Photoshop

I have talked about this in a few previous blogs, but I think that Photoshop needs more attention. Photoshop is a program that allows someones to edit a picture and, if done right, it looks incredibly seamless and realistic. This is an amazing concept; being able to completely alter and recreate images. I'm sure that Photoshop's original intents were just for fun, or maybe for artists. However, photoshopped images now have a reputation within social media and advertisements. And this reputation may not be positive.

In advertisements, companies photoshop their products to make them look perfect and desirable. However, the actual product doesn't look like the picture at all. This is especially true with fast-food.

As you can see, the food has been enhanced before it is presented to the public. The advertised food looks really good, but that isn't a good thing! People will get disappointed if they expected the food to be like the advertisement. Granted, most people know that fast-food will never look that delicious. But, it's still disappointing when you get the real food. The real products are dull and tiny in comparison to the edited products.

What's more disappointing is that Photoshop is also used for people. The models we see on the covers of magazines almost always have some sort of visual enhancements. This appears a lot in advertising as well, but that's expected. But, it's troublesome when people Photoshop themselves on social media. Many celebrities are rumored to Photoshop their pictures, but it's hard to tell if they're edited or not. And that's scary! Regular people who see these photos get self-conscious, because they see an impossible beauty that the celebrities may not even have. These regular people may even start to edit their own pictures, but with apps like Facetune or Perfect365. This just creates a domino effect; now even more people feel bad about themselves because there are more edited pictures.

These photos may look beautiful, but they really aren't doing any good. And, it seems that most photoshop is done to women. This only encourages the struggle of women and the appearance stereotypes. Nevertheless, Photoshop versus reality is a struggle all on its own. Photoshop can be fun, but I don't think it's necessary.