Retouching Photos: good or bad??

Everybody knows that every magazine cover photo is retouched - right? It's a never-ending quest to make the model perfectly pleasing to the eye - at least according to the editor or art director.

We may be aware of retouching, but that doesn't mean we are immune to the subtle feeling of self-loathing that may result from seeing these images every day of our lives.

Here is an eclectic and bemusing collection of links that demonstrate the phony art of retouch.

Email your friends, call your Mom, and tell your husband or wife. It's time to stop thinking "I wish I looked like that". It's time to start saying "Gee that retouch job is a bit overdone" - and then getting on with a life that runs deeper than a piece of celebrity skin.

Retouch-o-rama
You'll see stomachs flattened, skin blemishes removed, breasts made fuller, navels made 'perfect', limbs made skinny, and waistlines lose inches. Even a 12 year old boy can download a copy of Photoshop, grab a retouching tutorial, and create whatever they want.

Even Martha Stewart isn't immune.
Newsweek pasted her head on top
of a model's body for this cover

1. Portfolio site
   Retouchers portfolio site showing the epitome of the retouch. Watch those hips shrink before your eyes - or see this woman say goodbye to those wrinkles and pores.
2. Digital Pablo (removed)
   A selection of digital divas.
3. Digital Retouch (site now seems down)
   A huge client list, and enough images to put me off magazines for a long time.
4. NY Photographics
   Shock! You mean a model had stretch marks?
5. Touch of Glamour
   Digital liposuction?
6. Retouch Me
   (Removed by request).
7. Portfolio site
   These cheesy retouches get passed around the internet like a self-perpetuating urban myth. The only thing is - there's nothing mythical about it. Warning: Lots of skin here. Can anyone say sleaze?
8. Nasonart Portfolio
   Instant makeup.
9. Worth1000 Photoshop Contests
   The opposite effect - this is de-touching gone crazy. Even celebrities made fat. There's some amazing work on this site.
10. G!rlpower Sweden
    And (finally) a body-positive demonstration site showing the ease of retouch.

The power of a retoucher
with too much time on their hands.
Liz Hurley's worst nightmare?

So why all the retouching? Because we want it. Apparently.

Industry leaders say they cannot stop re-touching photographs, because if they do, people will stop buying their magazines. They say consumers simply are not interested in seeing every flaw that a person being photographed has. (source: VoA - Real Girls Are Beautiful)

And what do the photographers say?

"People would be shocked to know what some of the models really look like. Sometimes a model walks in and I don't even realise it is the model..." (source)