Dilemma: Old Flames in Family Photos

Significant others come and go throughout life, occasionally creating a problem with special event photos that include them.

You want to display the cherished photo, but you don’t want to gaze at the face of the ex who broke your heart or got on your last nerve.

If you plan ahead before important family photos are taken, you can have the person who may not be around permanently (such as a boyfriend or girlfriend) stand at the end of a row. If things don’t work out, someone who’s good with Photoshop can remove that person from the original photo, you can reprint it and no one will know the difference. (You can also be up front with the person in question, make a joke about it, and take a group shot with and without the person.)

Or… you can use the creative solution my dad devised to alter the family portrait we had taken in a studio about ten years ago, which included my ex-boyfriend. He cut out the head from a photo of my then-current boyfriend, and pasted it on top of the previous b.f.’s face. Voila! Instant update!

How do you handle a situation like this?***

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