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How to put your best pic forward

WENCY LEUNG

From Thursday's Globe and Mail

Latest comment posted at 2:30 PM EDT 19/05/08

A growing number of users are turning to professional retouching services to polish their online images ...Read the full article

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  1. Mitch Sprague from Ottawa, Canada writes: I think its a good idea. You want to look your best when your photos are displayed on Myspace or Facebook. Everyone knows how important that is.
  2. Craig Bryant from Toronto, Canada writes: I can't believe how lame and vain you must have to be to use this service. Look at magazines these days. The models don't even look real. Ultra white teeth, "perfect" skin, the "perfect" body. Its these kind of touch-ups in every day media that are giving everyone a complex because of their perceived imperfections. And now there is a company cashing-in on these insecurities.

    If you want to stand out from the crowd, why not take a photo of yourself with interesting perspective or backdrop? Or find a friend who can draw a sketch of you. Use your creativity... not your insecurity to show who you ~really~ are. Don't pay someone to create a phony, touched-up version of yourself.

    Lame lame lame.
  3. Hornsworth Portswiler from adanac, Canada writes: I guess it's a hookup site for some, probably those less than 20 years old, but out of the hundreds of friends I have, and from what I've seen of their friends, I've never seen anyone say "we met on facebook." In fact it's a bad idea to use it for hooking up, because if something goes wrong you're suddenly in a big fishbowl. Everyone I know who uses facebook uses it for social organizing and tracking people you're sorta interested in, but not enough to meet up. Which I think is perfectly valid, though I can't wait for a more open social site to come along.

    As for the topic, most pics on facebook are small, and you can always blur or apply a filter, but completely changing what you really look like is counterproductive. If you're really active on the site, someone is going to post a picture that includes you, possibly when you're drunk, or at least when you're not posing (hopefully!) so you're own face pic is the best way to introduce yourself realistically.
  4. Hornsworth Portswiler from adanac, Canada writes: YOUR own face pic.
  5. Dan Shortt from Toronto, Canada writes: This article basically stands as an advertisement for internet-based photo re-touching services.

    It should be labelled as such, instead of pretending to be "news."

    As for those who find it necessary to present false images of themselves to the rest of the world, well .... they must feel awfully bad about who they really are.
  6. Craig Cooper from Toronto, writes: facebook is just sad.

    get a real life, instead.
  7. Antonio San from Canada writes: Fesse book... let's retouch, again and again... LOL
  8. Sue City from Canada writes: Ugh... if people put as much effort into their personality as they do their looks, the world would be a better place. And maybe they wouldn't need online sources to get a date.
  9. Albin Forone from Canada writes: Everyone interested in computer retouch should take advantage of the tongue-in-cheek Photoshop tutorial recently reviewed in Time Magazine - the following link works better than the YouTube alternative for some reason:

    http://www.mydamnchannel.com/BigFatBrain/YouSuckatPhotoshop/YouSuckatPhotoshop1398.aspx
  10. james p from Canada writes: gotta love Fakebook.
  11. Ryan Ginger from Ottawa, Canada writes: Kimberly Talley, I don't think it's those cute freckles on your cheeks that men will notice! A-hoo-ga! [insert 1930s car horn sound here]
  12. Darphin Cofa from Canada writes: Ya that will work, until someone tags an unretouched photo of her!
  13. Phil G from Ottawa, Canada writes: It's called "Internet disease". http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/Internet_disease
  14. R Haworth from Canada writes: Why not just use a photo of yourself when younger and thinner??? I have thought of doing that, but then when a person who saw it meets the real me they might faint in horror. ;-)

    Another thing... In the print edition, in the retouched photo the woman's skin was bright orange. I find the entire article extremely peculiar... it must have been a REALLY slow news day.
  15. charlie bistro from Toronto, Canada writes: 700$ for Facebook photos? and we wonder why the US is going broke. spend spend spend
  16. Radcliffe Robinson from Toronto, Canada writes: The legal term for this misrepresentation.
  17. Popeye Dillon from North Vancouver, Canada writes: As long as I don't have to use my passport photo!
  18. Keiffer Michaels from Toronto, Canada writes: You forgot to mention that there is a Toronto-based company providing this service as well. They have a cool image gallery of before and after photos as well. Their pricing is $7 for 3-day turnaround, and $10 for same day delivery by email.

    http://www.MakeMeLookHot.com
  19. Kimberly Talley from Los Angeles, United States writes: I have read the comments and since its me in the photo, I feel compelled to respond. I am not in FACEbook and have not spent $700 on Facebook photos. I have one picture on Myspace and I am not on that site for dating. What the article failed to tell you is the real use of the picwash.com service is to improve photos not enhance them-- which is why I use it (by the way photography is my hobby). I had a great picture of my best friend who died, but her eyes were closed. Picwash was able to open her eyes in the photo. They also fixed pictures of my mom who passed away. If the lighting off (too dark) or the coloring is off of a group shot, they can fix it. They also digitally restore old photos. I thought I was being interviewed to promote the service--and it is a great service! It's not about vanity--it is about turning an ordinary photo into a professional looking shot. The comments quoted from me were just about why I did that to the myspace photo--not my other photos.

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