Photoshop out of control

Sunday, December 13, 2009 Unknown 0 Comments

Lately I've been watching a lot of YouTube videos relating to how the fashion industry is getting over zealous in creating the "perfect" woman (or man).  One insider states that 99.99% of model photos in current fashion magazines have at least moderate retouching done.  Of the examples shown, these had little to do with background retouches, lighting, etc.  The majority of retouching was directly on the model herself.

The video below is from the Dove Self Esteem Fund showing a "girl next door" type of woman.  She's pretty, and looks normal.  In time-lapse the transformation from girl next door to supermodel is incredible.



Another powerful video drives hope the point that women and girls are exposed to this kind of "perfection" everywhere. 

I also found an interesting 5-minute video showing a very pretty woman being made more "perfect" as part of her experiment to become a bikini model.  I think you'll agree she had nothing to be ashamed of before the retouching.

Now, I like to think I'm not all that naive ... I know this stuff is out there.  Models have that perfect skin, and it's just... too perfect.  What I didn't realize is just how easy it is.  I've used Photoshop in the past to clean up some small logos, crop photos and maybe the simplest of retouches.

In one 6-minute tutorial, of which there are dozens on YouTube, I was able to make what I consider to be a pretty drastic change to a photo.  The imperfections are noticable, but the point I'm trying to make is that a Photoshop novice can make a significant edit in mere minutes.  Click on the photo below to see the before and after in full size.  If I can do this in 10 minutes, imagine what a true Photoshop professional can do in a few hours, paid handsomely.