The New Yorker

Yeah, I've been diggin' the New Yorker for a while now....Does this mean I'm old? I now listen to npr and watch pbs as well....yeah, I'll admit it. The New Yorker had a great article about the mad skills of Pascal Dangin, owner of Smashbox Studios. The unfortunate thing about the online version of this article does not contain the two comparison images; one untouched and one manipulated.
This raises an interesting question regarding the presentation of 'reality'. Every major magazine, photographer and a few celebrities hire Mr. Dangin to alter their images. He might change the lighting, the background, the colors, but he also can erase your birthmark, your wrinkles, and alter your bone structure. He is both a virutal plastic surgeon and a creative vision.
As reality becomes less 'real', how do the real images compete with the created ones?