Photo shopping on Magazine covers - taller, thinner, lighter

[Liberal_in_LA]

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/CelebSnapshots/popup?id=3221225

Doctored Magazine Covers
Kim Kardashian's always championed her curvy figure. Recently, Kardashian fought back against photoshop allegations of her March 2009 Complex magazine photo spread, saying "So what: I have a little cellulite. What curvy girl doesn't!?" A before shot of Kardashian was featured on Complex.com for several hours, before the magazine replaced it with a Photoshopped version -- which cropped inches off the reality star's legs, whittled her waist and brightened her skin.
(Complex magazine)

[Orrex]

1. I'm not going to care about this until someone tells me what the hell she's famous for

Seriously, this has been done for many decades. The mystery is how anyone could not know about it already.

[Blue_Tires]

2. very true

way back in the 90s, Pam Anderson (to her credit) was on some talk show demonstrating exactly how glamour cover shots get cropped and shopped (she used one of her own as an example)

[Orrex]

3. I heard Christy Turlington talk about it too, around that same time

This kind of thing has been done for as long as portraits have been painted, but the modern perception is that photos show the "truth," so the deception is all the more insidious.

[NV Whino]

6. Yep. Photoshop just makes it easier and easier to do more

My father used to work in a portrait studio. I remember him touching up both negatives and prints. And ever wonder why in all senior class photos there is not a zit to be found?

I don't mind a little clean up here and there, but I do object to the major exaggeration that magazines do, however. Kate Winslett was spot on with her comments.

[hvn_nbr_2]

8. What she's famous for

I think that, like Johnny Carson's old occasional guest Rula Lenska (spelling?), she's famous for being famous. Pretty much like Paris Hilton was famous for being famous before she became famous for being a nitwit.

I remember the first time I ever stumbled upon "Keeping up with the Kardashians" when channel-flipping, and I wondered, who the heck are the Kardashians and why would I want to keep up with them?

[Orrex]

11. Anyone who's "famous for being famous" should be executed

Any civilized person would reach the same conclusion.

[Deja Q]

4. Whiter too. BTW, is this what she looked like before her facelift?

Whoops, that's "Cardassian". My bad...

[bbernardini]

5. They did it to Michael Stipe of R.E.M. as well:

From the liner notes to "Eponymous":

<>

[amitten]

7. The funny thing about the lightening is that she's naturally fair.

She does a lot of tanning apparently to get her color. I saw a pic of her once without a tan and she's quite pale naturally.

[MorningGlow]

13. I think they're talking about her thighs

In the original pic, they're darker. NOT like anyone would have noticed if they'd left them "as is", but compared to the shopped one, in the original they look "blotchy" (in other words, NORMAL).

[bif]

9. There was an article in the New Yorker about this a while back

It featured a famous retoucher. Basically every photo you see in an ad is Photoshoppped.

[Shell Beau]

10. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the first pic.

I don't get it. Some celebs are against it. I remember when Kate Winslet was pissed that a magazine made her look much thinner.

[Orrex]

12. If it's a picture of a person, there's nothing wrong with it; but if it's a picture of a product...

That's the underlying issue, for good or ill. I expect that most contracts regarding use of photos will tend to include language allowing the photographer of purchaser-client to enhance the image as desired to bring the image in line with their marketing strategy.

Do people object to the use of studio lighting? Or a hair stylist? Is it a problem that the photographer takes 50 or 100 shots to get that one perfect one? What is the acceptable threshold for the illusion of marketing?



Incidentally, I agree that there's nothing wrong with the first pic, though I have to say that I find her so annoying as a media presence that I don't want to look at her at all, photoshopped or otherwise.