I’m not sure if this is an indication of anything but last month I received three similar photo requests. I wasn’t asked to shoot any photos but instead, the customers wanted me to fix pictures they had shot themselves:

• The first was to fix a group photo that an employee had taken. The people in the picture are now back in their respective hometowns so there’s no chance of a reshoot. The group picture was under-exposed, slightly out-of-focus, had red-eye and was poorly composed with some bad shadows. Photoshop can only do so much but the customer was happy with the results of the emergency retouch surgery. The picture will now have a happy life in a company newsletter.

• The second request was another do-it-yourself picture. But unfortunately this one was inoperable. I diagnosed a terminal case of the blurs. A photo may look okay on the camera’s tiny LCD screen but when viewed at a larger size, any and all imperfections become very obvious. I suspect the company already knew this and just wanted a second opinion.

• The third request was to pull out one person from a group photo and make it look like a business portrait of that person. This image was rushed into the operating room for some complicated photo surgery. It was touch-and-go and, sadly, a few body parts had to be amputated in the process. The photo, now reduced to a head-and-shoulders, is recovering and will be strong enough to appear in a Powerpoint presentation.

Everyone loves to take pictures and this is great for personal photos. But if your company is thinking about doing your own business photos, here are three suggestions:

(i) Don’t.

(ii) Take lots of pictures and hope one hits the target.

(iii) Know where the closest photo emergency room is located.