Deutsch
English
Do you consider yourself vain? I don't. We're supposed to age gracefully, live in harmony with ourselves and not be vain as that would be foolish we're taught from early on. But looking at profile pictures in social networks I can't help but wonder how all of these people can look so pretty darn perfect. How can my neighbor that rather resembles Martin Luther suddenly ooze the glamor of Sharon Stone? What happened to the impressing double chin of my former work mate? And where did the wrinkles of my former training supervisor go? Looking at my own pictures I get the distinct feeling that something has changed.
I find it hard to look at today's magazine and album covers that unanimously depict perfect, statuesque people. When skinny models undergo further slimming with the help of computers something is very wrong. If you look at old images of Freddy Mercury, the Stone or Elton John you'll realize one thing - humans aren't perfect, not even close. These past images tell a story of sweaty concerts, billows upon billows of cigarette smoke, all too short nights and weeping dentists, just very human basically. The stars of today are spotless, no pimples, no wrinkles, almost aseptic. Enough to make you succumb to the blessings of digital photo editing, at least temporarily.
Whenever we add a partner product to our portfolio I love to give it a try, I like software after all. Same with Portrait Pro 12, a digital retouching tool for those who don't get along with Photoshop. Everything's easy, it comes with automatic shape recognition and handling is done through a few sliders. Photoshop aficionados may turn their noses but I just want decent results fast. May others find their calling in handling 20 image layers with 100 possible filter settings, I just don't have patience for that. Image editing shouldn't take longer than a commercial break.
Do you recognize this woman?
I'd rather fire up my application, load an image and - Tada! - the application even detects my face. A notable achievement since I was rather overtired, unshaved and squinted into the camera. It takes two clicks for me to lose control - all these wonderful sliders! Where other applications expect you to click your way through a dozen layers this one does everything from eye enlargements, skin cleaning and - lets call a spade a spade - face slimming with a few sliders. That's where things get dynamic.
Because there's a weird feeling of being pulled in by the application. At first, I get rid of a few laughter lines, drag to narrow my face just a little and in with flashes lighting up the evening sky, there is a bit of Frankenstein in all of this after all. With a few clicks, I create an entirely new person. The soft, dreamy-eyed Sven with beaming eyes. The prominent, testosterone-fueled Sven with extra-hard exposure settings in black an white. The "my little princess" Sven with a ton of makeup, full lips and cheekbones to die for. And "Boy George" Sven after detox... Alright, that's enough!
Oh, Goodness! OH GOODNESS!
Comparing the immaculate, fully optimized image to the original, I came to my final realization: It's a face only a mother can love. Suddenly, I understood why I never got to sit in the front row for class photos. But wait - digital photo editing affects the veracity. You're presented with a fake reality! Keep that in mind whenever you edit your images. Perfection may be just a few clicks away but at what point is it no longer you? How far are you willing to go to please others (and yourself)? I for one have made my decision - hello wrinkles (for the most part), hello old age (not that old actually :) ) and I took the liberty of adding a gentle smile. And I took four pounds off but I'm planning on losing that anyway. Still - that's me, as "large" as life. May others shine in their spotless photos - we all know how they did it.
So agree with you re touch up's, but I am not going to show anybody me as my Bu Pass photo looks really bad then realised that's how I look !!
I cannot understand why people feel the need to alter their looks etc. Age gets us all and those that are so vain as to try and change that says something about peoples obsession with looks etc.
I always show the real me in every photo I have taken I would rather people and friends see me for who I really am I can't obtain youth and have wrinkles gone overnight, God I wish people would forget about how the world perceive them.
G'Day Sven,
Nice "photo" of Angela Merkel ! I once received a photo of the same 'Lady' standing naked with two other young women; all in their early 20s I think.
Guten Tag freunde,
Victor, Redland City near Brisbane Australia.
What a traumatic sight! :)
Hi! My guess is that the portrait is of Angela Merkel, but I admit that it's the colour of her coat and the way she's waving her arm - we seem to have seen that in the news so many times... I'm wondering if the software you're using can be made to "morph" you back to the way you looked at age, say, 25 i.e., rather than trying to look like a Kardashian or Lollobrigida (if you're old enough to remember the name...), can you make yourself recognisable to family and friends who knew you 'way back when, so to speak?
My mom, who passed in 2008 at age 88, did not like her picture taken, but she would look at photos from long ago or of other people. Our inner image never matches the cold outer reality, does it.
How do you teach children, whose first impulse is acceptance, to guard against digital alteration of information? As you say "we [adults] all know how they did it" but not everyone does actually know of it or know enough to look. Also today we do physically alter our appearance with 'real' adjustments, larger these, thinner this, smoother that. We need to be aware of how easy it is and how well we can alter an image, or video, or even flesh to appear as other than it began. Ashampoo makes some excellent programs for altering and improving photos, and I think you should share them with your kids and start that discussion about trusting your eyes or not.
From another perspective, the same software is (I hope) used more often for improving images. I use Photo Commander a lot to first view my images, and to quickly correct any bad exposures. I also enjoy purposefully altering images in exaggerated ways to explore the creative results visually, so I am maybe a little more aware of manipulation that others might be and I do note an amazing absence of wrinkles, facial hair, paunches, and other 'signs of wear' in images everywhere, so take a second look.
I am delighted with the writers assessment of the AIR BRUSH and am ashamed to admit using that technique, but it is great for embarrassing your grandchildren