“Britney Spears has boldly agreed for the original photos from her latest shoot for Candie’s to be released alongside the final retouched copies”.
Originally posted www.marieclaire.co.uk, I give full props for Britney for allowing these to be shown. Most regular models are too afraid to show theirs, let alone a celebrity. In this image conscious world where perception generates sales, I am glad to see this.
“Britney made the move in order to highlight the pressure so often put on women to look perfect, allowing us to see her for all un-airbrushed glory.
And comparing the images side-by-side, we can see exactly which little nips and tucks the Candie’s team gave Ms Spears, before releasing the final ad campaign.
From the front-facing shot, it is clear that Britney’s legs have been slimmed down considerably, with the final picture giving her computerised thighs and thinner calves, as well as a noticeably smaller waist.
The bruises from her right leg also appear to have been zapped, while her skin tone seems to have been brightened and evened-out”.
I wish we had a larger version to look at, but either way, I applaud her for allowing them to release the originals.
Before I started retouching, I knew very little about what really went on behind the scenes with magazines or advertising work. I assumed they were, for the most part, rather close to what they looked like in photographs. I knew they threw around the term ‘airbrushing’ but that was as far as it went with knowing what happened for post production. If you ask anyone on the street and took a survey, you would get the same answer. Now people have become a little more educated with bad retouching in the media now.
The reality is that our industry is a very mysterious one and most people will never show the before shots. I find two main benefits of showing off the before images:
1) It educates the common person about what really goes on once an image is taken for most jobs.
2) People are generally insecure about seeing perfection plastered everywhere. This sends a message that no one is that perfect in photographs.
Especially young women today who are impressionable and influenced easily. Here’s a video which emphasizes that point.
So thank you Britney, I personally think this is a good thing for people to see even though the retouching wasn’t that great – but that’s a whole other discussion!
Souce: www.marieclaire.co.uk
