Is Seeing Believing: Magazines and Popular Culture IS SEEING BELIEVING? RESOURCES FOR TEACHING ABOUT THE MANIPULATION OF PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGES ©2006 Frank Baker NEW: 2013’s Worst Celebrity Photoshop Jobs, Ranked From Weird To Totally Unrecognizable 14 Of The Most Airbrushed Celebrity Pics (See The Before And Afters) New York Times on Magazine Retouching How graphic designers retouch cover images Doctored magazine covers (ABC News slideshow) Ann Taylor: Mistakenly reveals photoshop process/ “We Agree Our Retouching has been overzealous” Cameron Diaz, the star of “Sex Tape” looks ever-sexy as she bares her midriff, though Photoshop smoothed out some lines on her abdomen. (Source) Before & After (Vogue, Lena Dunham photo shoot) exposed by Jezebel.com Source Michelle Obama’s gown digitally altered for modesty by Iranian news agency (Source) Source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2414925,00.asp?google_edi tors_picks=true NR admits altering cover image and wrongfully crediting the image to Reuters Jennifer Love Hewitt’s ample curves were drastically dialed down in a new advertisement for her upcoming show, “The Client List.” Two ads promoting the Lifetime series were released — one showing Hewitt in her natural form, and another in which the actress appears to have undergone a serious breast reduction. Photoshopping in advertising is nothing new — but it’s usually to enhance curves, not flatten them. Source (April 2012) People magazine says cover is a fake (December 2011) A tumblr called lourtneycove posted these before and after photos of Perry’s cover. While the post has since been taken down, it was reblogged sufficiently that we were able to pull both images — both of which look like they’ve had some alteration done to them. But there’s a stark difference in the first image and the second one. Notice how Perry’s breasts have been lifted, how the skin on her stomach and face have been smoothed over. Her fingers have been repositioned and there’s still something weird going on with her hair. Her right leg must have really angered the people who did the retouching, because the thigh was slimmed considerably and the sock she was wearing has been digitally taken away. Source Duchess Kate hardly seems a candidate to have her figure doctored to look even thinner in a photograph.But an Italian women’s fashion magazine has admitted it inadvertently did just that in a cover photo of the royal bride. Responding to a complaint that the May 9 special collector’s issue of Grazia magazine showed The Duchess of Cambridge looking artificially slimmer, Britain’s Press Complaints Commission investigated the magazine’s process for the Kate cover photo and found that indeed, Kate’s already wispy waist was whittled down further. Source Madonna’s Dolce & Gabbana Pics Pre-Photoshop Some images purported to be unretouched photographs from the Spring/Summer Dolce & Gabbana campaign starring Madonna have popped up online. It certainly looks as if the photographs taken were retouched extensively; in the ad, her nose is slimmer, her jaw is not as wide, her neck is smooth, the definition in her arms has been smoothed away, and any visible veins in her hands or arms have been removed. A woman should not actually appear to have blood pumping in her body! Read more: http://jezebel.com/5650974/madonnas-dolce–gabbana-ads-before-the-photoshop/gallery/?skyline=true&s=i#ixzz114JXyMxe Jezebel claims magazine photoshopped cover Economist Alters Obama Photo On Cover (story here) Lance Armstrong rips magazine for photoshopping his t shirt The seven- time Tour de France champion appears on the cover of the magazine’s July issue wearing a T-shirt that reads “38. BFD.”. The number refers to Armstrong’s age and the letters are an acronym for “big [expletive] deal”. Only thing is, Armstrong never wore that shirt. (Source: Yahoo News) Jessica Simpson’s Health Magazine Model cover: Altered to Look Heavier no makeup; no retouching Britney Spears bravely agrees to release un-airbrushed images of herself next to the digitally-altered versions another celebrity claims her image on the Website cover has claims been actress’ photoshopped: armpit has “They been doctored and airbrushed Photoshopped away in my body to this issue make it look of GQ in like I have the UK already lost all the weight, which I have not.” Source Controversy grows over Demi Moore “W” Mag Cover Ralph Lauren criticized for photoshop of model’s arms/waistline; complete story (Source: photoshopdisasters blog) The Sun (UK) compares and contrasts photos of Mischa Barton Questions raised about the actress in this Chanel perfume ad. Website claims magazine altered dress color Website says Madonna’s arms were photoshopped MatrixPhotos.com Aug 12 Self Mag admits photoshopping Kelly Clarkson cover (Source; Access Hollywood) We’re not pointing any fingers at Kelly Clarkson, but we were surprised when we saw September’s issue of SELF. The fitness magazine shows Clarkson slim and trim, even though recent photos of her show a completely different figure. Has the magazine gone too far with its photoshop skills? (Source) The supermodel and wife of football star Tom Brady bares her belly and just about everything else in a new set of ads for trench-coat company London Fog. Considering Gisele she’s carrying a child, Bundchen she looks suspiciously appears in an slim. advertising A London Fog spokeswoman campaign for told Women’s Wear Daily London Fog that the company Worldwide airbrushed Bündchen’s (Newscom) baby bump out of the ads to “respect her privacy.” Behind-the-scenes video of the photo shoot reveals Bündchen wore underwear that was also digitally removed from the campaign. (Source) Pixcetera says Hayden Panettiere’s face is way out of proportion to her body (due to bad photoshopping) What do you think? Gawker points out Photoshop errors, like missing leg below I have not seen this one on the web, but I swear they’ve enlarged Zac Efron’s head…it looks way out of proportion to his body. FB Read about the May ’09 cover controversy: Media Literacy 101: The Ethics of Photoshopping Obama French version of ELLE magazine (April 2009) may be the first in modern times to feature models without makeup and with no digital alteration (Photoshopping); more here Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue (February 2009) popular NASCAR driver Danica Patrick’s American flag tattoo is airbrushed away (photo source: TMZ.com; story from FOX Sports) Interesting because they left it in (below) when she appeared in the mag last year November 4, 2008 Think that Kate Winslet looked great in her new Vanity Fair photo spread? The multiple Oscar nominee did too and she’s speaking out against critics that say her great shape is nothing more than the work of photo editing trickery. Several papers in Britain have gone to great lengths in extensive articles to say that Vanity Fair doctored the photos of Winslet for their new issue. Source: Popeater L’Oreal denies lightening Beyonce’s skin in ad August 7, 2008 NEW YORK (AP) — Cosmetics giant L’Oreal is denying it lightened Beyonce’s skin tone in an ad. “We highly value our relationship with Ms. Knowles. It is categorically untrue that L’Oreal Paris altered Ms. Knowles’ features or skin tone in the campaign for Feria hair color,” the Paris-based company said in a statement sent to the Associated Press through the singer’s representative. The ad is in the current edition of Elle magazine. L’Oreal, the maker of Garnier hair care and Lancome cosmetics, is the world’s largest cosmetics maker. A representative for Beyonce said the singer would have no comment beyond L’Oreal’s statement. Beyonce has been a spokeswoman for L’Oreal since 2001. From Switched (August 5, 2008) We are so over two things right now. One is the discussion of how much People Magazine paid for the Pitt- Jolie-clan cover shot (more than $14 mil, in case you managed not to hear). The other is the constant analysis of Photoshop intervention in magazine covers. Now a few articles that cover our two least favorite things are making the rounds of the Web. Said articles speculate that MAYBE the babies aren’t as cute as they seem on the cover. Was the People Magazine Did People’s Photoshoppers PASTE ON Cover Doctored? baby Vivienne’s smile? Maybe they did, if the evidence involving a citation from Parenting mag, which alleges that “babies don’t smile from external stimulation until 2-4 months,” is enough to prove the point. The articles also speculate that maybe the babies were just born weeks ago, which is why they’re able to smile, and that Brangelina just didn’t tell us. Either way, the celebrity couple is lying, it would seem. Well maybe the li’l ones were burping. Or maybe the photographers were just really patient. Web site claims that this one is also PhotoShopped big time…like is she screwing her head onto her body? As our bros over at Boing Boing point out, MC looks “cobbled together from a dumpsterful of broken gynoids, unscrewing [her] own head.” June 2008 from Gawker.com Entertainment Weekly‘s Q&A with Angelina Jolie is unremarkable—except for the remarkably unflattering photograph the magazine uses for its cover. Now it could be that EWwanted an image that matched in spirit the “candid interview” touted in the coverline. But I thought the Hollywood publicists demanded photo approval when negotiating interviews—even when they’re pushing a movie such as Jolie’s forthcoming Wanted (watch a chase from the movie, here). On the EW cover, the screen beauty’s chin juts forward; lighting from above has left a shadow under her nose; the pores haven’t been smoothed out in retouching; and there’s a mole on her forehead.