Jim's Marketing Blog - Latest Comments in Twitter photo shock from PhotoShop

Re: Twitter photo shock from PhotoShop

James — Mon, 04 May 2009 10:38:09 -0000

Maybe I am just trolling, but it really irks me when people break up the word 'Photoshop' as 'Photo Shop,' 'PhotoShop,' et al. The application name on my dock is 'Adobe Photoshop CS4.' One word.

Re: Twitter photo shock from PhotoShop

Pariss Hardy — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 11:09:06 -0000

I know this may be a little off topic ... while reading this blog I caught jim mentioning "They need to believe we will deliver on the service we promise or that the product we supply really will do whatever we claim it will."

While I am not self-employed, my mind-set isn't any different than if I were self-employed. That I give my all to the job so that hopefully by the time it reaches the client, their expectations have been exceeded and this encourages returning clientele. Now that is my mind-set, but throughout the years I have observed at work that most fellow workers work grudgingly, always critical, nagging that this isn't right, that isn't right and how can they possibly do their job when the customer hasn't done this or that. Like the customer is a real obstacle/problem to them!

Why is it that when we purchase something, we "expect" value for our money, but when the roles are reversed, and now here we are the ones offering a service, the mentality becomes the opposite? This is the one draw back to being employed by others I think anyways. We tend to turn off something in our brains when it is our turn to return the favour we expect others to do for us when we part with our money in return for a service or product.

Go figure.

Re: Twitter photo shock from PhotoShop

Annabel — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 08:56:36 -0000

Interesting. I have never liked any photos of me - professional or otherwise. They are definitely not glamorous or flattering. I do find it helpful to haver reasonably up to date photos on my web and to find my contacts' up to date photos so we can meet. So the totally out of date photo does not help, but beyond that I build my trust levels on someone's actions - whatever the packaging or the words, it is what someone does that indicates to me what they are like!

Re: Twitter photo shock from PhotoShop

James Lawson-Smith — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 06:07:08 -0000

I think it would be a complete deal breaker for me. It is a bit like the Trades Descriptions Act, if we started touching up product photos so they looked more than they are then we would start getting law suites.

Yes a little bit of touching up is ok, I admit I have done it with mine. But digital cosmetic surgery is just a bit to far and would completely break any trust built up if it happened to me.

Re: Twitter photo shock from PhotoShop

Aliza Sherman — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:31:38 -0000

Come ON people! This is not DATING. I don't think it is deceitful for someone to PhotoShop the heck out of their avatar, use a cartoon instead of a photo, or use a pic of a side of beef.

If you are meeting someone from Twitter on a professional basis, it is common practice to ask "what do you look like?" or "what will you be wearing?" Or even "Can I find you based on your Twitter avatar?"

Forming a business opinion about a Twitterfriend based solely on their avatar "looks," airbrushed or not, is superficial and I feel quite inappropriate.

I totally am for trust and there are many slippery slopes building trusted online business relationships. But "trusting" someone or not because of the avatar they are using is simply not smart business.

Personally, I think a 50-something guy touching up his avatar to look 25-something is akin to the 50-something who pulls up to the Starbucks in a flashy Corvette. I'll recognize the mid-life crisis moment but certainly won't hold it against him in business.

Re: Twitter photo shock from PhotoShop

Kate — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 10:26:10 -0000

Such a thought provoking post! It does beg the question of whether or not people who choose to portray themselves through excessively photoshopped photos should be trusted.

I agree with what many others have said that small alterations (blemishes, flyaways, etc) are acceptable. However, I would think twice about someone who had no problem using massive changes to portray themselves. It strikes me as deceptive. If the individual has no problem being deceptive with their avatar, where else will they have no problem using deception?

I guess this is just another example of where we need to be cautious online. How you choose to portray yourself may have consequences you didn't anticipate.

Re: Twitter photo shock from PhotoShop

Successful Home Business — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 08:42:03 -0000

Photo doctoring has been going on for some time even before the great photoshop. It is just become easier now with this software.

Personally, I think cleaning up blemishes, brightening, and such are perfectly fine. However, I have not done that personally. I can understand why some would.

Of course, I think that it is out of the question for one to heavily doctor into another person entirely or take off 25 years. It certainly hurts your credibility if discovered like in this case.

Unfortunately, this goes on very frequently online. Many are never discovered because they don't ever put themselves in a place to meet any of their "customers" offline.

Personally, I think that it is great to get an opportunity to meet any of your customers or followers in an offline setting. It really takes the connection to the next level creating more trust and loyalty.

To Success,

Joseph Parton

Re: Twitter photo shock from PhotoShop

Deidre — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:02:07 -0000

Authors have been doing this for years, I've seen book jacket photos in use for 20 years or more. It never made me think less of an author when I saw the more wrinkled and aged visage at a reading It just seems a touch of vanity, nothing more. It's one thing to misrepresent yourself in a dating profile in your resume photo or something similar but avatars seem to me to be playful by nature and subject to different rules.

Re: Twitter photo shock from PhotoShop

Smartipants — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:48:15 -0000

Great, thought-provoking topic IF you plan to meet someone in person. All of my avatars are either baby photos, illustrations, or slightly Photoshopped (a few wrinkles removed here and there). My profiles are honest about my age, so if we expect to meet and you think a 1-year-old is coming, maybe you'd better not take my avatars too seriously! LOL

Re: Twitter photo shock from PhotoShop

Syyd — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:20:02 -0000

Say, what do we do when we can no longer photoshop? You now, when "age" old reality sets in? :-)))

Re: Twitter photo shock from PhotoShop

PG — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:12:01 -0000

I wonder why your friend didn't find out how old the person was or anything else about him physically before agreeing to meet. It's one thing to broadcast a certain false image of yourself on-line, it's totally another to outright lie to someone you'd like to get to know. I'm not condoning his PhotoShopping tendencies, but it seems to me that an important issue is that your friend didn't really get to know her twitter friend very well before setting up this meeting. I am assuming that her friend didn't deliberately mislead her by giving her false information; she just *assumed* his age and looks based upon his pictures on twitter.

Re: Twitter photo shock from PhotoShop

DJ @ Fermentarium — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:10:20 -0000

That explains alot. I should have used a photoshopped picture instead of my real face!!

LOL!

Re: Twitter photo shock from PhotoShop

Jordan Pearce — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:07:20 -0000

People are shocked to find that I really am a Yahoo! Avatar in real life too. They can't miss me at the Starbucks. :)

Is it strange that my avatar wears sunglasses to remain incognito?

Re: Twitter photo shock from PhotoShop

Jeremy Tanner — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:38:31 -0000

For me, it's not even a trust issue. The main point of having a picture up on twitter or my blog is so that people can see exactly what I look like. I'd much rather use a mugshot that allows me to be easily identified in person than an image that's been so heavily photoshopped I look better than Denzel Washington.

Jeremy

Re: Twitter photo shock from PhotoShop

Healthy Beauty Secrets — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:34:11 -0000

I believe in the principle, "Who you are is more important than who you appear to be." I personally would have been scared and ended the meeting right away.

Re: Twitter photo shock from PhotoShop

WhenIGrowUpCoach — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:31:40 -0000

As an actress, I see this all the time with headshots. Some headshot photographers pride themselves on making the person not only look their best - but to make them look like someone they're not! I purposely stay away from photographers whose books are composed of nothing but "supermodel" shots.

Whether it's a headshot for acting or a publicity shot for a business, your photo should look like you - now! - on a good day.

Re: Twitter photo shock from PhotoShop

matthew Pollock — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 09:54:25 -0000

Ironic, after a year+ I recently updated my Twitter image. I had a picture of me from a 70s party. Leather cap and mustache. Always wondered when people who I had not met in real life saw the image whet they thought. Now I know.

Re: Twitter photo shock from PhotoShop

Claire — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 09:50:16 -0000

Don't know that it adds to the story, but I have had the experience of not being recognized from a work website photo(since then the picture has been changed). I was meeting someone (without benefit of having seen any picture)at the request of a friend. I stared at one guy several times who appeared to be the only single male who looked as if they were waiting. Finally I asked if he was the person I was waiting for. He told me I looked nothing like my website picture (which at the time was probably from 2003, on a day that I got up at 4:30 am to go to Western MA for an offsite, where we had a photo shoot). I remember that the picture was "shiny." Beyond that I don't know what to say. My hair goes from long to short, my weight goes up and down. So hard to keep up to date with pictures. But I had no intent to "hide." (I'm 48 and (until recently) always wanted to look older - in pics I tend to look much younger than I am - maybe I look tired in person...). I'm not updating my twitter pic until I shed those holiday pounds...:)

Re: Twitter photo shock from PhotoShop

Amanda — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 09:32:22 -0000

I really really dislike photoshop of people. It just makes me so mad. ;o(
this story is typical though of this new photoshopped society we have here. It's all so fake seeking perfection like this. Young women and men are going out and cutting themselves up trying to emulate the perfect they see on magazine and screen. They never will and never can and its immoral and tasteless
There. Sorry *off my block now*

Re: Twitter photo shock from PhotoShop

Alexander Kintis — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 09:29:14 -0000

You think that's bad, have you seen the youtube videos for how many advertisement models are enhanced via photoshop?

Re: Twitter photo shock from PhotoShop

Chrissy Morin — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 09:22:53 -0000

This was a really funny post but one that I can relate to only not in business, that seems CRAZY! I do admit to choosing my 'best' photo's that look like me.. but they DO look like me! It was a regular occurrence with online first meeting "dates". They would be either older, LESS hair, Not "athletic and fit" like advertised and it did immediately give them a black eye. I think that would be even more so if you were planning on handing over some of your hard earned $$.

Re: Twitter photo shock from PhotoShop

kelly — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 09:17:53 -0000

Great article cos it got me thinking!

Having a pic photoshopped so the person looks 25 years younger may be "too much", but would one have made fuss around one who's gone for cosmetic surgery to make himself look 23 to 40 years younger?

That is a good question about trust, although: I thought it is common sense to expect people to use already-photoshopped pictures of themselves and especially by a designer.

On the flip side, this designer shoulda warned that he didn't look close to the pics he had on his site, blah blah and that they were photoshopped.

If people didn't like who or what they see, they can't blame the person for not saying so in the first place. Blatant honesty is always good!

Re: Twitter photo shock from PhotoShop

ClaudiaBroome — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 16:45:49 -0000

Too funny! I had a blind date once who sent a picture so I would know him. He didn't look at all the same. Needless to say,I never went out with him after that first deception.

Re: Twitter photo shock from PhotoShop

Vandy — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 10:19:20 -0000

Having an annual photo session is definitely a challenge for the 'photo-phobic'(as so many of us are). I guess we tend to find one that works for us and stick with it. But your article raises a really good point - its just not worth compromising trust for the sake of vanity.

Re: Twitter photo shock from PhotoShop

Linda Carruth — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 13:34:45 -0000

The easiest thing is to just use an older picture. I think most of the people who use Photoshop to retouch their own pics are just demonstrating that they *don't have* any Photoshop skills. Most self-taught Photoshoppers don't.