Average Folks Get Into the Photoshop Game

Red-eye removal and cameras that make you "slimmer"... there's only so much that technology can do to improve your pictures without human intervention. Most of us just slap the unedited pics on our Facebook and MySpace pages and live with the embarrassment of the extra pounds and the half-shut eyelids.

Writer Bryony Gordon notes, though, that photoshopping has now reached a stage where it's in reach of everyone. Want your body shot slimmed down, your hair gussied up, and your overall look sexed up considerably? Just send your shot off to an airbrushing service like Snappy Snaps: They'll turn you into a magazine-ready superstar for 20 bucks. You can check out Gordon's own experiment by clicking through to the above-linked article. She's fetching to start with, but the airbrushed version is a striking difference (though I'm not sure why they made her left arm longer than her right).

Retouching services are widely available everywhere. A quick survey of Craigslist turns up dozens of people offering Photoshop work for just a few bucks per shot in San Francisco alone.

The mainstreaming of photo retouching brings about some curious sociological ramifications. How do online interactions, be they dating services, apartment rental listings, or someone's vacation-on-the-beach photos, change in the wake of ubiquitous Photoshop work? Is it dishonest to alter the photo you attach to an online resume or a page outlining your achievements? How about the house you're trying to sell? When does retouching go to far? Judging by today's magazine covers, there may be no such thing.

LINK: My brush with absolute perfection