Is #NoFilter what we are striving for?
In a society that capitalizes on unrealistic beauty standards and telling women they are not enough, it is often very admirable for people in the entertainment space to share themselves with no makeup, no photoshop, no filters. This includes People Magazine having a whole issue of unretouched, no makeup photos and Alicia Keys not wearing makeup anymore.
But in this case, editing, photoshop, and makeup is the general norm. I wish some pressures of it went away. If I go through my own Instagram, 95% of my posts I wear false lashes even though I only wear false lashes 10% of my life.
My personal PhotoShop value system (and skillset)
I know I have a following of impressionable women and girls that I do not want to make them feel obligated to mislead people with their appearances. But I also find it contradictory because I provide PhotoShop services to many of these girls.
So what I try not to do is reshape people’s features. And truthfully, my beauty retouching is not as good compared to apps like FaceTune. I am only retouching skin so that it is a replica of your skin from surrounding areas, not an airbrush color.
My real specialty is mixing in multiple photos. So using a face from one photo, legs from another photo, and a building light from another photo to create the “money shot.” I also don’t feel so guilty then because I know these images are coming from elements of other images, rather than a distorted, made-up illusion.
Other services I provide include fitting images into a square without cropping, creating comp cards, removing hair, and other graphic designs.
