Over the
years it has become second nature to Art Directors, and Graphic Designers to
instantly open Photoshop when dealing with advertising beauty. Photoshop has
become a necessary tool and is for the most part very positive and a good use
of technology. Photoshop has made the lives of designers and photographers a
little easier with its endless options to retouch work and allow flexibility
when designing. Everyday people also have the ability to recover old family
photos and restore them without going to expensive photo labs.
That
being said, Photoshop is a great tool. However, we use such a tool in foolish
ways. Retouching human figures to appear perfect for the sake of advertising is
the perfect example of a moral double standard. I feel as though our society,
our culture, and industries should be taking ownership in regards to this. When
did it become ok in our culture to skew images of humans to convey a false reality?
In the online article published in March 2013 by The Globe and Mail Susan Krashinsky states “In 2008, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that
women who saw images of very thin actresses and models experienced a negative
effect on their body image”. In my opinion, we need to keep conscious of these
things in order to hold our society as high priority. Instead we seem to be
willing to deceive each other for financial gain.
I feel this is a moral issue and designers should have the
right to refuse work that is not appropriate. In my eyes, retouching colour
balance, awkward shadows, or skin blemishes are perfectly fine. If, the blemish
is not typically a permanent feature then it is ok to touch up. That could be a
good starting point!
Ultimately, this is a subject of great debate. Photoshop is a
great example of modern technology but it is how we utilize these tools while
not compromising our own society. It is our job to preserve our culture and not
corrupt it through misuse and damaged self-images!
