Photoshop

So, I was playing around on the internet today, looking at my daily websites. And I came across this one:
http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/
It basically shows all the silly photoshop mistakes the media, newsprint and websites are making. I started thinking about how rare it is to find pictures anywhere these days without it being messed with. Especially women. It's sad how we are held up to these impossible standards. Standards that mostly don't even exist because of a lovely little program called photoshop. Women who are almost already perfect are being tweaked. Maybe take the waist in, or smooth a tiny wrinkle. It's pretty scary.
I know a lot of you ladies might be struggling with your bodies, or maybe you're starting to age. But I just wanted to show you some things that might make you feel a little better about yourselves.
So first up is a link to a websites of before and after pictures of celebrities.
http://www.hemmy.net/2007/05/25/celebrities-before-and-after-photoshop/
http://gossip.commongate.com/post/celebrities_without_photoshop

Here's a link to a campaign brought to you by a group called girl power.
http://demo.fb.se/e/girlpower/retouch/

These are links to a professional re-toucher. He has some great mouse-overs to show the before and after.
http://homepage.mac.com/gapodaca/digital/bikini/bikini1.html
http://homepage.mac.com/gapodaca/digital/blonde/blonde1.html

This is a video of an already young and pretty Hilary Duff getting the photoshop treatment.


The next video is showing you can completely transform someones body from overweight to skinny. The video is probably NSFW because of the outfit in the picture. So watch at home.


This is a great ad from Dove

Last, the pictures below are some examples of what I have done in photoshop. My boyfriend is learning photography, so when he brings pictures home, it's a perfect opportunity to practice my photoshop skills. I taught myself, so I am no where near the level of the videos above. But I consider myself intermediate.
Click on the pictures to get a better view.
These are basically cosmetic except for a few facial stucture changes. I love to re-do makeup.

These last ones are some of the more extreme pictures I've done. The first two I completely changed the shape of their faces. And the last is an example of taking away and adding elements to create a whole new picture.

So, there you have it. It's a long post to prove my point. But I just wanted to show you that when it comes to beauty, nothing is what it seems.