Controversies and convenience aided by Photoshop
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From Justin Bieber’s Calvin Klein advertisement to Kim Kardashian’s Paper magazine spread, Photoshop has been in the news lately, altering images from one extreme to the next.
Although the Adobe tool has been subject to heavy criticism, not everyone feels that altering some of the aspects of a photo is a bad practice.
Ohio University’s FACES modeling club President Megan Carter said she has personally experienced someone Photoshopping her image, but not to the point where she thought it was inappropriate.
“There’s a time and place depending on the photographer’s view, they may want something completely natural or somewhat edited,” said Carter, a senior studying fashion merchandising.
She said she does not have a problem with photo editing as long as it does not completely alter the way a person looks. Carter pointed to skin lightening and retouching of a model’s face as potential problems.
In the professional realm, some publications have taken a stand against modifying the people portrayed in the magazine — which has become commonplace for many media outlets.
Kara Eschbach is the co-founder, editor-in-chief and publisher of Verily Magazine, a publication that has received a lot of attention for its Photoshopping policies.
The magazine launched in May of 2013 and its policy from the beginning has been to not alter models’ faces or bodies, Eschbach said. Verily starts its appreciation for natural beauty with its slogan, “less of who you should be, more of who you are.”
“People or photographers would come back to us and make some changes, it just felt like a very disconnected thing for us to say we celebrate real women and for us to Photoshop real women,” Eschbach said.
Eschbach was clear that although the magazine may remove a flyaway hair from a model, they don’t alter a models’ shape or face, including freckles and wrinkles.
She said the models have been especially receptive to the idea on set and some of them get emotional and cry.
“We’ve treated them really well,” Eschbach said. “They’re objectified a lot of times.”
Thread magazine, a publication on campus, does not have specific Photoshop policies, said Meghan Shamblen, photo editor of the magazine and a senior studying commercial photography and psychology.
She said the models sign a release stating they agree to have pictures of them altered and modified. She said she has not had problems with her own editing, and does not recall any problems for Thread in the past.
“It can be abused in some respect, but I find that more people prefer to simply look like the best version of themselves, rather than look unrealistically different,” Shamblen said.
Although stopping excessive Photoshop use might be a stretch in today’s times, there are some ways to change how the tool is implemented.
“I think subtle adjustments, or even smoothing out wrinkles in clothing is okay to do,” Shamblen said. “It’s all for visual and aesthetic purposes rather than deception and untruthful manipulation.”
Eschbach said it’s everyone’s job involved to bring about change.
“Every woman is beauty, discovering your own beauty is more important than trying to be someone else,” Eschbach said.
@w_gibbs
