taking a raw file, untangling its visual problems, and polishing it into something truly finished.

And then there's the constant evolution. The tools have changed beyond recognition - from the early days of Photoshop to the AI integrations we have now - but the core challenge has never changed: how do you take a great image and make it unforgettable while keeping the human touch? That puzzle is just as addictive today as it was 20 years ago.

How long have you been working in the industry, and what phase of your career are you in now?

Almost 20 years professionally. And despite that timeline, I feel like I am in an actively adaptive, future-focused phase right now - combining a trained, classical eye with the newest and fastest tools available to push the boundaries of what we can create.

What kinds of projects or environments have shaped your standards the most?

Being in the industry for this long means my standards were shaped by having to do things manually before one-click tools and AI existed. Working on complex compositing and colour-grading projects a decade ago - for magazines like GQ, Glamour, InStyle, and Playboy - required a deep, fundamental understanding of how light, shadow, and anatomy actually work.

Because I had to learn to rebuild textures and match lighting entirely by hand, my standard for realism is high. Even when I use today's advanced tools to speed up my workflow, my eye still judges the result based on those strict, classic fundamentals. The tools have changed. The standard hasn't.

What made you want to be part of the Retoucher of the Year jury?

Mainly because retouching is such an invisible art form. If we do our jobs right, nobody knows we did anything - and that invisibility can lead to the craft being seriously undervalued. I felt it was important to support a platform that actively celebrates the artists behind the images.

On top of that, retouching can be solitary work. This felt like a perfect opportunity to connect with the community, get inspired, and keep learning from peers I might never otherwise have crossed paths with.

When you open a new file, what do you look at first before touching anything?

The image directly alongside the creative brief, always. Before I touch anything, I need to know the end goal. What is this image selling? Is it about the texture of skin, the drape of fabric, or the mood of an environment? Where will it live - on a massive billboard or a digital social campaign?

I look at how far the raw capture is from the client's final vision, and I identify any major problem areas that might need compositing or extra time. I never start working until I have a clear roadmap of how to get from point A to point B.

What do you think this industry needs more of right now?

Restraint, authenticity, and human intent. In an era where AI and automated filters can produce technically flawless images in seconds, we are being inundated with hyper-processed, generic visuals. What's getting lost is nuance - the natural texture of skin, the realistic physics of light, the emotion that makes an image actually mean something.

Software can make an image smooth. But it takes an experienced artist to know when to stop. The industry needs retouchers who bring taste and emotional intelligence to the work, not just automated execution.

A final note from us

Marius has something that can't be shortcutted or downloaded - twenty years of looking at images and knowing, on an instinctive level, when something is right and when it isn't. His belief that taste and restraint are what the industry needs most right now is a perspective that feels increasingly important, and one we're glad to have represented on this jury.

We are thrilled to welcome Marius Tatu as a member of the jury for Retoucher of the Year.

About Marius Tatu

Country: Romania

Years in the Industry: 20

Primary Specialization: High-End Retouching

Main Expertise: Product, Beauty, Editorial, Lifestyle, Print Retouching in RGB and CMYK, Furniture and Ambient Compositing

Instagram: @mariustatu_

Behance: behance.net/mariustatu

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/marius-tatu-a441b69a