The Power of Photoshop

 

There's not a day when I don't hear about photoshop abuse so I thought I’d add my two pence.

So here it is:

Photos are retouched. All published photos are retouched.  Oh and in case you thought paparazzi photos are not retouched – think again. Retouching has been going on for like, ever! Films (moving picture) are retouched too.

Now we established this, let me explain why.

Long time ago, must be over ten years ago (and it feels like a century technology-wise) we used to shoot film and not digital. There was something magical about film. You’d shoot polariods first to check the light, then once the photographer was happy with his light composition, we’d shoot film. There was no instant gratification of today, the film was processed in a lab, we’d get it the next day or so and then we’d sit at the light box and pick the best images.

When shooting beauty campaigns we’d of course, pick the models with perfect skin, I’d spend hours in make up using all tricks of the trade (that may or may not be including the product that was advertised), the model’s face would be lit well. When shot in film, some detail would be lost, so inevitably some imperfections would be lost, but there would still be things that needed to be “erased”. Some photographers used a fine set of brushes and paint and they would finely paint the imperfections away. This was done like this for decades.

With computers came Adobe Photoshop. Photos and film were scanned and then retouched. Photoshop allowed for more manipulation in post-production. Suddenly the lighting/make up/models on shoot didn’t have to be so perfect or precise as the tweaking could be done later. I'm not just talking about removing a spot or straightening model's teeth, there's flyaway hair, virtual ironing of the creases in the clothes to mixing up the parts of the model's body made up from different shots. 

I'm as guilty as anyone in the business, I admit. I sat there with retouchers asking them to change things as well. It's never about retouching make up (hell to the no), instead I'd ask them to straighten the model's nose, make it smaller or narrower, erase the spots, get rid of a hairy top lip (oh yeah it happens), to make the model's eyes the same size (even Christy Turlington had one eye bigger than the other), fix anything that would take the attention away from make up (in a beauty shoot, of course).

Then came digital photography. The instant pictures. Taking photos seemed easy that photographers were popping up like mushrooms after rain. It seems like as long as you could find your way round photoshop you could be a photographer.

I’m getting to the point, bear with me…  

Digital photos do not discriminate and they pick up ALL the detail.  Good and bad. The first time I did a beauty shoot on digital camera I freaked out as the detail not visible by the naked eye was captured and magnified 20 times and staring at me on the screen.

Being able to see instantly what you were getting was great in a way that it saved on time in the studio as studio time is expensive and it’s cheaper to pay someone to retouch photos than to book another day of shooting. These days retoucher can be on the other side of the world earning peanuts compared what you’d have to pay someone here in UK.

Of course, the less time and money is spent on the day of the shoot, more time is spent in post-production.

Photoshop gave us the freedom to experiment with light and special effects, but at the same time, people got carried away and realised they could make the models skinnier, taller, younger and Kate Moss could look 25 forever.

So what’s the alternative, to abandon photoshop completely? Nope, not going to happen. People are just too vain to let it happen. Plus all “imperfections” the would attract wrong kind of attention from what is meant to be advertised. For example, there is a reason fashion models are skinny with no boobs – boobs and curves make girls look sexy, sexy girls sell sex and not clothes.

What I’m saying is that you should take for granted that photos are retouched and that supposed perfection shown in the photos doesn’t exist. As long as people and especially impressionable young girls, are aware of that then there should be no confusion or idealisation of unattainable physical perfection.

Fashion Shows Archives - Backstage Part 1

While looking for some old photos I came across this folder with pictures from shows. As this was before digital I took some snaps on my iphone and I thought I'd share them here.... And that also reminded me of a couple of occasions where I thought I took loads of photos backstage and discovered that the film wasn't loaded properly..... no chance of that happening now, eh! These days our hard drives go, but I digress... Anyway, hope you enjoy some great fashion models such as Gisele Bundchen, Yasmin Le Bon, Bridget Hall, Amy Wasson, Liberty Ross, etc...

Avon are Crazy and I'm Annoyed

There isn’t a month where a new breakthrough anti ageing ingredient is discovered and it will miraculously change your life.

This month Avon are flogging their Amino fill 33 or A-F33 and according to The Daily Mail (who else really) it’s a miracle and stops women from having plastic surgery. Yes, their words. And 100% effective. For real. Every single woman noticed a difference within a week. You can imagine how much that article annoyed me so much that I had to write something!

You see, for a supposed wonder ingredient there is not a lot published clinical data anywhere online that would support their claim. You type it into Google search and apart from a few blogs wondering about it, most entries online are where to buy the cream and press releases. So I looked for ingredients of the “miracle” cream and here they are:

WATER/EAU

GLYCERIN

ETHYLHEXYL ISONONANOATE

OCTYLDODECANOL

DIMETHICONE

BUTYLENE GLYCOL

POLYMETHYL METHACRYLATE

TRISILOXANE

HYDROXYETHYL ACRYLATE/SODIUM ACRYLOYLDIMETHYL TAURATE COPOLYMER

ISOHEXADECANE

ACETYL TYROSINAMIDE

DIMETHICONOL

PEG-100 STEARATE

LAURETH-4

POLYSORBATE 60

POLYSORBATE 20

ASCORBIC ACID

BHT

SODIUM HYDROXIDE

DISODIUM EDTA

RETINOL

PHENOXYETHANOL

METHYLPARABEN

I was struggling to find anything miracle in this list. Yes some glycerin, retinol and ascorbic acid are there that are good for you, but nothing earth shattering. So from all the ingredients I think Acetyl Tyrosinamide might be “it”. I did a bit of research and found that AT is not that great. In fact, more I looked into is the less I liked what I found. It is a major irritant. So much that it comes with a warning – avoid contact with skin, eyes, inhalation and ingestion – may be harmful if absorbed through the skin, swallowed etc.

Also I ask my chemist friend for more info and am told that it actually inhibits protein synthesis. Sort of what we don’t want it to do.

I don’t think Avon (I hope so at least) would put too much of it into the creams so it creates a major damage, but maybe they would put just enough in it to cause a tiny bit of irritation so the cream appears to be “working”. There are no long term studies showing results after prolonged use, there is nothing there to tell us anything.

Luckily for Avon, there are millions of gullible women out there who will be seduced by the flash advertising and (paid for) media hype and they will buy into the promise in a tube. It won’t work like many of the others, but by the time women actually wise up and notice, Avon would have moved on and created another “miracle” product. And there we go again. Until next time.

Cleanse, Tone, Moisturise

These days we don’t have enough time for anything so there is no surprise that we try to simplify our beauty routine. Cosmetics companies see that and we constantly have new products that will shave off minutes of our morning and evening maintenance drill. But does it really save us time and, more importantly, money?

Let’s look at the evidence. Long time ago all we had to do cleanse, tone and moisturise, plus an occasional visit to a beautician to pick our blackheads and squeeze our millia.  I’m not even going into the pre-holiday waxing and preening.

When did it all got so complicated. Sure, we use wash off cleansers, moisturisers with built in SPF, shellaq manicures that last longer…. But we use more stuff. I’m as guilty as any of us.

On one side I use a wash off gel cleanser, which in theory, should be enough, but it isn’t. To take make up off properly I still need a nice milky or oily cleanser, eye make up remover and a toner. By the way, toner doesn’t really tone anything, it’s just there to remove the last bit of dirt that cleanser missed.  So I counted four products so far. Plus your cotton wool, muslin cloths etc. You get the picture.

As we try to cut on the time we spend on the cleansing that we don’t do properly in the first place, our skin gets congested so we have to exfoliate, use things like clarisonic, purifying masks, moisturising masks, anti ageing peels etc.

Going to a beauty salon to try new “breakthrough” lifting, poking, prodding, dermarolling treatments all in the hope we would save time at home. Again, you get the picture.

Perhaps it’s time we went back full circle to the old fashioned routine. I know there’s nothing cutting edge about it, but I’m a true believer in proper cleansing. The cleansing will massage and stimulate your skin and you’ll end up with a clearer skin. It will also gently exfoliate the dead skin cells. If you don’t believe me try putting on make up five times in a day and taking it off. Your face will be painfully sore.  So morning and evening would be enough.

If your skin is on a dry side I also believe you will benefit from moisturising waters that most Japanese cosmetics companies do and also Melvita, but deep cleansing masks, lifting masks, scrubs etc will be the thing of the past.

I’ve done this routine before and I need to start doing this again, who is with me?