the photoshop phenomenon

The time has come for a rant.

We see images all t he time. In today’s culture we are practically forced to be inundated by images selling everything from soda to mp3 players to cars to underwear. The thing about all this advertising is that almost all of them are image-based.

I wouldn’t say they’re photography in the strictest sense. True, cameras with either sensors or film are used to capture the starting points for the ads, but most ads are so photoshopped that all the camera really does is provide the graphic artists with some objects to work with. As we can see in this Diesel ad, almost every surfaced has been airbrushed into oblivion and the only recognizable elements are almost cartoonish.

I’d also like to share a second illustration with you. I have a friend who is currently working as a freelance photographer’s assistant in New York City. He’s been working with some of the biggest names in the business and his duties include everything from setting up lighting, holding reflectors, cleaning, and photoshopping models faces. I asked him to give one of my photos the same treatment he usually gives a client and the resulting comparison accompanies this article.

The photo on the right is the “untouched” version where the model’s skin is left exactly as it was seen through the camera. The photo on the left is what’s left of her after applying the usual treatment advertising photographers request. As you can see, almost any character of the girl’s face is gone. Wrinkles, creases and zits are all gone.

First, this problem affects photographers. Because of increased awareness about  the uses of photoshop, people begin to disbelieve that things really were seen the way photographers see them. When I showed a friend a photograph of the collapse of tower one on 9/11 by James Nachtwey - one of the best photojournalists of our time - their response was, “How much of that was photoshopped in later?”

We’re starting to lose appreciation for the hard work that photographers put in to images. We start to value the ability to capture a significant moment less and less assuming that these moments are easily fabricated on the computer screen.

It also has implications that stretch far beyond photography. The people that we see in ads these days aren’t real. They are photoshop people that don’t exist in reality. Any comparisons we draw between ourselves and them would be pointless.

The only way to counteract this is to make sure that we don’t inundate ourselves with these images. We have to take the time to look from side to side and appreciate the beauty God saw in us when he made us. The people we see everyday are God’s most impressive works of art, so remind yourself of that.