Seeing is not always believing.

Recently I have been browsing a couple rabbitry websites (mainly Mini Rex) so of course I want to see pictures, scope competition etc. I make my way to the does page or the bucks page, and the for sale page. My first reaction to the pictures is whoa! That is one heck of a nice looking rabbit, mine cannot compare to that. My second impression is that something with the picture is slightly off. There is a slight distortion in the picture had I not been immersed in the world of photo-editing I probably would have passed off as a bad quality photo.

I have also had a couple fellow breeders mention after buying a rabbit from a picture, that when they got the rabbit in their possession no matter what they did they could not get the rabbit to pose as nice as the picture they were sent of said rabbit.

So what are people doing to their photos to make them look better? I did a little experiment to see what someone with a bit of photo editing knowledge can to to enhance a picture, and how easy would it be to do it.

The test? Use an editing program that is available for free download online, one I am not familiar with (or it wouldn't be that much of a test). Then see how fast I can edit a photo of a mediocre rabbit to make it look better then what it really was.

The original photo:


Not the prettiest pre-junior out there. A grand total and I'm not kidding you: 3 Minutes later she looked like this:

A grand total of 3 tools had been used. "Resize" "Smudge" and "Blur" and voila suddenly this rabbit has depth a short midsection and smaller ears, and a more finished looking coat instead of the wooly Jr one.

The moral? People are not always honest, as I just demonstrated a simple knowledge in photo editing can go a long way to make someones stock to "look good on the internet"

And when purchasing a rabbit it is always a good idea to see it in person before committing to it, or at least have someone you know and trust see it in person if you can't.