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The Effect of Photoshop on Images in Our Society
Over the past twenty years, Photoshop has changed itself, advertising, and photography dramatically. Beginning as merely a program that could change a monochrome image to a grayscale image, Photoshop has morphed into a program that can completely create new images and edit other photos into completely different images (West). The main venues Photoshop has changed over the years are advertising and photography; although debates continue whether this change is good or not.
David Pogue, in his article “Photoshop and Photography: When Is It Real?”, discusses how Photoshop has completely revamped most peoples’ ideas of photography. He mentions a photo contest in which the winning images had been Photoshopped. The point was that it was unfair to the other photographers who had actually taken their pictures and not created them on the computer. The contest begs the question then: What is a photograph? (Pogue). Pogue continues to say that, “We live in an age where Photoshop jobs are commonplace, reality TV shows dominate the airwaves, and news bites are taken out of context and manipulated. Maybe, these days, the question isn’t ‘What is a photograph?’; it’s ‘What is reality?’” Photoshop has and will continue to change the way photography is defined and viewed; also, advertising has been affected by Photoshop.
The article “The Self Esteem Act: Parents push for anti-Photoshop law in U.S. to protect teens from unrealistic body image ideals” quotes a worried mother saying, “’Real, serious, and enduring problems occur when we don't recognize that the images and ideals of the human form being presented in the media are setting unrealistic expectations and standards for our country's female population'” (Abraham). A study done proved that eighty percent of women felt that Hollywood images made them feel insecure, and that seventy-one percent of teenage girls who had self-esteem issues felt that they were not pretty enough because of the young women they saw in magazines. The false, Photoshopped images portrayed in magazines and other ads oftentimes cause problems for women who aspire to appear as perfectly as the advertisement women do. This is just one example of how Photoshop has affected advertisements.
I realize that the examples I’ve presented are rather negative towards Photoshop, but I personally am not against Photoshop in any way at all. Photoshop is a great program that has come a long way and allows people to do things we were never capable of before. That being said, everything has a dark side to it. Overall, however, Photoshop really is an amazing program that has transformed our society, advertising, and photography.
Works Cited
Abraham, Tamara. “The Self Esteem Act: Parents push for anti-Photoshop law in U.S. to protect teens from unrealistic body image ideals.” Mail Online. Daily Mail, 12 Oct. 2011. Web. 17 Sept. 2012.
Pogue, David. “Photoshop and Photography: When Is It Real?” Pogue’s Posts. The New York Times, 25 Feb. 2010. Web. 18 Sept. 2012.
West, Angela. “20 Years of Adobe Photoshop.” Webdesigner Depot. 1 Feb. 2010. Web. 19 Sept. 2012.
David Pogue, in his article “Photoshop and Photography: When Is It Real?”, discusses how Photoshop has completely revamped most peoples’ ideas of photography. He mentions a photo contest in which the winning images had been Photoshopped. The point was that it was unfair to the other photographers who had actually taken their pictures and not created them on the computer. The contest begs the question then: What is a photograph? (Pogue). Pogue continues to say that, “We live in an age where Photoshop jobs are commonplace, reality TV shows dominate the airwaves, and news bites are taken out of context and manipulated. Maybe, these days, the question isn’t ‘What is a photograph?’; it’s ‘What is reality?’” Photoshop has and will continue to change the way photography is defined and viewed; also, advertising has been affected by Photoshop.
The article “The Self Esteem Act: Parents push for anti-Photoshop law in U.S. to protect teens from unrealistic body image ideals” quotes a worried mother saying, “’Real, serious, and enduring problems occur when we don't recognize that the images and ideals of the human form being presented in the media are setting unrealistic expectations and standards for our country's female population'” (Abraham). A study done proved that eighty percent of women felt that Hollywood images made them feel insecure, and that seventy-one percent of teenage girls who had self-esteem issues felt that they were not pretty enough because of the young women they saw in magazines. The false, Photoshopped images portrayed in magazines and other ads oftentimes cause problems for women who aspire to appear as perfectly as the advertisement women do. This is just one example of how Photoshop has affected advertisements.
I realize that the examples I’ve presented are rather negative towards Photoshop, but I personally am not against Photoshop in any way at all. Photoshop is a great program that has come a long way and allows people to do things we were never capable of before. That being said, everything has a dark side to it. Overall, however, Photoshop really is an amazing program that has transformed our society, advertising, and photography.
Works Cited
Abraham, Tamara. “The Self Esteem Act: Parents push for anti-Photoshop law in U.S. to protect teens from unrealistic body image ideals.” Mail Online. Daily Mail, 12 Oct. 2011. Web. 17 Sept. 2012.
Pogue, David. “Photoshop and Photography: When Is It Real?” Pogue’s Posts. The New York Times, 25 Feb. 2010. Web. 18 Sept. 2012.
West, Angela. “20 Years of Adobe Photoshop.” Webdesigner Depot. 1 Feb. 2010. Web. 19 Sept. 2012.