One of the things I like to do is look for photography tricks so when I take pictures of my kids, they look awesome. And I keep running into tutorials about "how to make eyes look brigther, bigger, more intense, etc" and other ways to make pictures of your kids look better.
And then I read articles about people railing against magazines that use photoshop to make models look better and how horrible that is and how it's effecting little girl's self images.
But then... are we any better? Are my kids REALLY not cute enough as they are? Do I really need to enhance their eyes and cover their blemishes and remove their moles and whiten their smiles and all that?? Am I leaving an accurate portrait of my kids, or what I "wish" them to be? Cause really... they couldn't be any cuter or sweeter or more perfectly who they are....
what do you think? (About doctoring images of your own kids... I already know you think my kids are cute)
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14 comments:
Your kids ARE cute!
I'm guilty of "doctoring" my kiddo's photograph on a few occasions. Once, she was scratching her nose right before a "fancy" photo was taken and gave herself a huge red mark across it. Yeah, I digitally removed the mark. The few other times, it was something like brightening her face if it was in shadow and a couple of digital removals of "bats in the cave" that I hadn't noticed when I took the picture.
I am WAAAAAAY more guilty of retouching my own photos in the past. I've digitally Clearasil-ed my skin, erased flyaway hairs and removed spots from clothing. If I had the mad Photoshop skillz necessary, I would gladly remove a few chins and enhance my figure, but I'm not that steady with the mouse. :-D
I try very hard not to cover or change my photos too much if at all. Scratches are part of life. Blemishes too but we don't really care to remember them now do we.
I try to only crop my photos and sometimes adjust the lighting a bit. Now when it comes to photos of myself that's a whole other story. LOL
I think I look for those tips because I am a BAD photographer. It has nothing to do with my boys. I know they are adorable, but I am just awful at taking photos sometimes and need help correcting MY mistakes!
I don't doctor. Partly because I don't have the right program. Partly because I don't have the time, and partly because I happen to like how my kids look. Looking back, I'm so glad I didn't doctor out that huge red scar on Addi's cheek because now I can see and appreciate how much it has faded over the years.
Read the other day that a girl's self-esteem peaks at age 9. Nine. :(
I don't monkey with my photos (any of them), mostly because I don't own Photoshop. I've had some fun with pics of myself (or celebrities) on Picnik, but that was more for laughs or just general entertainment. I'm less interested in doctoring the photos I've got and more interested (like you) in taking better pictures. I have this fabulous camera that is completely wasted in my un-photo-educated hands. Sigh.
I just adjust lighting, color, and crop as well. I don't even know how to do all that other stuff!
But in case you were wondering, I have the most beautiful children in the world, anyway.
Great thread on this here.
I mostly just try to clean the food off my kids' faces. (But not every time.) And make up for my exposure mistakes. But hey, if I am cropping to get closer in to our faces, and in so doing I must crop off a little of my arm or hips, well so be it. I would do that for anyone. :-)
I confess that I "adjust" photos of myself quite liberally, but I'm pretty reserved when it comes to fixing ones of my daughter. Generally, if I do, it's just color, brightness, etc. Sometimes its the weird quirky elements that make photos so interesting.
I have been known to make a couple of changes here and there. Even on pictures of Gina's beautiful children. I often wish I had photo shop so I could do more with my pictures. Even professional photographers do some adjusting. Don't know that I would go to the extent of removing moles or changing the size of their noses and sometimes stray hairs hanging where you don't think it belongs is just too cute. Case in point: Dear Gini's picture:)
I always leave my photos just like they are because that's part of what I love about my kids, all their crazy little imperfections, but, I do sometimes adjust the lighting and of course a little crop here and there never hurt anybody :)
I photoshop almost every photo of myself and my kids...minor things, like the eyes. It's not make them cuter, but to make the technical aspects of the photo more apparent. Blemish removal..oh heck yeah. That's temporary.
What I have the problem with is using the liquify tool to make someone who is already skinny even more so, or to use liquify to enhance some areas, to tone down others, etc. I have a problem with plastic looking skin.
In my mind, one type of editing ENHANCES the other creates. I go for enhancing...and yes in some people if I posed them badly I will use a touch of liquify to get rid of that itty bitty fat roll that pudged out by how I turned them. ;)
I don't have Photoshop. I use Picasa to get rid of redeye or to crop stuff, but that's it really. Oh, I can change pics to black and white too. I don't see the point in changing the pictures. I'm not a professional and I take pictures to remember what we were doing at different times. I don't understand wanting to be perfect in every picture. :)
My Youngest spent part of last summer at an NYC internship. Her job? To Photoshop photos of stunningly gorgeous models, to make them even more stunningly gorgeous. This cut her to her photographic core. So much so, that she's done several papers on the "lies" that Photoshop perpetuates. I'm with her!
You make an excellent point. I only edit people pics for glare. I agree with you; to edit too much changes reality. :)
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