Now we all know that airbrushing, retouching, and photoshopping are the norm these days when it comes to celebrity photos. It seems that none of us readers really know how a celebrity truly looks like in real life because they are always caked with makeup and their magazine covers and print ads are ALWAYS heavily edited.
I am not against a pretty picture. In fact, a little retouching or editing to sell a product or a magazine is fine. But when the final picture turrns out ugly because of the editing, then we've got a problem. A good editing job is fine. A terrible one is unforgivable. Below are ridiculous photo retouching jobs. They will make you laugh hard and cringe at the same time.
Disclaimer: I am not against the celebrities in these photos. I will not say anything terrible about them. This post is about the terrible editing job that the team behind the photos did.
Now this photo is scary because it is just wrong. Perhaps the team behind this photo shoot wanted him to look sinister but the final result is just plain ridiculous. What were they thinking?
It seems that Redbook Magazine has made terrible retouching a normal practice. Like I said, it is not a sin to edit photos for a cover but if the job is extremely obvious, I would be insulted as a reader. Don't these people realize that the average person can spot a horrible editing job and find it ugly? They have done the same to Jennifer Aniston. They cut the head and haphazardly pasted it on another body. For more strange covers on Redbook and other magazines, check this post.
4 Rachael Ray for Modern Dog
The people behind this photo probably thought, "Hmm...let's combine this head and this body for the cover." This cover is just all sorts of wrong.
5 Christina Aguilera for Her Perfume Ad
Now I understand that all perfume ads out there are heavily edited. We have seen perfume ads of Britney or Paris that have gone through a hell of retouching. But you have to admit that their ads were not as tacky as this one. Was this photo supposed to be magical?
Matt Oh no you didn't take away Lindsay's freckles! I wouldn't have even known it was her if you hadn't told me. Godammit I am one of the most talented and experienced retouchers on the planet (22 years ) . I was doing this before anyone even new what retouching was. I am so good at it and yet am striving to find work these days due to all the hacks out there taking cover like this and turning them into frankenstien images. Just because you can take something away doesn't mean you should! Lindsay's freckles for example !@#$%%#. What is one to do... Matt :-(
Tavia The miracles of photoshop are no longer a secret. In these days almost anyone can do a basic photo retouching.
Sheila Absolutely! I'm talented enough to make my pimples magically disappear but usually I end up looking the same. Thank God for that! :)
Cafe Oh, I can't stand photo retouching. Sometimes it's so retouched that it literally looks like a painting of some sort - case in point, Britney Spears' Candies ads. Those look like a work of art - and not of the photography kind; rather the illustration variety! :)