Laughing Lion Design

You may have read or heard some of the fuss about the pictures of Faith Hill on the cover of Redbook magazine. Original picture below on the right.

Firstly, let me say, it’s a great Photoshop job. Nicely airbrushed face, new right arm placed in the picture, a fair amount of flesh removed from the left arm and back. If you didn’t see the “before” picture, you may not even think twice about it.

The thing that I find really bizarre is that there was any need to retouch the woman in the first place. She looks brilliant to me. Unfortunately this is where Photoshop gets a bit of a bad rap. Since the first pictures were taken with a camera, manipulations have been made, there’s nothing new there. But in recent times we’re getting these ridiculous images of women and men with unobtainable bodies and skin, many created with Photoshop.

In some of the trashier magazines (not sure about America but definitely on this side of the Atlantic) the Photoshopping is used to make the “celebrities” look worse by making them look sweatier, hairier and blobbier.

Needless to say, I love Photoshopping images and changing things around as much as the next person but should there be some code of conduct for magazines? What do you think?

Check out this article from Photoshop News in 2005, which discusses “Digital Ethics“. It’s a very interesting read.

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Related posts:

1. Free Ebook: Photojournalism, Technology and Ethics
2. Design Inspiration : Michael Elins
3. Photoshop Code of Ethics
4. Resources : Photoshop Disasters Website