The Times Online has a story today about how people are increasingly getting their holiday photos airbrushed and retouched, at significant cost. One photography chain in Britain has seen a 550% increase in people requesting photo retouching in the past year.

This is probably largely due to the popularity of posting your photos on Myspace and Facebook.

David Lewis, a psychologist and the author of Loving and Loathing: the Enigma of Personal Attraction, said: “There are very few people who are not vain to some extent and we are increasingly using vision to estimate someone’s true worth. People are now acting as their own PR agents to put a spin on their looks.

“It’s usually harmless, but the problem can come when reality meets the image.”

See the story and a 'before and after' airbrushed beach bikini photo here.

The airbrushed photo above is by Fraser Stephen