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04-06-2010, 05:24 PM   #1
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Retouching… Much Ado About Nothing

Is the April issue of French Marie Claire “throwing stones into the water? ” Their whole issue is without any retouching! Finally the readers will be exposed to the RAW truth without the artificial frills!

Well, almost… We have to pass through the multiplicity of advertising pages that are as expected, heavily retouched before accessing the first editorial photo that has not been tarnished by that Bad Boy on the Block, Mr. Photoshop. I personally really enjoyed the painted portrait of Julia Roberts with absolutely natural eyelashes for Lancôme and the no eyelid-ed Sharon Stone for Dior. You can even see Julia Roberts beauty mark under her eye! Nudge, Nudge, Wink, Wink, say no more, say no more.

Bad digital retouching can be worst enemy of celebrities…

Julia Roberts for Lancôme and Sharon Stone for Dior

… But it can also improve the overall image and atmosphere.

Madonna in the Vuitton Campaign Fall Winter 2009-2010

The recent brouhaha started in France last year with Valérie Boyer, a member of the National Assembly of France from the Bouches-du-Rhône district, has filed a new bill stating, any image that has been retouched or post processed should include the following preamble or text, “This photo has been retouched to alter the physical appearance of a person, “Failure to comply with this provision could result in a fine of €37,500, ($50,000) or as high as 50 percent of the space buying budget of the advertising campaign.

There is something unhealthy in the misrepresentation of body image in our society, said the Marseille’s Congress Woman who wants to “enlighten the consumer.” “It is outrageous,” she says, to believe that one side of the spectrum are the little people with their flaws, cellulite and at the other extreme there are the perfect people. There is an indecency in having us believe we look better at 70 than at 20. I wish to restore and highlight the barrier between the virtual and physical reality.

Turning the pages of the April issue of French Marie Claire I see that the photographers had to use the old technique ’s before Photoshop existed…

Burning out the skin using overexposure, soft light, adding a half blue filter to whiten the skin, pulled back images, large smile’s for celebrities so their nasal labial folds are hidden, pulled back hair with hands stretching the skin and smoothing the wrinkles. Using grainy film and converting the images to black and white to neutralize the skin tones.

This is where I see digital retouching as necessary! Necessary for making banal images more interesting and a little more dreamy. Photography has changed a lot in the manner in which photos are captured. Today photographers have a lot more latitude giving them the opportunity to use more extreme angles, close-up’s and harder light.

To think that retouching is only about reshaping a model or celebrity or erasing the wrinkles and spots is quite naive. Photoshop is necessary for photographers who rely on the digital retouching process to make their images acceptable. Many of them wouldn’t have been published only 15 years ago, when fashion photographers had to know how to light an image, know which type of film should be used to give the most favourable rendition and how it will translate to print.

Photoshop is also a fabulous tool to enhance the artistic possibilities of the photographer and creative director as never before. I don’t think I would be interested in buying copies of Numéro, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, V, Pop or W magazine if the images, styling and scenery dramatizations were as banal as what I saw in the Marie Claire un-retouched issue. When I buy Feminine Press magazines, it is certainly not for its literary content, but more so for their Fashion and Beauty stories with their creative visual impact.

Even in the 1930’s photos were heavily retouched using traditional artisan methods, using pencils, paint brushes & spot removers as well as in the dark room with dodge and burn techniques.

Joan Crawford by George Hurrell


No one is fooled and even adolescents know that a 15 year old model in a glossy magazine is retouched to the maximum. Many teen-aged internet users use a light version of Photoshop or other similar programs to retouch their own photos they post on Facebook! Does doing so lead them to anorexia? If so there would be many more cases. Why doesn’t Valérie Boyer also advocate for the censorship of TV programs like Extreme Makeover that shows how quickly and easily one can be “transformed surgically” from the ground up? What about 3D images, films, video games, cartoons or why not the censorship of sculpture-painter Fernando Botero who glorifies women at the other end of the anorexic spectrum?

French Elle Magazine went even further last year with actresses and models who accepted to pose for Peter Lindbergh without retouching and without make up!!

It does not say if the celebrities featured were botox free, hyaluronic acid or plastic surgery free… That might be a great next theme where there is no retouching, make up, injections or plastic surgery and what you look like first thing in the morning. This niche has already been taken by paparazzi and people magazines.

… And all of this makes me wonder if Valérie Boyer is using an un-retouched portrait of herself on her website?

Example of Digital retouching on gorgeous Super Model Natasha Poly

Benjamin Kanarek Blog | Benjamin Kanarek Blog

04-06-2010, 05:36 PM   #2
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Fashion photography to me is art, not a reflection of reality. So retouching is fine. I'm not a woman, nor am I a vain man, so I don't understand how images of models and celebrities can affect one's self-esteem.

However, as a photographer, it certainly affects my self-esteem when I can't retouch/process as well as the pros and my images, ignoring everything else that makes an image great, don't reach the same potential! But I'm working on that as time permits...
04-06-2010, 05:53 PM   #3
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This is facinating. Thank you for posting this as I wouldn't have had a clue as to some of the techniques used (especially historical techniques).
I also enjoyed the irony of the retouched advertising within the issue.

I'm still not convinced about the wholesale airbrushing of models, but then, given the target audience can't seem to make their mind up about which of two men they want to be with (as per the cover), then I guess not that much is going in mentally.

Here is another point of view regarding photoshop use in kids I read a little while ago (no, I am not the author) Here

Last edited by Clarkey; 04-06-2010 at 05:54 PM. Reason: spelling
04-06-2010, 06:57 PM   #4
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Even before PS, there were paint brush specialists retouching the images with brushes and dyes. Times are changin'

04-06-2010, 09:13 PM   #5
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How about a very talented photographer who can make use of lighting, clothing, angles, and poses to make someone look their best? Would this be considered retouching under this bill?

What about makeup-artist geniuses? Wouldn't their craft/talent be considered retouching too?

How about Botox? Would the politician in question expect a disclaimer stating this star is actually saggy and ugly but thanks to Botox, she/he's gorgeous?

And to turn the tables on her - can politicians perhaps put a disclaimer on their campaign ads stating that a good percentage of what they say is pure drivel?
04-06-2010, 09:23 PM   #6
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QuoteOriginally posted by George Lama Quote
And to turn the tables on her - can politicians perhaps put a disclaimer on their campaign ads stating that a good percentage of what they say is pure drivel?
How true and a great laugh.

Interesting Ben. How many photogs even remember how to use filters? Sounds like more will be learning. I do agree with the earlier campaign to guard against the skinny model who is literally dying to stay in the business.
But from what I still see, very little has changed.
04-07-2010, 05:56 AM   #7
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If they banned it, what would Oprah do?

04-07-2010, 09:49 PM   #8
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I think that photoshop is a red herring here. People have been retouching themselves however possible, whenever possible, for as long as they could. What about makeup, flattering clothes, hair dye, tanning salons, cosmetic surgery. In the middle ages women ingested small amounts of lye because it made their complexions whiter. A hundred years ago you could buy radium toothpaste to really whiten teeth. The list just goes on and on. Sure the advertising and fashion industries heighten the problems but human nature is human nature.

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04-08-2010, 10:49 AM   #9
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Maybe the issue is that Photoshop has really lowered the effort bar in "retouching"? Though I would argue that a good retouching job takes a long time...
04-08-2010, 02:23 PM   #10
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04-13-2010, 08:04 PM   #11
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QuoteOriginally posted by benjikan Quote
No one is fooled and even adolescents know that a 15 year old model in a glossy magazine is retouched to the maximum. Many teen-aged internet users use a light version of Photoshop or other similar programs to retouch their own photos they post on Facebook!
Young people do not know the extent of retouching. No way, no how. The fact they add red stars and hugs and kisses to their pictures for Bebo makes no nevermind. If anything it has the opposite effect: it makes them believe that all such software is useful for are gross manipulations and not the subtle mutations experts can achieve with the time and skills at their disposal.

And even if they know how the affect is achieved, that does not mean they they are unaffected by the resulting images, which bombard them at a rate of hundreds or thousands a day.

QuoteOriginally posted by benjikan Quote
Does doing so lead them to anorexia? If so there would be many more cases.
And you know this how?

What does lead to anorexia, then? Many things, but basically it is a self-image problem. And where are the models that people compare themselves to when establishing a self-image? Where are the heroes and stars? In the magazines and on the billboards and in the films. And no-one can look like they do; it is an impossible standard. Even the stars themselves do not look like that, which is of course where manipulation (analog, digital, whatever) comes into play.

Will I now suggest that we should censor these media, force them to conform to some standard of "normality", ask them to have warnings? No way. Yet certainly "There is something unhealthy in the misrepresentation of body image in our society." Of that there is no doubt.

Ben, you achieve wonderful results from a combination of excellent photographic technique, great staging, make-up, clothing and post-production. But I must wonder why this article (and others of yours) includes such head-in-the-sand dismissals of serious health concerns.
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