Today, the altering of photos is so widespread that it's difficult to know for certain if what you're seeing is real.
My experience with photography dates back to 1977 when I was first introduced to a Minolta XG7 35mm SLR Camera for a photography class I took in junior high school. Back then, we took pictures on film and developed the film in a darkroom, where we would then print black and white photos using a Beseler photo enlarger -- the 'old style' technique. It was truly an art to create a quality image, using burning and dodging techniques, and knowing precisely how long to keep the exposed image in the various chemicals needed for processing. Of course, that was 42 years ago and today everyone can see their images instantly on their phones, editing and publishing photos quickly to social media.
In 1990, Photoshop hit the market -- the leading software for image manipulation. The before and after photos accompanying this writing (of the woman in high heels) is an example of what Photoshop can do. Photoshop has changed photography, fashion, and advertising faster than legislation has been able to keep up. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission has been enforcing truth-in-advertising laws for over a hundred years, but they've been slow to respond to image retouching. However, that's starting to change.
In countries around the world, legislators and regulators are beginning to take action. Laws are being passed -- like the Photoshop Law in Israel which requires models to be at least an 18.5 BMI (body mass index) and for advertisers to label retouched images. In France, an October 2017 law went into effect requiring a "photographie retouchée" label on photos that have been digitally altered to make a model's silhouette narrower or wider. It also requires an every other year health exam for models, to medically certify that they are healthy enough to work.
As a result of the increasing popularity of photo manipulation, the globally recognized stock photography group called Getty Images banned "any creative content depicting models whose body shapes have been retouched to make them look thinner or larger," according to an email sent out to all customers. Getty stated, "It’s important to be clear that altering a model’s body shape as described by the new French law is quite rare in commercial stock photography (it is time consuming and is also against the increasing trend towards more authentic imagery)."
Lawmakers and enforcers are motivated primarily by unrealistic depictions of the female body, and the potential harm retouched images are causing to the self-esteem of impressionable youth. The American Medical Association released a statement condemning excessive image alteration that included this excerpt:
In October 2015, teen star Zendaya was applauded for calling out Modeliste Magazine for what she felt was heavy-handed Photoshopping of her images. On her Instagram account, she explained that she was was “shocked when I found my 19 year old hips and torso quite manipulated,” and that images edited in this way “create the unrealistic ideals of beauty that we have.”"The appearance of advertisements with extremely altered models can create unrealistic expectations of appropriate body image. In one image, a model's waist was slimmed so severely, her head appeared to be wider than her waist. We must stop exposing impressionable children and teenagers to advertisements portraying models with body types only attainable with the help of photo editing software."
In 2013, Beyonce protested against clothing retailer H&M, refusing to allow them to make alterations to her body after a photoshoot for H&M’s swimwear line. That same year Lady Gaga spoke out against her Glamour cover photo because she felt her “skin looked too perfect” and her “hair looked too soft.”
In April 2016, Scandal star Kerry Washington took to her Instagram to respond to Adweek’s heavy Photoshop job of her cover, explaining that “it felt strange to look at a picture of myself that is so different from what I look like when I look in the mirror.”
In January 2018, CVS unveiled a campaign to create new standards for beauty ads in their stores — namely, phasing out airbrushing and other digital alterations. Part of that included the debut of the CVS Beauty Mark, a watermark placed on advertisements confirming to customers that the images weren’t digitally altered or retouched (which CVS defined as "changing or enhancing a person’s shape, size, proportion, skin or eye color, wrinkles or any other individual characteristics"). Additionally, CVS also asked beauty brands sold there to adhere to these new standards by 2020. They increased their efforts a few months later with their new ad campaign, "Beauty in Real Life," for which the company cast a diverse group of real women from all over the U.S. for un-retouched print and video imagery.
No, you cannot always believe what you see in a photograph. The days of waiting to see a photo for the first time in a darkroom environment are long gone, as are the days of being able to trust with greater certainty what your eyes actually see in a photograph.
From Him, Through Him, For Him (Romans 11:36),
Paul J. Staso
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Visit my YouTube channel -- https://www.youtube.com/user/pacetrek
Click on any of the links below to see some of my adventure photos:
- United States in 2006 (3,260 miles solo in 108 days at age 41)
- Montana in 2008 (620 miles solo in 20 days at age 43)
- Alaska in 2009 (500 miles solo in 18 days at age 44)
- Germany in 2010 (500 miles solo in 21 days at age 45)
- The Mojave Desert in 2011 (506 miles solo in 17 days at age 46)
- Various Photos From Mileposts Gone By
- Students Worldwide Who Ran With Me Virtually
- Roadside Sights From My Running Adventures
- Some Cycling Moments From The Past
