Photo ad

[janedavitt]

This was on my Goodreads page and I clicked...

http://www.portraitprofessional.com/?gclid=CLjT4qCCiqwCFUgDQAodHG8vrg

Does anyone else have a huge problem with this? Taking perfectly nice-looking people and airbrushing them to look 'better'?

Right now, Eleanor has freckles and some teenage zits; so what? I don't want them airbrushed away! I want a photo of my darling daughter as she is.

It's sending an awful message.

ETA Eleanor tells me it's an option on her school pix but it costs extra. I would pay them NOT to do it.

Maybe I'm touchy because last night I read 150 pages of Tyra Banks' new novel Modelland before my brain could not deal with it a paragraph more (free ebook from the library, since returned).

What was she on when she wrote it? That book is strange.

Comments

[soundingsea]

Wow, ugh. All the 'after' pictures look like creepy dolls! Why can't people just be allowed to look HUMAN?

[janedavitt]

They do! With alien eyes. Spooky ::shivers::

[busaikko]

When I went to high school, all the senior pictures were retouched (back in the days before Photoshop...). For special pictures -- formal portraits, wedding pictures -- it doesn't bother me at all if it's a question of evening out skin tones or erasing pimples. It's easier than putting on a bunch of makeup! I was taken aback that the program deletes wrinkles, and surprised that it allows users to change jaw shape, narrow faces, and alter eye color. I can't think why anyone would want a picture that dis-resembles themselves to such a degree.

[janedavitt]

I know; it's obviously not you so umm, why do it?

[twistedchick]

That is what every magazine photo or ad looks like.

[janedavitt]

And they should ban them when they're selling skin products and such. It's outright lying.

[twistedchick]

It's particularly odious when the actresses from Desperate Housewives show up in the advertising with no lines, not even smile lines.

[janedavitt]

I feel like saying, how stupid do you think we are? Good grief.

[iadorespike]

No...seriously, Jane...it's perfectly all right to teach kids/people that looking like yourself is just not good enough. Extreme levels of perfection in appearance are the only acceptable goals. Perfect (PERFECT!!) skin, abnormally sparkling and clear eyes, no hint of wrinkle or puffiness or bulge or blemish...this should become the norm. Clearly, real isn't good enough. *blinks*

Grrrr Arghhhh!!!!

I was totally freaked out by the *improved* appearances. They don't even look real! I just don't understand how this can be thought to be a good thing. :(

[janedavitt]

They freaked me out. Robots with alien, glaring eyes. Eek!

[copracat]

AUGH AUGH AUGH! Why would you want your child's face CHANGED? They changed the shape of those people's EYES.

[janedavitt]

It's appalling, it really is :-(

[ninetydegrees]

Yuck, yuck, yuck.

And of course most people shown here are women, and relatively young ones. It's not just airbrushing either, one has her nose changed. Plus, the original pictures are done in a way to 'enhance imperfections'; something a little make-up could have easily hidden if one wanted to.

[janedavitt]

It's just so disturbing on so many levels. Here; let us show you alternative!you. She doesn't exist but she's so much prettier than you...

[spikewriter]

One thing to smooth out skin tone for a wedding portrait because, well, you don't exactly look like yourself, anyway. If a kid has a big, nasty zit in a school photo, I wouldn't mind that either.

Start changing the position/shape of body parts, uh, no. Besides, if it isn't done carefully, everyone looks plastic (and you know most of the photos done with this will end up just that way.)

I have now downloaded the sample of Modelland from Amazon because I feel in the need for a train wreck.

[janedavitt]

They'll look like clones.

Ha! Let me know what you think :-)

[spikewriter]

I've read the intro and part of the first chapter.

OMG, SHE'S WRITTEN ANTM MARY-SUE SELF-INSERT FANFIC!

All the tropes are there: the folks who don't appreciate her, she's going to be taken out of her situation and into a better one -- and there will be people who realize they misjudged her and should have been nicer to her and now will Regret It for the Rest of Their Lives. There's got to be a snarky but caring drag queen who teaches Tookie how to walk. Please.

I should be horrified that this is on the shelves and aimed at girls, but it's so badly over-written I just want to get the popcorn. Either Tyra really did type this herself or her ghostwriter was subtle enough in his mocking that she didn't notice,

I can get the whole thing from my library because I've got to read further, but there is no way I'm putting money in her pocket from this.

[janedavitt]

It's mesmerizing yet awful. Yeah, downloading for free from the local library is one thing, but buying it? Nuh-uh.

Want me to blow your mind? It's a planned trilogy.

[rahirah]

I like how they've deliberately used lighting and makeup (and possibly Photoshop filters) that emphasizes the flaws in the 'before' pictures.

[janedavitt]

I agree. It's even more of a subtle cheat because you wouldn't expect someone to make themselves look 'worse;.

It's appalling.