A Re-touchy Subject

Photo-Retouching is a widely practiced and highly criticized movement in magazines and other print media. Hardly any publicized photo reaches the masses without at least a little retouching.

Photo-manipulation has had a rather interesting history dating way back to before computers were even imagined. I was very surprised to learn that some iconic photos were doctored including a portrait of Abraham Lincoln and Pulitzer Prize winning images. So is it wrong?

Now I probably should mention that I plan to be a graphic designer, so I probably do not have an entirely fair opinion on this issue. I think that playing around with photos to remove imperfections or create entirely different compositions is a lot of fun. I have to admit that just about every one of my facebook profile pictures is enhanced or perfected in some (usually very minor) way.

I started manipulating photos when I was in junior high and had a rather ridiculous obsession with a certain male singer (it’s too embarrassing to post his name). I would photoshop my head into pictures of him hugging another girl, print out the picture, and hang it in my room. It was rather sad, but introduced me to the world of photo-retouching and in my case total manipulation.

Photoshopping in this capacity is pretty harmless. Everyone knows I did not really meet the singer. In the same way I think that most photo-retouching is not really a problem. Fixing little things about a celebrity’s image does not bother me. I see real people everyday and I like to appreciate the beautiful people, even if it is not what they really look like.

I realize that this is a rather controversial opinion. Many say that the manipulation of women in magazines has led to a standard of beauty that is unrealistic and unattainable. This is especially damaging to impressionable young girls with low self-esteem.

I definitely see the argument, especially when looking at the process of photo-retouching seen below.



Manipulating someone to be completely unrecognizable from reality is definitely taking it to the extreme. I think it would go a long way, especially for girls, to put real women on billboards and magazine covers, but I still love to look at beautifully perfected images every now and then too.

Ultimately, I think it is about doing retouching in small quantities. If a photoshopping job can enhance the aesthetics of a picture without completely changing the image, I think its fine.

On the flipside of the issue, an argument was recently made for photoshopping when an issue of Newsweek featured an un-altered image of Sarah Palin (remember her?) and her facial blemishes and upper lip hair. Newsweek claims they were emphasizing her platform of being a “real woman” but supporters of Palin argue that it is purposefully unflattering and embarrassing. Either way, it does not really matter now, unless of course everyone voted for Obama because they were scared of Palin’s moustache.

This incident just goes to show that photoshopping will continue to be a touchy subject in the media. In the meantime, I will continue editing photos and enhancing pictures…no more pictures me and Clay Aiken though, I promise. Wait…dangit!