One of the questions we ask our candidates who apply for membership of the RICS is whether you should re-touch a photograph on a set of sales particulars.

It’s a tough question as we are so used to having photo-shopped images now that putting a bit of blue in the sky can’t do harm – can it? We have to tread carefully around the Property Misdescription Act 1991. The safe answer is to say you wouldn’t alter the sky – although I think there is some room to argue the point. Clearly you can’t remove telegraph poles and pylons – you are then in deep water!

But you do wonder when you look at magazine covers – especially at models – as to how far they are prepared to go. Removing blemishes is the norm – in fact you can buy specialist software to do it. It can even make you lose weight.

The photo in todays blog comes from a magazine – which looks pretty good. Sporty and active spring to mind. It’s a bit flat – the light must have been a bit grey – but this gives accurate colours. There is an issue with the picture though. I have shown a number of people and it takes a few seconds to spot the photo-shop error…

You can deny all you like that your picture has been tweaked – but sometimes you may have been caught red-handed!