The Ethics of Retouching
In the social media era, images are more persuasive than ever. We are bombarded with "perfect" images every day that warped our reality. This can affect our mental health and create a false perspective of how to look and behave. With Instagram, Snapchat filters and retouching apps such as Photoshop, it is hard to ignore the urge to alter your own photos.
In an article for the New Yorker, Jia Tolentino debated the rise of the "Instagram face" described by Jia as “a young face… with poreless skin and plump, high cheekbones. It has catlike eyes and long, cartoonish lashes; it has a small, neat nose and full, lush lips.”
The "Instagram Face"
This is an unnatural look, impossible to achieve without altering the photo. And receiving these false messages from influencers, brands, and the media can cause not only comparison but it can also affect the mental health of millions of people consuming this content. It doesn't matter how big or small, the brand is still responsible for the message that they are communicating.
There are some situations where retouching is considered reasonable, such as removing temporary defects, for example, the model has developed a skin allergy a day before the shoot, but it is not how she normally looks or as a tool for artistic expression. These conditions still don't justify extreme alteration.
Nowadays, there are a lot of movements for self-acceptance challenging beauty standards and stereotypes. The actress Kate Winslet, for example, added a "no retouching" clause to her contract with L'Oréal and some advertisements are also challenging these standards like The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty.
You can have an idea of what the campaign is about through the video below.
The discussions surrounding photo retouching may seem overreacted, but retouching has a big impact, especially, with younger generations that are more prone to be influenced by the media and might believe there is something wrong with them because they look different than what it's considered "ideal" and popular.
“I think it’s important that we're consuming images of real people,”
- Kayla Logan's photo by Annie Caplan, an editorial photographer that neglects Photoshop completely.
Even though it is still a work in progress, there are a few platforms that advocate ethical retouching and transparency, connecting like-minded people to debate extreme alterations in the post-production of content such as The Post Co and Consider the Image. Hopefully, these initiatives can develop and generate legitimate change in the future.
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