Sex, Lies and Photoshop

12 posted on May 12, 2009

POSTED IN: Blog Posts, Makes You Think, Technology, photos

I’ve been working in Photoshop since version 3.0. Photoshop (and design in general) has come a long way. With each new version there are features available to help make my job easier and make the finished product look better. I love how far design has come.

But there is one part of my industry that I’m ashamed of. Photoshop retouch artists have redefined the standards of beauty, health and physical appearance through what has come to be known as the ‘Photoshop Effect.’

Just because we have the tools to completely change the look of a person’s body in Photoshop doesn’t mean we have the right to do that. Especially when what we’re altering distorts the image of what and what isn’t the definition of a perfect body. With so much falsehood in fashion advertising, just how much are we affecting the minds of the younger generation?

70 percent of girls report that images of models in magazines influence their definition of a perfect female body.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Most of you have seen the popular Dove Evolution commercial that shows in detail how easy it is to completely adjust an image to reflect something that isn’t even realistic.

Many celebrities have dedicated retouchers on commission and won’t let a single photo be released until it passes through them. For an interactive look at exactly what goes into a Photoshop magazine cover retouch, click here.

We Live In A Virtual World

The plain and simple truth is that no one can live up to the images of beauty and physical appearance that we see in magazines these days. Research shows that these images negatively affect a girls self-image and yet magazines continue to push the boundaries of what they define as ‘beauty.’

These days, altered images are ubiquitous; the fairytale world threatens to engulf our own. The illusion is more complete, too — with digital technology it’s harder to see the smoothing. Stalin would have drooled at the possibilities.
More here on David Byrne’s Journal.

(Read more about Jezebel’s thoughts on this cover and Photoshop retouching)

Beautifully Unrealistic

Here are some examples of popular celebrity photos before and after Photoshop retouching. Observe the completely flawless skin, the reduced waist line, enlarged bust, lack of eye lines, and perfect hair.

There are many people who are advocating a new standard for magazines that will require them to clearly list in the credits for a photograph that it was retouched. I don’t think that will help to rebuild the self-image of countless girls who are trying to measure up to these false standards but it’s a start.

Magazine-retouching may not be a lie on par with, you know, “Iraq has weapons of mass destruction,” but in a world where girls as young as eight are going on the South Beach Diet, teenagers are getting breast implants as graduation gifts, professional women are almost required to fetishize handbags, and everyone is spending way too much d*** time figuring out how to pose in a way that will look as good as that friend with the really popular MySpace profile, it’s f*****g wrong.

- Anna, Photoshop of Horrors

What do you think?

Should magazines be required to label which photographs have been retouched? Or is this issue blown out of proportion?

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 12th, 2009 at 10:45 am and is filed under Blog Posts, Makes You Think, Technology, photos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

18 Comments

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May 12, 2009

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1 joseph said:

I think that we look because we are stepping away from reality a bit. Magazines, Movies, Books, TV all allow us to remove ourselves from our real life and step into another if even for just a few moments (in a way sort of). Right or wrong.
The retouching aspect plays into that fiction a little.
In terms of younger readers…sure there should be some warnings. In terms of older readers, we should have the maturity to understand that this is what is going on.

And now that I have probably made no sense at all…I will go.

Really interesting piece Brad…the video was cool.

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May 12, 2009

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2 Zack said:

I’m not sure it’s worth it to create any kind of rules about labeling re-touched photos or anything like that, but I do think it’s extremely valuable to keep this reality in front of us.

It would be great if women could be consistently reminded that the images they see all over are fake.

Even better, I would highly, highly respect any ‘beautiful’ celebrity who would be transparent about the before and after.

Several years ago the actress from ‘True Lies’ (I can’t remember her name) did a photoshoot that was ‘all natural’ to show women how different things are before and after photoshop.

She gets my respect and admiration!
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May 12, 2009

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3 Ryan Detzel said:

Merideth from The Office looks pretty bad in that last one.

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May 12, 2009

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4 D.Lake said:

Nice post Brad! I agree with the thought of * (asterisking) photos doctored.

Thought provoking.

I went to Catalyst West Coast recently and Ravi Zacharias made a statement that has rung in my head.

““What you applaud you encourage, but beware of what you celebrate.”

Our society is not celebrating the true beauty of a person. Help me to applaud the true values of life.

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May 12, 2009

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5 Amy said:

as a photographer i touch up things like blemishes or bruises, but nothing else. of course i photograph mostly children, but i wouldn’t do anything different with adults either.

what strikes me as sad is that the celebrities are so caught up in being perfect that they aren’t happy with who God has made them to be.

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May 12, 2009

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6 Brunettekoala said:

Some of this beauty looks more like an eating disorder to me….

I actually know that some celebrities get really annoyed about this. Sophia Bush has been quite outspoken about it, as has Kate Winslet.

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May 12, 2009

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7 David said:

Re True Lies – that was Jamie Lee Curtis. More people should do the natural thing – she looked amazing.

Or if you’re Madge, only do photoshoots when you’re awake…

If this kind of rubbish is going to continue, I reckon it should be labeled

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8 sexrev.org» Blog Archive » The Wednesday Weekly Wire…bigger and better than ever said:

[...] Crazy post by Brad Ruggles…Sex, Lies, and Photoshop. GIRLS- watch this. [...]
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May 13, 2009

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9 Zack said:

Jamie Lee Curtis

That’s her name!

Ah, good… now I can get on with my life!
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May 13, 2009

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10 holly said:

This makes me sick for two reasons:
1. Even though I have fairly good self esteem and realize that beauty is so much more than outward appearances I still get caught up in the idea of wanting to look better and measure myself unrealistically. I struggle with this daily.

2. I have two young daughters and I don’t ever want them to see themselves in any other way than how I see them and more importantly, how God sees them. To us, they are perfectly his and it breaks my heart that soon they will fall into this same struggle.

It sickens me to realize how much our culture tries (and fails) to attain perfection. However, I do not think that magazines should have to label whether or not their pics are retouched. I’m a bit old school in my belief that people need to take responsibilities for their actions and beliefs regardless of what the media is bombarding them with. We don’t need more government restrictions and mandates in our personal lives – neither do magazines and entertainment. They’re selling a product and if people are willing to fall for it – that is the fault of the buyer, not the seller.

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May 13, 2009

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11 Lon said:

that’s just crazy, how little ‘reality’ we’re actually exposed to… i have no doubt it changes things internally..

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May 13, 2009

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12 Ross Middleton said:

I think its wack! Not even celebrities are as beautiful as celebrities:)

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May 15, 2009

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13 Becca Clark said:

Wow. Madonna looks half dead! And the adjustments to curves and laughlines? i know they do this, but it’s another thing to see it side by side. And we wonder why so many women (myself included) learn to feel bad about their bodies.

thank you.

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May 17, 2009

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14 Melvin Neo said:

Advertising media – it’s all a horde of lies.

“Perception is reality” and these people are stretching this statement to the extent of hurting people.

I wonder how many people they have killed either directly or indirectly.
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May 19, 2009

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15 Photoshopping Music « Ross Middleton’s Blog said:

[...] Photoshopping Music Published May 19, 2009 Culture 0 Comments Is the over production in music the same as the excessive photoshopping that happens in magazines? Brad Ruggles wrote a great post about this excessive photoshopping on his blog. You can read that post right here. [...]
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May 26, 2009

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16 Dave Hess said:

Very thought provoking post!! hmmm…

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June 12, 2009

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17 Friday Web Roundup said:

[...] This post by Brad Ruggles on “Sex, Lies, and Photoshop” last month was a good one. Remember folks, the chick on the cover of the magazine is not only made [...]
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June 26, 2009

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18 Olha said:

Yes, it is really a provokative post.
As a big fan of photography and scrapbooking in my free time, I am always challenge with the question “Retouch or don’t retouch”.
On one hand – when you retouch someone’s picture, they become happy since they like watching how cool they are. On another hand – after a while I do want to have a look at the photo and see a real person, with his or her wrinkles, emotions, age, etc.
So still hesitating …