Mashable - The Social Media Guide - Latest Comments in Photoshopping Illegal? France Set to Regulate Airbrushed Pics

Re: Photoshopping Illegal? France Set to Regulate Airbrushed Pics

angelahh — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 06:50:50 -0000

I absolutely agree!

Re: Photoshopping Illegal? France Set to Regulate Airbrushed Pics

photo editing expert — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 21:50:39 -0000

Thanks for the great post.

Re: Photoshopping Illegal? France Set to Regulate Airbrushed Pics

Hannah — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 19:40:03 -0000

I think they should definitely pass that law. She looks much better before than after! I know magazines make me feel bad about myself so I'm sure loads of other people are the same!!

Re: Photoshopping Illegal? France Set to Regulate Airbrushed Pics

Fabi — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:13:04 -0000

I'm actually doing a proposal argument about the negative effects of photoshop and how society has created a standard of how women should be viewed, by using tools as photoshop, to cut down on their weight, etc...

In this assignment, I actually proposed a similar idea to this one, where a disclaimer would be placed on any advertisement that was photoshopped. HOWEVER, I came to the conclusion that this is already being done with other products, such as cigarettes. At least in the US, Cigarettes must have a disclaimer on them that say they "are harmful to one's health and may lead to death"; yet people all over, still buy this product, and they continue smoking and allowing their health to deteriorate.

So the question to ask is, how effective would that disclaimer be on younger girls to be specific, or even the general audience, and would it allow SOCIETY to change the standards of how a women should look like?

Re: Photoshopping Illegal? France Set to Regulate Airbrushed Pics

buntie24 — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:24:54 -0000

I think it should be. It's publishing an image which is not true. It's not a true representation. It will only be time before the law catches up with this - and puts an end to it. And not a moment too soon...

Re: Photoshopping Illegal? France Set to Regulate Airbrushed Pics

bob — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:27:35 -0000

i agree it reminds me of that 13 going on 30 movie.

Re: Photoshopping Illegal? France Set to Regulate Airbrushed Pics

hydro — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 01:52:12 -0000

Models needed for national competition.... http://bit.ly/NS9Ix

Re: Photoshopping Illegal? France Set to Regulate Airbrushed Pics

Julie — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 04:38:32 -0000

I am absolutely in favor!

Re: Photoshopping Illegal? France Set to Regulate Airbrushed Pics

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 16:39:17 -0000

Last I heard Greeks sculptures were not used to sell products. The female sculptures had real bodies, with curves instead of jutting bones. Greek sculptures were not always made to present an idealized form of the human body. Many times they were made to humanize a God and they served as a temple or a shrine to that god. Later they were made for tombs of athletes and such. When sculptures started being made of muses it was still a person by person thing. Sculptures were showing beauty, magazine photos and ads are used to sell things. They are used to make us feel like we don't have enough or we won't ever have quite enough until we buy this next product or lose the next 5-10 pounds. Subconsciously when we look at a picture we believe it to be real. You can't take a picture of something that didn't exist right? With every picture of this idealized figure we see we don't always stop and tell ourselves that it's been touched up. We don't have time to. The Greeks weren't bombarded with this imagery day in and day out, They had time after looking at a sculpture to also look at everyone around them. The sculpture wasn't suppose to show a norm, it was suppose to show either an exquisite beauty or a time/pose of beauty. The images we see today are selling a norm. They are not telling us that it can't be achieved by all, they are hinting that it can, with the right clothes, or the right plastic surgery, or the right make up, or the right friends. There is a lot of history behind these sculptures that we get to learn throughout our younger years in school, very few kids are learning about the lies of omission that are coming through in ads. I don't think we should smash sculptures, I don't think we should get rid of ads completely, I think we should be a bit more honest about it though. Maybe the warning stickers on the ads aren't the answer, but getting a conversation going and flushing out different ideas is definitely a good start.

Re: Photoshopping Illegal? France Set to Regulate Airbrushed Pics

Geoff McDonald — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 07:52:39 -0000

Shall we smash all the Greek sculptures too? Weren't they guilty of presenting an idealized form of the human body? Health issue or political correctness gone made? I call it 'future blind'. A sure case of not understanding what is happening near or in the near future. I wouldn't expect to see a photo in a magazine that wasn't photoshopped!

Re: Photoshopping Illegal? France Set to Regulate Airbrushed Pics

Name — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 12:47:44 -0000

Think it's a great idea- definitely a step in a positive direction. Sometimes the Frenchies get it right not wanting to go with the flow and just do what's considered popular/what makes the most GP- also not an easy thing to do.

Re: Photoshopping Illegal? France Set to Regulate Airbrushed Pics

Thomas Janson — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 06:21:43 -0000

I had this idea myself. Here in Germany, if you advertise a car, you have to put a note at the bottom if accessory parts are shown on the photo that are not included in the car's base price.

Photoshopping has slowly sneaked into advertising and all kinds of media. The impact especially on (female) teenagers in their social orientation and self-confidence building phase is tremendous and hard to understand for grown-ups (and even more if you are from inside the media).

I have doubts about the cost-benefit ratio of such regulations like most of all. But I believe if an advertiser or media company is basing its business on trying to sell as reality to unsuspecting consumers what is not, it is only fair to ask them to put a little note a the bottom. So they can choose between an image and an honest approach.

We are running out of reality soon.

Re: Photoshopping Illegal? France Set to Regulate Airbrushed Pics

CHikes — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 05:46:38 -0000

Tremendous! No more people will be hired for modelling, and the computer CGI business will explode. Imagine millions of people yearning to become .... what is purely computer generated, with no human being involved in any way.

The isolation of our lives, cutoff from each other, will be complete. We'll yearn to become images that are not even flesh and blood.

I wonder if the French lawmakers really considered the results of their actions.

Re: Photoshopping Illegal? France Set to Regulate Airbrushed Pics

meh22 — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 02:07:47 -0000

What do you want to bet that, Valerie Boyer is a fat, ugly cow?

Re: Photoshopping Illegal? France Set to Regulate Airbrushed Pics

enigmity — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:22:22 -0000

To be inundated with these images your whole life, even with full knowledge that they have been altered (though to what degree per image, the public has no way of knowing), it still presents a disconnect when a girl looks into a mirror and knows that the image staring back at them is pretty, but for some deep-down reason not quite pretty enough. You can know intellectually that you're a healthy weight, and still have insecurities about this bit and that bobble simply because we aren't witness to enough of these imperfections to realize they are the norm and not the aberration.

Personally, I find no reason for a disclaimer on alterations like skin imperfections, colour, tones, a shadow here, a smoothing there. Not all pictures must be photo-journalistic. In fact we - women included - often desire the stylized 'hyper-reality' that a crafted photo can capture. As a woman though, even one who's thinner than Jessica Alba, I take great offence to the "slimming down" of our human subjects. THIS is where the heath dangers of unrealistic expectations come in. THIS is when my blood boils. Aren't the hand-picked goddess models a selective representation of beauty enough?

Why they'd skinnify the above photos is ludicrous to me. I'm insulted that whoever manipulated that photo is TELLING ME what's desirable. Present a form in its most beautiful light, you have my full blessing. But to alter the true form is a corruption of it.

How can we not be subconciously affected, however minutely, after years and years of being innundated with images drilling into us this unauthentic "standard of beauty"? I feel sorry for the women living up to it. I pity the men who expect it.

Zap a zit, leave the curves!!!

Re: Photoshopping Illegal? France Set to Regulate Airbrushed Pics

Jason A. Nunnelley — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:35:03 -0000

The photo on the left is a voluptuous attractive woman.

I'm not saying they didn't modify her. I'm saying she was already quite fetching.

Maybe teens aren't capable of making rational decisions, developing rational ideas of self-image. If Americans aren't happy being pudgy, they should stop eating so much. The stats on BMI and overall indicators like diabetes don't show me a country starving themselves to death.

I have two daughters. We talk about this issue occasionally. I always tell them fat girls have fewer options than thinner girls. And, living a healthy lifestyle creates a much better life all around. Obesity is epidemic in our country. Maybe anorexia is as well, but I don't see any evidence of it near me. But, then I'll admit I live in the fattest part of the fattest country in the world.

But, there are tons of women who are naturally skinny. Millions of women are thin without Photoshop, and lots of them have the 'perfect physique' without the added benefit of skilled artistic modifications in post-shoot. If this Photoshop effect is set aside for cocaine powered models that weigh 90lbs and burn out at 19, does that really help France's teen population?

Maybe this conversation should take place at home. Maybe parents should discuss realistic body images with their children. Maybe they should be taught to separate fantasy from reality instead of just throwing our hands up and expecting teens to conflate the two.

In the end, I think the photo on the left looks good too. The model is attractive without modifications post-shoot. I think the obsession with this so-called perfection element is more in the model and fashion industry than out here in the consumer world. But, I could be wrong.

Re: Photoshopping Illegal? France Set to Regulate Airbrushed Pics

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:13:02 -0000

I disagree complete. They shrunk her waist an made the v in her bottom area just a straight line. This makes her form seem competely different and definitely smaller than I think is physically possible proportionally. Girls will try on a similar outfit, look in the mirror, see that their body looks nothing like hers did in the picture and instead of blaming the product will blame themselves. People don't know what a reasonably healthy shape is, we're taught that skinny skinny skinny is healthy and what to achieve by any means necessary.
Thick teens in america are NOT proud of their extra pounds, have you read any statistics on women and how they feel about their body?
Not only did they change her body, but they also changed her hair and her neck. Her neck is not that skinny. This happens in many ads and like I said before it adds up to unrealistic expectations for teen women (and men) to have about their body. And teens are not the only ones affected by this.

Re: Photoshopping Illegal? France Set to Regulate Airbrushed Pics

Jen — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:58:02 -0000

It's unrealistic to remove all spots from a model's face too, and might make a teenager feel she needs to have excessively perfect skin. Some retouching is good and necessary to remove visual noise from the picture.

As a magazine art director, I'm all for calling excessively manipulated photos "photo illustration." When you get into the realm of changing someone's appearance to something unrecognizable, head-switching, hair-adding, making eyes bigger and waists smaller...it's really not photography anymore. Just an illustration that looks like a photo.

Re: Photoshopping Illegal? France Set to Regulate Airbrushed Pics

Anne — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:37:49 -0000

Here in the UK, one company (Dove) have taken the initiative with their "Campaign for Real Beauty", featuring models with various body types in their ads. OK, so none of them are fat, but they are "real" shapes - curvy, angular, pearshaped, etc. - not skinny supermodels. As a woman, I respect them for that.

A bit of Photoshopping to compensate for poor lighting is one thing, but changing the model's physique is a casual manipulation of women's self-image - pernicious and ultimately dangerous when impressionable teenagers are consumers of such images.

Re: Photoshopping Illegal? France Set to Regulate Airbrushed Pics

Nicoleta — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:55:54 -0000

I wouldn't mind a disclaimer, especially since some enhanced images are done so well, it's almost impossible to distinguish between it and the original.

Re: Photoshopping Illegal? France Set to Regulate Airbrushed Pics

Jason A. Nunnelley — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:09:19 -0000

I realize they shrank her waste, but it's not a significant improvement on her form. Most of the changes are colors and textures.

She's a very attractive woman with the extra few inches. Maybe I just don't care. I'm thinking most people don't really care. Is there an epidemic of children dieting and getting too thin in France? I can assure you that thick teens in America are proud of their extra pounds. There's an obesity problem in the US, but I don't see a skinny obsession here. And, I think ... LIKE I SAID BEFORE ... that people /know/ what a reasonable healthy shape is. This is an argument for super models and professional popularity biz folks - actors, performers, and the sort. The average person is well aware of what a healthy form looks like.

Re: Photoshopping Illegal? France Set to Regulate Airbrushed Pics

Name — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 11:59:47 -0000

Wonderful idea. Let's extend it to ANY modified photograph, I can think of some news outlets that would have little to talk about if that happens.

Re: Photoshopping Illegal? France Set to Regulate Airbrushed Pics

minder — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 11:41:06 -0000

I don't think a camera filter or different pose would have taken those inches off her waist and hips. Perhaps you have already been brainwashed into thinking that bod is natural?

Re: Photoshopping Illegal? France Set to Regulate Airbrushed Pics

Gaby — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 11:33:32 -0000

Where did you get that side-by-side image from? Although the right one is indeed photoshopped, it is NOT a photoshopped version of the left photo - they are different photos. The poses are similar, but actually very different. Her head is at a different angle (not just the tilt, but rotation too) which no photoshopper would bother to change that far. The lips, eyes and nose are at different angles which would have to have been repainted. Also the lighting is different and areas around her neck and collar bone would have had to have been repainted if they were the same image. In general the photo on the right is of such a higher quality and sharpness that it could only have been constructed from the left one by repainting. Repainting just doesn't happen on photo retouches in magazines - it takes too long for results you could get from using a slightly different photo from the shoot, as has occurred here. Further proof? The creases on her "shorts" are different.

So really you are misleading readers with this side-by-side - the theme of the article implies the images are the same but one is a retouched version. Fair enough if your source told you it's the same image.

Re: Photoshopping Illegal? France Set to Regulate Airbrushed Pics

jberg — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 11:31:49 -0000

This sounds like a good idea.
Here in the Us- food is so readily available evrywhere, yet there are people starving themselves to kee p up with false images.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...