First, there was Vaseline on the camera lens.

Next up was rose-colored lighting, shooting through pantyhose, and soft focus.

And then came Photoshop.

No one tells the truth, of course, so for the “me-too-ism” of writers everywhere, I will set aside my vanity and offer the unadulterated, unvarnished, unphotoshopped truth. These are the things I did to prepare for my first author photo:

1) Googled ‘how to look good in photos and found advice. Very helpful advice.

2) Went for a professional make-up ‘consult’ (would that be tax-deductible?)

3) Visited the ‘hair whisperer’ and told him, “Do what you will. Just don’t cut it short.” Which he did. But I loved it. Price: Very high. Satisfaction: Priceless. Cost if the husband discovered the cost: there could be lawyers.

Don’t even ask about clothes. I bought and returned an entire section of Bloomingdales. I tried on every combination of outfit and accessories.

My sister Jill Meyers, a person for whom I never have to pretend, is a talented photographer and a super-talented sister.  To make the best author photo, she studied portrait-shooting techniques, bought the talented Marion Ettinger’s book Author Photo for inspiration, and invested in equipment to make me glow (and look, ahem, less mature.)

Jill did an incredible job. She shot hundred and hundreds of photos;  we reviewed and eliminated, consulted, and polled until we found ‘the one.’ Then she really went to work. With a stroke of her magic computer pen, lines disappear. Adjust the lighting: I warm up, I cool down. I flushed, I blushed, I smoldered.

How far could we go? I’d already applied make-up with the skill of Bobbi Brown herself.  Wore the pearl earrings that cast the most glow on my face, per Brown’s advice. Chose the green shirt that matched my eyes (that is was, in reality, despite the new outfits,  a raggy pinhole-ridden Gap tee shirt wouldn’t show in the shoulder-up picture.

Now I had to answer the question: was it Kosher to erase my lines? Would it be like using Botox? (Is it cheating to use Botox? Is it less bad to use only Photoshop Botox?) After a second of agonized deliberation, I decided. Just a few minor, um . . . .adjustments. The furrows between my brows came from worrying over my children, for goodness sake. Would softening those badges of motherhood make me a bad person? And what about those pesky forehead lines? The puppet lines by my mouth?

Jill went to work. And I loved the final product. Perhaps too much.

What if my sister had made me look so good that no one would recognize me in real life?

A friend of mine, a lovely-looking woman whose book was about to be sold, vowed to have her picture taken sans artifice, so no one would be surprised when they met her.

After my book came out, people did recognize me at readings. No one asked me what century the picture was taken.

Okay. Lying. There was one.

(I did promise the truth, right?)

The woman who gave me a facial, the one who stared at me under those glaring lights of truth – she asked when the picture was taken.

Maybe my friend had the right idea. Jill did such a good job with that photo. I still worry:

Was it cheating to use Photoshop? (But everybody’s doing it!)

You be the judge.

Here I was trying on glasses in a store (awful glasses!) circa this summer:

Below, Jill’s photo of me:

*** Update!!

The above photos are now twelve years old! So, let’s see slightly more updated before and after photoshop Botox. My most recent author photo (2019) taken by the talented Sharona Jacobs ..

A photo without photoshop or professional talent, taken in 2019 (in bright sunlight, no editing, but taken by the loving hands on my husband—so there’s that.