Hey guys, I just wanted to voice my opinion about something that's been bothering me a lot lately.
What I often read is that a model often photoshops her pictures, and that this is a bad thing.
I really have to counter some of those arguments because it's getting on my nerves.
First of all though: Yes, one can use photoshop too much, distorting reality, and I do understand that when someone uses photoshop to really stretch out the boobs to make them look bigger, or make her waist look smaller, it breaks the suspension of disbelief. Taking things too far is never a good thing.
However, there are quite a few things that we need to keep in mind, and a lot of girls got blamed for using photoshop too much, while there wasn't even photoshop involved.
Keep in mind that, when taking pictures, we all want to look our best. People put on make up, position the camera in the right angle, everyone tries to look their best.
And a good photographer, can make any picture look photoshopped without even using it.
I can name a few examples where models have been blamed to use photoshop, to such a level where the model even got scolded for it, and no photoshop work was even involved!
Example 1: People comparing a pictureset with a video.
I've seen it before, people comparing a photograph of a model with a screenshot from a video, a video that was taken at the same time as the pictureset. Complaining how much the model photoshopped herself, about how much more toned she looks.
Here's the thing: Using a flash when taking a picture, creates very hard shadows. Showing muscles more prominently. When using softboxes for flashes, evens out the skin a bit more, making it look more smooth.
This isn't photoshopping, it's just good photography. Combine this with good poses, because the photographer is of course going to throw away the bad poses. You cannot compare this to a video that was taken the same time. There's no flash for every frame, and no perfect posing, you just cannot compare this.
Example 2: Comparing public amateur content with pro content.
Models are people too, and they visit public places as well. Sometimes, people make snapshots with their phones or action cams when a model isn't watching. You'll catch a bad angle, or even worse, you have a fish eye lens like most phones have, and when she's not in the middle of the picture, she'd look stretched (or... fat). That gives a very distorted picture from an angle she did not pose for. That's also a very unfair comparison.
Example 3: Using wide-angle lenses on pro-content.
Last example also goes the other way around. Some models work a lot on getting their boobs closer to the camera, making them look relatively bigger. This is commonly done, but this effect fades away when using a video camera from other angles, or seeing this girl in person. It creates a different expectation that the model cannot live up to. You could argue that she called this on herself, but sometimes it's a necessity. Most videos and pictures are taken in small rooms. Wide angle lenses are needed or she won't fit in the entire picture. Most model photographers don't even have zoom lenses, because you're not gonna photograph people from far away. Most of thos lenses just are wide-angle.
So, the thing I'm trying to say here:
Most girls try to look their best, and sometimes it even looks photoshopped. But in many cases, this is just good camerawork, and in some cases, it's an unintended side effect. But reality is a lot different. But the same goes for wearing makeup, or wearing fancy clothes. Everyone wants to look their best.
I'm not condoning excessive photoshopping, but sometimes people get blamed for it while they don't even do this. So cut the girls some slack.
They're here for your enjoyment, so... enjoy!