Dear Sarah,
I'm a bigger girl and a month ago my Husband and I got some photos done for our 1 year anniversary. When we got the photos back I noticed the photographer did a significant amount of photoshop on my body to make me smaller than I am. I was shocked, but since I had paid for the photos I posted them. All of a sudden my friends and family were commenting on my new weight, and how great I looked, and how proud of me they were for my hard work at exercise. I was mortified. Mostly because when I see them they will realized the pictures lie. Now I don't feel good enough in my own skin. My question to you is, is photoshopping someone to make them smaller a normal practice for photographers? Do you photoshop your clients?
- Shrunk
Hello Shrunk,
I do photoshop my clients all the time, however, I never slim them down. My photoshop consists of fixing a zit or two. I want you to look as beautiful as you imagined on your photo day, and not let some ache ruin your experience or your shoot, but I don't believe in altering a person so much they don't look like themselves.
I have only ever "slimmed" twice. Once, to see if I could do it. I have friends that work for fashion magazines that I won't name, and that is a daily part of their job. For magazine covers all girls are C-cups and 0-2 waist, whether they really are or not.
The second time was because as a photographer I messed up. I was doing a senior photo session (high school senior, not 80 year old senior) and the girl had a beautiful billowing skirt that the wind caught perfectly. The only problem, I didn't notice at the time that her skirt blowing in the wind actually made her look 10 sizes bigger than she was. To make sure she was accurately represented in the photo, I "slimmed" her skirt. I never did anything to her body, just to how much I let the skirt expand in the picture around her.
I'm so sorry that you experienced this, Shrunk, but I can only imagine that your photographer was trying to make the pictures as beautiful as possible, and didn't realize how offensive or embarrassing the edits were. I truly don't believe any harm was meant. You have every right to go back to the photographer and ask them to redo these edits without the slimming process.
Don't feel ashamed or uncomfortable in your skin, though I know that is easier said than done. You are beautiful, and those edits had nothing to do with your beauty. As photographers we learn a lot of tricks (how to whiten teeth, fix skin, change the color of a person's hair or eyes...etc) and sometimes we just get carried away. Most likely it was the fact that your photographer was trying to show of his or her skills that you ended up with the photos the way that you did.
I'm a bigger girl and a month ago my Husband and I got some photos done for our 1 year anniversary. When we got the photos back I noticed the photographer did a significant amount of photoshop on my body to make me smaller than I am. I was shocked, but since I had paid for the photos I posted them. All of a sudden my friends and family were commenting on my new weight, and how great I looked, and how proud of me they were for my hard work at exercise. I was mortified. Mostly because when I see them they will realized the pictures lie. Now I don't feel good enough in my own skin. My question to you is, is photoshopping someone to make them smaller a normal practice for photographers? Do you photoshop your clients?
- Shrunk
Hello Shrunk,
I do photoshop my clients all the time, however, I never slim them down. My photoshop consists of fixing a zit or two. I want you to look as beautiful as you imagined on your photo day, and not let some ache ruin your experience or your shoot, but I don't believe in altering a person so much they don't look like themselves.
I have only ever "slimmed" twice. Once, to see if I could do it. I have friends that work for fashion magazines that I won't name, and that is a daily part of their job. For magazine covers all girls are C-cups and 0-2 waist, whether they really are or not.
The second time was because as a photographer I messed up. I was doing a senior photo session (high school senior, not 80 year old senior) and the girl had a beautiful billowing skirt that the wind caught perfectly. The only problem, I didn't notice at the time that her skirt blowing in the wind actually made her look 10 sizes bigger than she was. To make sure she was accurately represented in the photo, I "slimmed" her skirt. I never did anything to her body, just to how much I let the skirt expand in the picture around her.
I'm so sorry that you experienced this, Shrunk, but I can only imagine that your photographer was trying to make the pictures as beautiful as possible, and didn't realize how offensive or embarrassing the edits were. I truly don't believe any harm was meant. You have every right to go back to the photographer and ask them to redo these edits without the slimming process.
Don't feel ashamed or uncomfortable in your skin, though I know that is easier said than done. You are beautiful, and those edits had nothing to do with your beauty. As photographers we learn a lot of tricks (how to whiten teeth, fix skin, change the color of a person's hair or eyes...etc) and sometimes we just get carried away. Most likely it was the fact that your photographer was trying to show of his or her skills that you ended up with the photos the way that you did.
Denver Botanic Gardens -exhibit
RSS Feed