diff --git a/include/osg/Image b/include/osg/Image
index febe09037..bb4555ec7 100644
--- a/include/osg/Image
+++ b/include/osg/Image
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ class OSG_EXPORT Image : public BufferData
           * Create memory for storage if required, reuse existing pixel coords if possible.
         */
         virtual void readPixels(int x,int y,int width,int height,
-                        GLenum pixelFormat,GLenum type);
+                        GLenum pixelFormat, GLenum type, int packing=1);
 
 
         /** Read the contents of the current bound texture, handling compressed pixelFormats if present.
diff --git a/src/osg/Image.cpp b/src/osg/Image.cpp
index 16837ad0c..4fdee2e49 100644
--- a/src/osg/Image.cpp
+++ b/src/osg/Image.cpp
@@ -918,9 +918,9 @@ void Image::setImage(int s,int t,int r,
 }
 
 void Image::readPixels(int x,int y,int width,int height,
-                       GLenum format,GLenum type)
+                       GLenum format, GLenum type, int packing)
 {
-    allocateImage(width,height,1,format,type);
+    allocateImage(width,height,1,format,type, packing);
 
     glPixelStorei(GL_PACK_ALIGNMENT,_packing);
     glPixelStorei(GL_PACK_ROW_LENGTH,_rowLength);