BBC Last night - Alesha: Look but Don't Touch (Image retouching)

I have to say that I loved the camera work by the BBC, very well shot. He he, when the 5DmkII is here I too can get that look

tonylong wrote in post #6461038
Heh! As soon as a woman puts on the first dab of makeup, she's advertising herself to the world with a touched-up image!

As others have said, photo retouching has been going on throughout the history of advertising, fashion and glamour. We are not being shown "real people", we are being shown "images" that are designed to either promote a product/fashion line in a "beautiful" way or are designed to stir up, well, pleasant reactions. Either way, it doesn't serve the purpose of the image if flaws stick out. Whatever makeup won't fix, Photoshop will.

There is no line in those industries -- why should there be? For personal portraiture, well, I'd say its between the photog and the client: Is this a "glamor shot" where Photoshop would be desired to enhance a "look" right along the makeup applied, or is it a "natural look" portrait, where flaws and blemishes may be allowed but possibly softened? It's between you and your client, unless you are submitting your work to judges that look down on such touchups.

The point they are making on the program is that young girls think they have flaws, so are doing extreme dieting, plastic surgery etc..

And this differs to 50 years ago when girls were smoking a pack or two a day, so they'd be thinner, how exactly?

It's really only self-delusion which is making people think this is a) something new, or b) something that can be stopped.

As long as there are people more beautiful than you, and as long as the beautiful people you lust after, want nothing to do with you, people will have self-image issues. Advertising is just a convenient target for people's self-loathing.

It's far less painful to blame advertising than it is to look deep within yourself, and find someone with superficial priorities. Unfortunately, that's how God/Nature/The Universe made us, and it has *always* been that way.

milorad wrote in post #6464501
And this differs to 50 years ago when girls were smoking a pack or two a day, so they'd be thinner, how exactly?

It's really only self-delusion which is making people think this is a) something new, or b) something that can be stopped.

As long as there are people more beautiful than you, and as long as the beautiful people you lust after, want nothing to do with you, people will have self-image issues. Advertising is just a convenient target for people's self-loathing.

It's far less painful to blame advertising than it is to look deep within yourself, and find someone with superficial priorities. Unfortunately, that's how God/Nature/The Universe made us, and it has *always* been that way.

It differs because the girls see "touched up" photos and think that they are flawed because of it. 50 years ago they didn't have magazines to look at and certainly didn't have photoshop.

They talked to a group of 7 and 8 year olds and they were saying things like they don't like thier teeth, they are fat and they are not beautiful. They showed that people take the photos too literally and it is affecting girls as young as that.

They also said that when TV was introduced to fiji, 12% of girls developed bulimia because of seeing thin women.

try that again after you've googled '50s pinup'...

also, the impact of foreign cultures is a huge deal... but that doesn't really impact western society, because there, the notion of 'sexy' has never equalled overweight. Certainly in island cultures like fiji, tonga, etc, the opposite is quite true. Being overweight was a mark of success and wealth, because being well-fed means you're not starving.

That too is a function of biology. Who here would rather an anorexic bag of bones, than a minor porker? Nobody, because one is much more unhealthy than the other, and we don't need a nutritionist to tell us that. Of course, an athletic build is even healthier than either of those, so instinctive recognition of superior genetics trumps cultural imagery.

Bringing island cultures into the discussion gives you those extremes again. Thin starving folks, or fatties? Fatties RULE, er... until you see what healthy really looks like.

this reminds me of a short film/ad from a while back

http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=3QYOjTIOJQ4

Not surprisingly, I agree with pretty much everything milorad said.

People are strange. They *say* they want to see "real" people in advertising, but even the "real" people that Dove is putting in their "campaign for real beauty" are nowhere near average. Even the plus sized models they use are toned and everyone is retouched, just made up to look like they aren't wearing make-up.

Women are especially fickle. Women say we don't want the "unreal" models staring at us from magazine pages, but if you put a model in a magazine who isn't perfect, it's the same women who roll their eyes in disgust and call the "real" model fat.

As I've said before, the depth of my disrespect for photo purity is deep.