So, are you saying that you feel it's extremely rude and offensive for someone who doesn't know you to tell you that you're wrong? And you feel like your response was of equal rudeness to hers?

Like I said, I'm not challenging in any way, I just am genuinly curious as to the answers.

Here's my quick and dirty attempt. (Photoshop <2 mins.) I made her look pretty fake. It would take a lot of time to rid her of blemishes while still retaining the little subtleties that make her look "real."

I love your quote, bmgb!

What steps did you use on your image?

I'd hit it.;)

Yeah, but what do you think her price point is?

The quote is an old favorite of mine. :)

I used the "smart blur" on the photo a couple times. Then I took the blur tool and blurred out the very few little pitted areas that were left.

I guessed wrong. I was thinking that you had used gaussian blur then unsharp mask.

That'd be the motherboard, Bob. They estimate 2 weeks repair. So hold your horses.

I've been over this. I intentionally used qualifiers to clarify what I meant. She implied I was lying and/or ignorant of photo manipulation without bothering to ask what my qualifications were (or whether or not iPhoto could actually do that). It is typical of a "better than you" attitude that is prevalent online. When I see it, and I am capable of acting in the same manner, I do.

My response was undoubtedly more rude than hers. This is called <b>escalation</b>. My first two posts on the thread weren't rude at all; then she escalated, and I further escalated. It's kinda like, when you're standing there, minding your business, and some asshole punches you in the face. So you punch them back, even harder, hoping to get them thinking "Hey, being an asshole to this asshole isn't really worth my time."

I see. So you're being mean in order to convince people to be nice to you.

This may sound like an odd comment, but I really do find that to be a fascinating interpersonal strategy. And I don't mean that sarcastically at all.

Why can't we all just get along?

Too bad about your motherboard dave, convenient for you too.

Pretty inconvenient, actually, since I do just about everything on that machine. It started acting up on Friday and totally went out on Sunday. (And I even have two eye-witnesses!)

Annie, I'm sure you can do much better without the 20 second constraint, but you made that chick look like Michael Jackson!

And this retouching guy may be a digital photo whiz, but a web designer he ain't. Good God, I can't possibly think of a more annoying background image than that on his homepage.

And animated backgrounds are just plain evil, folks.

OMG! You're right!

I'm used to working in newsprint and compensating for a minimum of 25% press gain, but still it's no excuse for making the poor woman look like the "King of Plop" :eek:

(I also thought she ended up a little like Delta Burke, personally, but "overdoing" things is one of my weaknesses.)