I Was There. Just Ask Photoshop.
“As image-editing software grows in sophistication and ubiquity, alterations go far beyond removing red-eye and whitening teeth. They include substituting head shots to achieve the best combination of smiles, deleting problematic personalities or adding family members who were unable to attend important events, performing virtual liposuction or hair restoration, even reanimating the dead.”
“In an age of digital manipulation, many people believe that snapshots and family photos need no longer stand as a definitive record of what was, but instead, of what they wish it was”
“But in the digital age, people treat photos like mash-ups in music, combining various elements to form a more pleasing whole.”
During one of my family Christmas parties, a cousin of mine was unable to attend. We thought, to be funny, we would take his school picture and hold it up during the group photo. This was our version of Photoshop. Now, things are taken to the next level. Should we be able to manipulate a photograph? Does it test our memories? Does it test our knowledge of the truth?
“That’s the nature of the photograph. It’s a Western sense of reality that what is in front of the lens has to be true.”
With instagram and websites like Picnick and Ribbet, we are able to put our pictures in black and white, remove blemishes, whiten teeth – all in a matter of seconds. We know what we did to the picture is not how the picture was taken, but a more attractive version.
GIMP (the GNU Image Manipulation Program )
Idealized images , she said, can give people “a new script for dealing with problems families have always had: family members who don’t get along, divorce.”
We need to step away from this idea of erasing the past because it hurts. The past happened. Whether or not you erase it digitally.
“The value to accepting a photograph of yourself as you are is that you’re accepting the reality of who you are, and how you look, and accepting yourself that way, warts and all. I think the pictures you hate say as much about you as pictures you love.”
“Here’s Me and Justin Timberlake!”
By James Nye
‘Deep down I knew this would happen eventually because you can’t build your life based on lies, but what did I do to stop it? I told more lies, created more elaborate stories, abused trust that been given to me and pretended that everything was going to be okay.
‘Fake it ‘til you make it, right? I was so lost.’
What exactly was her job? Should she really be as punished for this as she was?
France mulls “health warning” for fashion photos
Reporting by Sophie Hardach
“French politicians want to stamp a “health warning” on photographs of models that are altered in order to make them more appealing; part of a campaign against eating disorders.”
THAT is ridiculous. What we do to our bodies is our choice – weather there is a health hazard on them or not.
“Under the proposed law, all enhanced photos would be accompanied by a line saying: “Photograph retouched to modify the physical appearance of a person.””
These are things we already know. However, a lot of models ARE that thin – because it is their job to be.
“..being confronted with unrealistic standards of female beauty could lead to various kinds of psychological problems, in particular eating disorders.”
Photoshopped or Not? A Tool to Tell by Steve Lohr ; No Boo-boos or Cowlicks by Sarah Maslin Nir
Photoshop is made to make the average look that much more appealing. We are all guilty of using photoshop and editing our photographs. Is this hurting us more than helping us? A momentary appeal as opposed to accepting ourselves for who we really are?
H&M Puts Real Model Heads On Fake Bodies
“The bodies of most of the models H&M features on its website are computer-generated and “completely virtual,” the company has admitted.”
“For now — in the future, even models’ faces won’t be considered perfect enough for online fast fashion, and we’ll buy all of our clothing from cyborgs.”
Why make clothes, then, for a body that is not real? What is the media actually trying to do to us?
jhorniacek 