I have a 13-year old daughter so I can understand the message here. But that is some mad crazy chopping.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knEIM16NuPg

That's crazy.

Neat video Tofu

I always wonder how much they chop those pics, do you think it is like in that movie? or less?

and mad

and life....

which also pretty much sums up the job I'd love to land one day

doing that sort of work (maybe not to that extent of fabrication though)

but pretty much thats how they do it Sam. "I'd like her eyes a little larger... can you shape the shoulders to make them MORE feminine"? yada yada yada

I'd like it also known, while I'd love a job doing this (cause it pays large $$$) I think the message they send women (young girls in general) is entirely wrong. Love your bodies. NOTHING wrong with curves!!

Damn.. I always thought they just removed some pimples or birthmarks... damn

Yeah I think it is like that. Here's some sites that perport to show before and after pics of models that were chopped.

http://homepage.mac.com/gapodaca/digital/bikini/index.html
http://homepage.mac.com/gapodaca/digital/blonde/blonde1.html
http://www.ybmakeup.com/gallery.php?cat=gallery_bnf

http://demo.fb.se/e/girlpower/retouch/retouch/index.html

As for the message of the video I can see both sides. Artists have always depicted the "standard of beauty" for their time and woman have always tried to conform to that image.

I think it's worse now because there's a much wider distribution of the images. Print, broadcast and Internet displays make for a powerful force on us.

However, as I said, the standard is always changing. I also remember a class in high school (in the 80's) where we looked at the topic. There was an experiment where an artist took pictures of the "most beautiful" women from several decades and overlayed them together. The resulting image looked a lot like Lucille Ball.

Ahhh, holy crap that was cool and a huge dose of reality

Thanks for showing us that. I had to forward that link to my friend so it would make her feel better about herself. I told her that she will never look like one of those models because they don't even look like that, lol. She really enjoyed it and it did make her feel better. But, I have to agree with the idea that I HATE the message it sends out to women. Some girls almost kill themselves over trying to be that skinny or "pretty". Me being one of them about 6 years ago. I finally gained back some weight that it took me a year to do and then I was able to get pregnant with Kayla (I had miscarried once when I was "ill"). Women take it on like it is competition, they have to look like that in order to get "attention" or to look good by societies standards. I can now look back and see what it was that I did and why I did it and I think that they should use "real" sized women and all shapes from 5"01" to 6"00 to 125lbs to 250lbs. But, I can understand why it would be nice to do as a job.... I can see both sided of the fence, but I lived the worst part of it.

Sorry this is a touchy subject for me that I had to drop my 2 cents.

My 2 cents...Skinny women...and I mean overtly skinny women are sooooooo not attractive to me. If you're slim and naturally so, that's one thing. But to starve oneself over image is beyond my comprehension. Besides...I like a little something to hold on to!
I think too much emphasis is placed on outward appearances more times than not. If you're truly beautiful, then you are beautiful inside...if it just so happens you're physically attractive...well, that's kind of a 2fer
And for ad agencies and marketing hacks to continuously bombard young women with images of, really what amount to be almost goddess-like women...well, that's just wrong.

Such great discussion so far!

Meg I'm glad that you understood my post (at least it seems like you did). The video is also available at the URL that's at the end of the video (http://campaignforrealbeauty.com/).

My daughter is always talking about how fat she is. She's so concerned with that number and her clothing size. We constantly have to remind her that she's much taller than all her friends and that taller people are simply bigger. We've come to use our video camera to record her around her "friends" so that she sees that she's not any bigger (and usually smaller) than everyone else. It scares the hell out of me that she'll turn to anorexia or bulemia. But so far so good.

DP: I'm with ya! I'm a self-confessed chubby lover and proud of it!

for some reason i didn't put a button on for this one, one of the most useful trix in photoshop, your first leason in becoming a catwalk photographer, "soften skin".
http://www.hallcross.co.uk/free%20stuff/ps_tuts.html#Sharpening
below sharpening,,,, ironic???

What can you do for me?