I don't customarily read the obituaries in the Statesman, although lately there seem to be at least a couple of people a week with whom I've at least spoken on the telephone. The photographs of the dead are what catch the eye. Unless there is just one photograph available, some studio-taken representation seems to be chosen first, usually, for the elderly, from some period in the fairly distant past (men in military uniform, women before they were married). Very often, though, the choice is to use an amateur snapshot, sometimes obviously a photograph from a group portrait or an occasion quite informal. In these cases, there is crude Photoshop work done to remove the extraneous people or busy background, substituting something plan and contrasty instead. The newspaper's touch-up person must have been taking a holiday, without having a substitute, because unretouched images were appearing for several days. The presentation of self in any formal or near-formal portrait setting repays study. Certainly, the fashion in female eyebrows is on view.