photoshop

A friend of mine is a fitness model, and when I saw the cover of the magazine she was going to be on, I didn't even recognize her. I said "Is that you? It doesn't look like you at all."

She said "Yeah, that's me. After being extensively photoshopped. My eye color changed, my body changed, my skin tone changed, my hair changed, my face changed. They gave me a six-pack and made my musculature more defined. That's what they do nowadays."

They did the same thing to the guy standing beside her.

So I said "So really what you're saying is they could use just about anybody who works out and put them on the cover of a magazine?"

She said "Yeah, pretty much."

I just shook my head in disbelief.
 
Doesn't surprise me in the least. I know for a fact that many of the B&As you see with supplement adds in magazines are shot the same day.

It's so sad.

And they get away with it. There's no regulation and the ignorance of the masses funds it perpetually.
 
And it is self-perpetuating because the media drives the people who don't know any better to think this unattainable perfection is actually attainable ;)

The fact it's unattainable but 90% don't know it makes it a very profitable endeavour.

This should be illegal, too :D
 
Agreed.

It skews expectations beyond belief and that in itself ruins people's efforts.
 
Perfectly put.

Management of expectations is the name of the game, but what happens when expectations are so skewed. It's really what drives most of the garbage you see people doing in terms of exercise.

Dieting too.
 
It's pathetic and should be illegal.

It's also ridiculous to actually try and convince people that this is what beauty is. It's not even real.

pffffft:smash:
 
All is not lost though.

This thread will awaken some educated eyes, and make many who view it that much wiser in the products and services (etc) they see.

:)

This is always good.


Best regards,

Chillen
 
Steve said:
Sure it's not eye opening to most around here.
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Being in the computer industry it is a known thing to me, also having the pic in a few magazines where they changed the clothes i was wearing in one even!
But to my kids its great to show them that video so they can be aware of it. its crazy :)
 
Hey now...

shae said:
It's pathetic and should be illegal.

It's also ridiculous to actually try and convince people that this is what beauty is. It's not even real.

pffffft:smash:
Click to expand...


I'd say making it illegal is a bit extreme. Should there be a standard of more realistic retouching? Maybe. Should there be encouragement for models to have more meat on their bones to look more like 'real' women? Definitely.

Fashion designers want to use stick women most of the time to emphasize the clothing, NOT the person wearing it. The model is, essentially, a living mannequin. They don't want excess curves to 'disturb' the lines of the clothing.

I'm a professional photo retoucher. I do this type of thing for a living, albeit not to this extreme (I CAN, but I usually don't). However, I do a LOT of serious complexion work. Few months back we did a fashion shoot and one of the models had such a bad complexion, it took a LOT of hours to get her face to look right. Printing it how it was would have been a discredit to the model, the photographer, and to the magazine.

I think people photography/retouching should be treated like food photography. Nothing that you are trying to 'sell' should be fake. In other words, on a fitness magazine, to alter the fitness model that much should be seriously frowned upon. They are trying to 'sell' the concept of fitness. In fashion magazines, well, most of that is fantasy and illusion anyway... let 'em go crazy.

I did an extreme weight reduction retouch once, but it was at the request of the client, as they took a picture of her at a VERY unflattering angle. Made her look 50 pounds heavier than she was (she was heavy, just not THAT heavy).
 
I didn't know that's what you do for a living. Can you make me beautiful and huuuuggggee please?

:p

I don't mind getting rid of some zits.

I mind more the image of skin and bones that is sold. If it only had an effect on the 'lines of the clothing' being modeled I wouldn't give a rats ass. It's just that it spills over into people's expectations. I suppose it's on the reader to understand it's not reality, but people, especially young ones, are impressionable.
 
Being a photoshopper myself (not nearly as talented as this) I know exactly what the capabilities are.... this is my favourite video
 
It is a shame because it just sets the bar really high. I remember thinking to myself (when I was a lot younger) that I would never reach that level of perfection, so why even try? I hadn't yet understood that benefits of losing weight were not about looks, but also about your health and energy and other things that had nothing to do with perfect skin, perfect legs, perfect arms or whatever.

Although, those videos did make me want to learn photoshop. How do you DO that?!?!
 
Steve said:
I didn't know that's what you do for a living. Can you make me beautiful and huuuuggggee please?

:p

I don't mind getting rid of some zits.

I mind more the image of skin and bones that is sold. If it only had an effect on the 'lines of the clothing' being modeled I wouldn't give a rats ass. It's just that it spills over into people's expectations. I suppose it's on the reader to understand it's not reality, but people, especially young ones, are impressionable.
Click to expand...

I agree with you on that point. But to me its much like Barbie... she was created in the shape she was so her clothing wouldn't look too big on her... being that the materials were disproportionately thick by comparison to the size of the doll. However, her distorted figure gives young impressionable minds the wrong idea of body image. Though I can understand why they did it, I find it sad that they changed Barbie's figure.

I'd like to see more education on the differences between reality and the fantasy created by these images, and make everybody aware that this is a fantasized ideal, not what the average mortal should look like. I'd hate to see the art form diminished. And yes, it is an art form, and it takes a lot of skill to do it well.

I never had a problem with looking at the images, barbies, etc. and think I had to look like that. Mom must have taught me right.:willy_nilly:
 
In the words of Leo Tolstoy: "It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness."

Seriously, If I was a celebrity and they photoshopped me to the point where I was unrecognizable, I'd feel insulted. They make it seem like beauty has guidelines and if you break the mold, you're not beautiful. Ugh...
 
borboleta said:
In the words of Leo Tolstoy: "It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness."

Seriously, If I was a celebrity and they photoshopped me to the point where I was unrecognizable, I'd feel insulted. They make it seem like beauty has guidelines and if you break the mold, you're not beautiful. Ugh...
Click to expand...

You'd be surprised how many celebs want to be photoshopped beyond the point of recognition.
 
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