To retouch or not to retouch your portrait photograph on your dating profile??  That is the million dollar question and needless to say, both men and women are divided in their opinions about the efficacies on the practice of airbrushing your photo.

On any dating site, it is a common fact that the profiles clicked on and viewed the most are those with photos attached.  Its obvious why! People like to look and no-one can deny that the basic physical attraction to someone plays a huge part in determining the likelihood of any chemistry between a couple. 

For many, first impressions certainly do count and deciding whether to look further at someone’s profile can be determined in a split second after glancing at a photo of your intended date.

Whatever anyone tells you, if you don’t like what you see ‘on the tin’, there are very few people that aren’t superficial enough to think twice before digging a little deeper without being influenced by that profile picture.

So don’t you deserve to make sure you look as presentable as you possibly can?  I’m not talking about posting a photo of yourself that isn’t you or one from 10 years ago in the hope of getting a first date.  But lets be honest, there are ways to work with what you’ve got and after all, isn’t getting to first base more than half the battle?

Find the best, recent picture you can of yourself and invest a few dollars and get it retouched! Simple!!  It doesn’t cost much and just the whole effect of smoothing your skin a little, contrasting the lighting and helping with the basic colour effect can make all the difference between a first date or ….. click, next!!!

One of the most popular free photo editing software programs is Picasa, with the latest version being Picasa 3.8. Thousands of free photo editing software products are available on the Internet but Picasa is ideal for beginners of digital photo editing as it allows you to improve almost any photo or picture to fix issues like red eye, lighting, color, etc.

Several fine tuning tools and special effects facilities are present in Picasa. Moreover, organizing all the photos on your system in seconds is possible with Picasa and other free photo editing software. You can also generate full screen slideshows and create web albums for displaying your contacts, friends, family members and colleagues. You can also publish your favorite photos online with just a click of the mouse. These online photo albums can be shared easily with anyone on the net. This software products also notify you immediately when people termed by you as ‘favorites’ upload their photos on the web so picture sharing becomes a breeze.

Moreover, you can also use these free photo editing software products to design beautiful and creative photo collages and print them. Adding text to photos is another important feature that many have which helps to personalize your images.

Once your picture is edited to your satisfaction, you may have something good enough to put on the mantelpiece!  Based on the type of color printer you have, you can print all your photos at home – though the quality of the prints will vary depending on the quality of your printer and the type of photo paper that you use.  Try to use the best to match your wonderful, newly edited photo!

Nearly all the free photo editing online services provide the basic functions of photo editing. In fact, hundreds of photo editing options exist but most of us will not require the advanced features for standard free photo editing online activities.

The most regular standard photo editing functions that we usually require are

• Restoration. Photographs that are stained, torn, or faded can be made over. Even the photos that had discolored over time due to aging effect or that had become damaged because of incorrect storage can be restored with free photo editing online software.
• Merging Photos and Changing Backgrounds. At times, the photographs might have been great but the background might look dull and boring. It is easily possible to take the images in the photos and set them against appealing backgrounds like beaches or parties. For example, your photo taken inside your bedroom can be transformed, as if you are relaxing on a beach in the Caribbean.
• Makeover and Glamorization. Most people look plain ‘normal’ in their photographs but would like to look glamorous like the famous and popular celebrity models we all see every day. With free photo editing online software, you can create dramatic effects to emulate the looks of the people in the photos by clever and patient retouching.
• Colorization. Old black and white photographs are easily transformed into color photos with free photo editing online software. Such colored photos look as if they had originally been shot in color.  How clever!

And even more features are available in free photo editing online activities that can transform your images if you can use it successfully.  And if you can’t, the safest option is always to use a Professional photo editing service!

As ‘Boudoir Photography’ becomes more and more popular as a gift from new brides to their grooms, it seems that loves young dream are not the only ones posing for saucy images to keep the home fires burning!  The art of tasteful photography, of ladies in sexy lingerie in an intimate setting, seems to be undergoing a complete transformation as studios fill up with bookings from all manner of new clients.

From the weight loss ladies who want to celebrate their new shape and show off their new bodies to their partners, to ladies trying to keep a spark in their relationship, boudoir photographers have never had it so good it seems!

That is according to one Cape Town photographer, namely David Lazarus, who happily accepts requests to take pictures of a whole multitude of women – engaged, married or single.

He openly states that “…..the usual type are single women looking for something to make them feel pretty and good about themselves, and then there are the ones who are about to get married and ones that have long-term boyfriends and want to keep the fires burning.”

He further goes on to suggest that this type of photography is also popular with groups of girls and its totally about women celebrating the beauty of being confidant in their own skin whatever size or shape they may be.

Virtually all images taken in boudoir photography are retouched before presenting the final versions to the client and more often than not, a client will select a chosen number of images and these will be edited to perfection and provide a wonderful memory to both herself and all she chooses to share her wonderful photos with.

It is possible to achieve several useful tasks with free online photo editing facilities.

For example, you might be thinking of building a new house or reconstructing the existing one. The architects might have sent you a blueprint for the new construction or renovation. Instead of asking them to make the various changes that might occur to you from time to time, for which the architects will charge you substantial amounts, you can now use free online photo editing.

With this software, you can make the changes from the original presentation to see how the house may look with different windows or doors etc. When you are finally satisfied with all the aspects of change related to the house, you can submit the final version to your architects. Imagine the surprise on their faces when their original version that they had presented had been altered beyond their own recognition?!

Another major use of free online photo editing is the removal of unwanted or effect-spoiling shadows in the photos. Whether you take your photo in sunlight or use a flash indoors, it is often very difficult to control the lighting, unless you are a real professional photographer. And at times, even the Professionals find it difficult to avoid shady effects completely. With the help of free online photo editing, it is quite easy to brighten up the shady areas or alter them to a level appropriate to the surroundings. The resulting photo will definitely be a stunner.

While thousands of free photo editing software products are available on the Internet, many of them offer only basic editing facilities. These are helpful for beginners in online or offline photo editing but the true professional requires the genuine and best photo editing software around to achieve really spectacular results for their photo editing.

Even many low-cost photo editing software products are not worth the money that you pay for them but as a general rule of thumb, the best photo editing software costs between $50 and $100.

For this, we should first analyze the photo editing capabilities offered by the high quality software. Since the actual features are numerous, it is difficult to compare one product with another; however the following categories of editing facilities usually define the quality of the best:

• Editing
• Importing
• Configuration
• Organization
• Sharing
• Support

Even though the majority of the best photo editing software offers all of these features, you should try as many of them as you can. Most editing software service providers that sell good value software will offer a 15 day free trial.

If you can, try each one and select the one that you are most comfortable with for your photo editing work. One of the most popular photo editing software in recent times is Picasa 3 by Google. However, it is more like a photo library organizer, having more presentation options, and with only limited editing features, but hey, it is free!! 

Probably the best known photo editing software for commercial purposes is Adobe Photoshop CS4 but the costs of full featured package could go up towards £650 – £1,000.

For many people the start of their diet, is triggered by the vision of themselves in a photograph where they really are not looking their best.  Returning from a holiday or flicking through family snaps and catching a glimpse of yourself carrying extra pounds in your swimming costume can often be the catalyst to commencing a weight loss programme to get yourself to the weight you truly want to be.

But embarking on any diet, whether to loose just a couple of pounds or with the idea of shedding a lot more, it can be hard for anyone a few weeks in, especially if you have plateaued or seem to have got a bit stuck.  Enter the latest craze for would be dieters, of getting their ‘fridge photo’ digitally enhanced to show themselves having shed a few pounds in order to incentivise them to reach the next target goal.

For many overweight people, they may not have a slim photo of themselves from a bygone era to aspire to, so they are turning to technology where they can send a photo of themselves to a professional photo editing service and ask for it to undergo a minor (or more drastic) body contouring edit.   This simple service returns them with an image of themselves with maybe slimmer arms, tummy and face and provides them with a lift and spurt of energy to kick start their motivation and remind them why they want to keep going.

Simple, affordable and definitely an innovative way for those weight loss clients to kick start their efforts.

Every edition of every magazine on our shelves now has images inside from cover to cover with photos that have been airbrushed to show models and pictures of people in ‘the best possible’ light.  And whilst we are all so immune to seeing these images everyday all around us, we are led to believe that it’s what we want otherwise these publications just wouldn’t sell.  Really??  No-one would buy them if real people, with real stretch marks, and real spots and bulges of tummy showing signs of one extra slice of pizza for tea ….. we wouldn’t want to see that because? In case it reminded us that they were in fact just like you and me, normal people with regular every day spots and a pound or two heavier than we’d truly like … and not the A-list celebrity that we really believe them to be, perfect in every way???

Reality check needed I think!! I believe that the general public DO want to see real people, ‘just like us’.  Don’t we want to relate to these characters and realise that they are just human and eat and sleep just like us?

What message are we sending out to the younger generations today by bombarding them with this ideal of perfect all around us?  It’s just not sustainable for teenagers to keep growing up in this airbrushed world or artificial celebrities where so much emphasis is placed on appearance. 

I actually believe that all airbrushed images should be noted somewhere on the page to remind us that this is not ‘au naturel’.  There is nothing wrong with looking good but sometimes we loose sight of reality and become so brainwashed by these media images, that feeling inadequate is sadly just the default setting for many these days!

Long live disclosure and honesty.  Let’s see real people and if their images are edited or digitally enhanced, no problem, but at least tell us!

Even the Royals are getting their photos retouched – and there doesn’t get much more of a celebrity stamp of approval than that! Royals definitely count as A-listers!

Last year, Prince William and his fiancée Miss Kate Middleton announced their engagement in December 2010 and it emerged that the official photos of the happy event were retouched with ‘minimal’ alterations made prior to their release!  Well who’d have thought it!  It may only have been adjustments relating to light and contrast balancing but official photographer to the Royal couple, Mario Testino, certainly gave them the once over to make sure they truly looked perfect.

So if it’s good enough for the Royals, surely it’s good for the rest of us?!  But if we aren’t on a right royal budget, is it really affordable for the lady or man on the street? Well it certainly is I am pleased to tell you with colour correction and basic photo edits being available online for less than £1 / $1.50 per image. 

Even more complex edits are much more affordable than many people think and if you remember that once printed, photos often spend many, many years in a frame on the mantle piece in a prime location for all to view,  then surely its worth a one time small investment to ensure you really look the best you can be?

Don’t let the idea that its ‘too expensive’ stop you from using a professional photo editing service as the results far outweigh any minor one off cost you may decide to invest.

Many people think that the only way to remove tattoos is with a laser …. Well in the real world, this may be true but think again!  What if your dad has a big, brightly coloured ‘lady of the sea’ tattooed with his ex girlfriends name emblazoned all over his deltoid muscle and you really don’t want it showing in every photo ever snapped?!!  Image retouching can be another solution!

Thankfully photo editing services are now easily accessible to everybody and no one has to get pictures framed for the mantelpiece with unsightly tattoos from a time gone by, long after you have out grown that phase.  Just send in your image and let them know what you want removing and the tattoo can be gone in a click!

If you have a CV to compile and a spiders web tattoo is craftily sneaking out over your collar in your portrait photo, take the initiative to get it airbrushed out professionally so your first impression really hits the mark.  Don’t let people make decisions based on your appearance without giving them a chance to meet you!

Maybe photos of the family for the Christmas calendar are needed and your oldest teenage daughter has her latest heart and star showing up right where grandma doesn’t want to see it?  Take the time to get it digitally removed before sending it to the printers and everyone will be happy!  So much easier than insisting on the laser approach, not to mention cheaper and completely pain free!