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Photoshopping Gone Too Far???

6K views 63 replies 24 participants last post by  Bridge 
#1 ·
Although photoshopping does exist for both genders, it is probably most prevalent with females, so I thought I would post here. Do you feel the media/companies have gone too far with photoshopping, giving completely unrealistic ideas of what a body image should look like? There was a lot of pushback at Victoria's Secret over the photo they posted on Facebook below. My first thought is sympathy for the model being born with only one as$ cheek ... Some of the other photoshoppinig jobs I have seen are even worse, and I don't see anything positive from them.

I guess for the guys, do the images you see alter your view in any way of what a female's body should look like? Is this setting up unrealistic expectations for you?

 
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#3 ·
I met the boyfriend years ago in an illustration class. It was called "rendering" and for one fruit assignment I painted an orange from life, giving it imperfections and using some really unfortunate paint choices. The teacher panned it, declared to the whole class "nobody would eat this orange!!!" and gave me a C+.

That's when I learned that sometimes, things need to look better than real. I was not painting an orange. I was supposed to be painting the idea of an orange. My orange, faithfully and earnestly rendered, was not something that would inspire masses to buy oranges. I had been unnecessarily honest.

so what I'm saying is, I know the images are fake. I know I am being sold something too perfect. I know that woman modeling a bra does not exist on earth. Do I appreciate *real* looking women are used to sell undergarments? Heck yeah, but it's just a company trying to sell all the product they can, I don't expect much.

I've seen my boyfriend photoshop professional swim models to be skinnier - at the end of the day, he can't wait to be with me, cellulite and all :)
 
#52 ·
People like your art teacher are "the problem".

I'd rather see something with proper dimensions, right shape.
Otherwise it gets like the serialised TV shows where what happened doesn't really matter because the ending is totally predictable, the cast resets, next week is more mindless pap.
If your art-teacher wants Tropes tell them to go to Tropes.com.
the rest of us would rather see the right form and fit - except those already sick individuals who need to live the image to ignore the realities of life they create around them.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Good or bad I think it's a logical step in the desire for humans to appear to be something we aren't.
I mean let's just think about all the things women do to "enhance" their image in every day life. This is amplified if you are in the business of stage and screen by many times.

I think if scientist could invent a convincing way to project a hologram that would hide a person totally, with only the image being visible, people would be be lined up around the block to get it.. But I digress.

My personal view is that VS, for instance has the ability to employ all of the scouts, make up artists, stylists, photographers, trainers, lighting crews, tailors, nutritionists, hair dressers and on and on...And really it doesn't make a hill of beans because these girls are DROP DEAD GORGEOUS with or without any of it...It's hard to improve on god's work in this instance.
 
#5 ·
The half naked hot cowboy pictures have had the abs cut and sharpened, airbrushed tan, sweaty and oiled skin, with a few smudges of dirt thrown in too. We are all surrounded by a photoshopped reality, be it photo's, script writers, celebrity worship, reality tv, selective social media posts, female, male, everywhere we turn we are faced with an altered world. Surrounded by special effects. Societaly, it's decried by one hand, and ravenously consumed by the other.
 
#6 ·
I don't think this is a big deal.
I know I am saying this crudely, but it is usually the fat people who complain about thin women in commercials. Yes, most of us like thin women or more accurately, healthy women who take care of themselves. The PC nazis have turned this into requiring everyone like overweight and obese images just because someone or the other will be offended.

None of us are perfect.. deal with it. We cannot change the world. we can change how we deal with it.
 
#9 ·
That's a pretty big assumption to make. I'm genuinely sorry you think women who eat very little and shoot heroin to stay skinny and get photoshopped because they're still not good enough are healthy.

I actually don't care what these guys publish, it has little to do with what I purchase and I'm past the point life where I give a sh!t anyway, so these are simply my observations.

If they're that great because they take such good care of themselves why photoshop?


Signed, a woman who is most definitely not fat.
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#8 · (Edited)
Phoroshopping has been around for years and has gotten to the point where it's laughable.

The ones I feel the most for are models who eat a piece of cheese a day and shoot heroin to stay emaciated and still aren't good enough so they have to be photoshopped. They are sent the message that their real value is their looks and after they turn 28 and get replaced by 16 year olds they're done.

Sad way to live.

Anyone who thinks this is healthy should take a look at an unphotoshopped pic of most of these women to see how emaciated they are.

I think what I find the most laughable is the way they photoshop in breasts. Because a woman who's 5'11, weighs 115 pounds and has her ribs sticking out is really going to have breasts, which are mainly fat tissue. Sometimes they'll screw up and plump up one more than the other.
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#11 ·
Do you feel the media/companies have gone too far with photoshopping, giving completely unrealistic ideas of what a body image should look like?
Absolutely. And I'm speaking as someone who lost a family member to anorexia.

Photos are not just retouched to make models skinnier than they really are, but also to smooth over protruding ribs, clavicles and other signs of emaciation/malnutrition.

One of the most egregious examples of the former was when a photo of model Filippa Hamilton was tweaked until her hips were smaller than her head, which is grotesque. (Ralph Lauren actually apologized for that.)
 
#17 ·
.....Filippa Hamilton was tweaked until her hips were smaller than her head, which is grotesque. (Ralph Lauren actually apologized for that.)
The singer, Faith Hill, was on the cover of Redbook a few years ago. When the cover came out, they'd not only elongated and thinned her arm, they'd also removed her elbow. Her arm swooped in one uniform twig-like line from shoulder to wrist - like a too-skinny wooden dowel. It was just so bizarre.
 
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#12 ·
i think it can be very harmful to those with body image issues.

That said, fake is used to sell everything. When you see a cheeseburger commercial, at least half of it isn't food, but other things made to stand in and make it look awesome for hours under hot lights. Toothpaste doesn't come out in a sideways S. When i spray febreeze on my couch, the smell doesn't come off of it in pastel cloudy wisps with flowers.

Being able to separate fantasy from reality is worthy life skill. On that note, i think they should have to put a disclaimer on the image if it's altered.
 
#16 ·
It certainly doesn't affect me. Photoshop just looks so fake unless it is very subtle. About 70% of the women out there look good to me... I guess I'm a man ****.

I do worry about the influence on my daughters. I try as much as possible to give them positive body image. For the other two I think it has been quite successful.
 
#20 ·
Good evening
tricky question. "photoshopping" can be anything from color correction to blemish removal to major reshaping. The first is needed for any good quality photo -the last???

I think we have to accept that pictures (and soon video) are not reality. "photographic proof" isn't proof anymore.

In some ways if modifying bodies becomes extreme enough in photoshop, maybe people will realize that it doesn't make sense to compare them to real people anymore - that might actually reduce the stress on people to conform to some ideal. The "ideal" will just become something like a cartoon.
 
#26 ·
The problem is saturation. We see these images everywhere, constantly, every day, and they slowly shift our perceptions of what's normal.

As a young woman I was so affected by body dysmorphia that I "dieted" from a healthy 130lb to 83lb (at 5'3). I still struggle periodically with anorexia; I've been below 90lb 3x in adulthood. Photoshopping is certainly not the only source of my personal struggles but these images and their prevalence certainly contribute.
 
#30 ·
What percentage of women looks like models in natural way? 5 ? less? And the rest of 95% is taught that this is the way to look..

They are using models who are skinnier than 95% of women and still narrow their wastes, slim the tights, etc. Why? And who is making those decisions? And based on what?
 
#32 ·
That's what models are supposed to do. Take you into a fantasy world where everything is awesome. That's what movies do as well. It gives a momentary escape from life.

Yeah, so when I walk around, I see a buff guy with huge muscles. No one around me or in my circle is like him. Should I blame him?

The world is full of falsehoods. We need to develop a sense of what is good and what is bad.
 
#39 ·
I think this is just one symptom of a much broader issue, and is one of the drawbacks to readily available, over saturation and consumption of media and entertainment. Humanity as a whole has never faced such rapid change and expansion, all within the space of a single generation. With the complete erosion of physical barriers of time and distance, people can literally see anything, anywhere, at any time, and the only thing standing in their way is self control. New social norms, behavioral expectations need to be created, and are in the process of forming, but they are changing humanity as a whole...some in good ways, some not.
 
#42 ·
My son is 11 and I can control him very easily. Just raise my voice and be imposing and he falls in line. Males are simple.
So when my daughter was born and when she got to the age where I had to control her, I used the same technique.

What a failure! :laugh::laugh:

She would just get angrier and more rebellious instead of obeying. My wife then told me that I was dealing with a girl so had to use different means. So then I had to cajole and coax and hug and her kiss her into doing what I wanted her to do. Like learning her math tables this morning. Strong arming a female never works like it works for males. You need to use emotional means with them.

Yesterday, I picked her up from school and scooped her up in my arms to take her to the car. She wanted to walk, not be carried. :( My baby is growing up. :(:(
 
#51 ·
Getting OT but just wanted to say that as a parent I treat my kids (3 of) as individuals and don't use such gender stereotypes. One thing my Mum taught me well was that all people are different, she had 4 completely different kids and that was not based on gender.

My experience with my lot is the opposite to yours, my oldest DD I do have to "strong arm", my boy is far more likely to respond to "emotional means".
 
#48 ·
I understand needing to smooth out a wrinkly skirt or adjust the coloring of a photo so the article of clothing is better represented. Better should mean accurate (is the dress gold/white or black/blue?) BUT I think people should really not be altered. I've seen the photos and it's pretty rediculous. Giving Beyonce a thigh gap - WTF that girl is HOT. Noone needs to make her thighs thinner to make her more beautiful! Arms made into twigs, waists made unrealistic, faces airbrushed into Barbie plastic-perfect.

I DO think (having a 16y/o who sees every imperfection as hideous) girls internalize this need to be perfect. I see it and I overhear it and it's sad. Many super models are super hot and fit - no need to alter, airbrush or change them in any way. As someone older I am FINE with those imperfections - I'd be HAPPY to have such few body issues! :D They are still worthy of admiration. Makeup can hide plenty without needing to alter images.
 
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