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VANCOUVER — Most people choose only their most flattering photos for their MySpace or Facebook profiles, but Kim Talley goes one step further.
Before posting images of herself online, the 43-year-old Los Angeles attorney has them professionally retouched to eliminate moles, freckles and double chins.
Her MySpace profile picture has been digitally enhanced to whiten her teeth, smooth out her complexion and erase fine lines.
"It's the first picture that someone's going to see [of me online]," Ms. Talley said. "I'm putting my best self forward."
Before posting images of herself online, Kimberly Talley has them professionally retouched. The bottom photo has been digitally enhanced to whiten her teeth, smooth out her complexion and erase fine lines.
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Ms. Talley said her friends tease her about her vanity. But as social-networking and photo-sharing sites have become prevalent, a growing number of users are turning to professional Internet-based retouching services, such as PicWash, fotofix and FixMyPhotos to polish their online images.
Whether the touch-ups enhance or deceive, however, lies in the eye of the beholder.
"Photos are shared more than ever," said Daniel Ciraldo, founder of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based PicWash. "If you share your photo with 10 of your friends, they might share that with 10 of their friends."
And many people see each other more often through the Internet than they do in real life, he added.
Mr. Ciraldo, 24, said he got the idea to create his company from watching his teenaged sisters retouch their own photos with graphics software before posting them on their Facebook and MySpace pages.
But the results looked amateur and artificial.
Sensing there was a market for a more professional touch, he brought together a group of graphic designers and launched PicWash last August.
Customers submit their digital images and the designers retouch them to specifications. Already, he said, his company has several thousand users worldwide.
Austin, Tex.-based fotofix opened its service to Canadian subscribers earlier this year, company partner Jessica Mitchell said. Her company receives 200 to 500 customer inquiries a day, and about 20 per cent of its business comes from people wanting to touch up their social-networking photos. (Other requests include photos for personal albums, photo restoration and commercial work.)
"I think everyone knows that models on the cover of Glamour or Vogue are retouched," Ms. Mitchell, 26, said. Online services like hers, she said, allow the average person to achieve celebrity-like perfection for a small fee.
Services generally charge from about $1 (U.S.) a photo for minimal adjustments to more than $10 for full digital makeovers.
"Personally, there isn't a single picture that isn't retouched out there of me," Ms. Mitchell said, adding that digital alterations need not be extreme. "I think people think that they're going to turn out a totally different person, which isn't the case. ... It's basically making them look how they look at their best."
Mr. Ciraldo said he initially expected most of his clients would be young women like his sisters. But he soon found his company attracted both men and women, ranging from their early 20s to their 60s.
Some of the most common touch-up procedures include eliminating red-eye, reducing shine, evening skin tone, zapping zits, whitening teeth, erasing wrinkles and minimizing double chins. Cropping exes out of shots is also a frequent request.
And due to popular demand, PicWash is launching a "slimming" service this summer that will eradicate love handles and blast away belly flab.
One niche market is people who want to enhance their photos for their Internet dating-service profiles.
"There is somewhat of a controversial angle to that. People say, 'Hmm, I don't know if that's the most honest thing to do,' " Mr. Ciraldo said.
He noted that most of his customers don't divulge the fact their photos have been retouched.
Kim Hughes, editor-in-chief of the online dating site Lavalife in Toronto, said she discourages people from posting pictures of themselves that have been manipulated in any way, likening the practice to false advertising.
"Of course it might make you more attractive to a potential online dater, but unless you always want to keep a relationship in cyberspace, sooner or later you have to meet this person, right?" she said.
But Ms. Talley said she uses PicWash for her own vanity, rather than to deceive others.
She estimates she has spent more than $700 on the service over the past few months. But there is a line she won't cross - she wants to look beautiful, not unrecognizable, she said.
And she has no reservations about telling others that her photos are retouched.
"People who are close to you don't care. They accept you for who you are," she said.
Yet, she noted, it's only natural to want to look good. "Everybody wants a pretty picture."
What the experts think
How does online retouching measure up? Kim Talley spent from $7 (U.S) to $10 to have PicWash touch up each of her photos. Industry experts weigh in on the results:
"They look good. ... They're definitely cleaned up. However, they've taken out some of the character. She has freckles and they're cute. I like her freckles. ....I know that professional industry photographers spend hours and hours [on retouching] and it costs quite a bit of money to do, so I think that's probably a reasonably good deal."
- Carmen Vars, Vancouver
modelling agent for John
Casablancas International
Model Management
"I think the obvious thing that makes it look retouched for me is the almost Plasticine or clay look to [the skin]. ... When I'm doing retouching, if it's a close-up, I still like to keep the pores and the texture of the skin there. Warmer tones are always more attractive, so if they make it a little bit more orangey - and a lot of magazines do the same thing - it just makes the person look healthier. "
- Trevor Brady, Vancouver fashion and advertising photographer
"One of the things we do in a professional industry like publishing, we certainly get rid of some flaws, like acne, dirty nails or yellow teeth or very thin facial hair. However, I am totally against getting rid of what makes us unique - moles, freckles, crooked noses, the gap between our teeth, etc. ... I think $7 to $10 is not bad, but I really don't want to look that fake. What gives it away is the lack of texture on her face, and the whites in her eyes are as white as hard-boiled eggs."
- Beatriz Juarez, art director
for Elle Canada magazine
Wency Leung
