Perfect Family Photos For Cheap
BOSTON (CBS) - You see a picture of a movie star and you know it has probably been retouched, but how about a picture of your neighbor's kids?
Retouching everyday portraits of children is becoming more common due to advanced technology, and it's happening more frequently to younger and younger kids.
Photographer Kara McGinnis works for Lifetouch, a company that offers corrective services to portraits. "The most common request is to remove acne from a child's face or maybe to touch up a scratch that happened the night before," she said.
Other common requests include erasing signs of braces, an accident, or a medical condition like a scar.
"Certainly we've had all kinds of requests for re-touching, people want to change their eye color or their hair color," added McGinnis.
Major retailers like Sears and Wal-Mart are also offering these types of services, as are many portrait studios.
So called "Do-it-Yourselfers" can acquire software for less than $50 which allows them to do it on their home computer.
WBZ-TV's Paula Ebben reports
Are these just harmless changes, or could they carry a heavier consequence? Psychologists say parents need to examine their motives, and think about how their child might interpret these actions.
Psychologist David Walsh, PH.D, believes retouching photos becomes inappropriate when a parent really wants to change the way their child looks.
"There's a temptation to want to have our kids be our report cards and if our kids look like the glamor shot, if they look like the movie start, somehow that makes us feel better," added Walsh.
Walsh believes little changes are probably harmless, but that it is easy to go too far. "The message that's sending to kids is that you are not okay the way you are, we want to change you."
Kara McGinnis says there are limits to what they will do to a photograph. "We want to enhance the portrait itself, yet not change the natural look of the child," she explained.
