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A Guest Post by Richard Fisher at Frank Communications – a Leeds design agency offering a range of print, multimedia and web design services. Website: http://www.frankcommunications.co.uk
What was once a great tool known only to the design and advertising community is now part of common parlance. It even appears in the dictionary as a verb – ‘you can tell that image has been photoshopped.’ High profile stories of dodgy usage – Kate Winslet’s lengthened legs spring to mind – have given this creative software a bad name.
It’s fair to say that virtually every image you see in print every day – in magazines, newspapers, on billboards and posters – has been photoshopped. It’s an essential part of the designer’s toolkit, enabling us to create high impact quality work. But it is also often misused or handled badly. Here, we highlight the good, bemoan the bad and shake our heads in disbelief at the ugly sides of the art of photoshopping:
Good
The best Photoshop work goes unnoticed (which is the whole point from an advertising perspective at the end of the day!) Used correctly, it enhances a photo and can be used to remove flaws. Clearly its good practice to check and improve any photo you use even if it is just making sure the contrast is ok. Untidy or low quality images look unprofessional and can reflect badly on your brand. But it’s about being subtle, about having the skill to change and adjust the image so that it is improved without revealing the process of improvement.
Bad
Photoshop is often used as a quick fix to make an image stand out. How often do we see effects just for the sake of having effects? Lens flares appearing in photos for no reason or a random Photoshop filter to make an image stand out even if it looks out of place? Many people over-estimate how much Photoshop contributes and how much the user contributes to the finished piece. They think it is just a click of a button to correct or manipulate a photo but without an understanding of composition and light and shade, photos look unnatural.
Ugly
People know these days that every image of a model or a celebrity has been doctored in some way or other – to remove blemishes, wrinkles, excess flab etc. The effects of this on the way we see ourselves is much debated and analysed, but we think there are more pernicious examples of the misuse of photoshopping – in the doctoring of reality for political purposes. For example, this post was inspired by BP’s admission that it changed an image of a command centre overseeing the team tackling the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The doctoring of the image was to make staff look busier.
Other giant firms and even nations have been embarrassed by similar errors
- Iran was caught out after it apparently doctored images of a multiple missile launch, to hide the fact that one of them failed to go off.
- Microsoft was forced to apologise after its Polish arm changed a promotional image of three employees – amending the apparent race of a black man to white, even failing to change his hand to match.
- Britain’s former culture secretary James Purnell was embarrassed when his presence at a photo shoot was faked because he was late.
It is surprising to still see to this date so many examples of Photoshop disasters within the press and media – the majority down to carelessness and not fully utilizing the expansive toolsets within Photoshop.
Do you have any examples of Photoshop disasters within print advertising? Please share on the comments below.
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21 Comments
Photoshop has changed the world and given us so much more freedom to make the images we want. It’s no longer just the big design houses who can come up with the best images, we can too, thanks to photoshop.
One of the difficulties related the widespread ‘knowledge’ that photoshop can fix anything is that sometimes people tend to overlook details in the creation of an image opting to fix it in photoshop later. Many times this leads to the creation of bland images that lacks creativity and tend to look fake.
I am torn about photoshop. I think it is great when using design work but, I don’t like it when they use it to touch up people. It gives people a false sense that people are perfect looking which we are not. From the design standpoint, I love it. I am no good with it but, I have seen people do some amazing things with photoshop.
Photoshop deffinately makes us more lazy when it comes to our photography and creation of images. I for one, tend to ignore lighting/setting issues if I am in a rush as I know I can always touch it up later ..
Yeah I remember that James Purnell photoshopped image, its looks funny.
GIMP is okay, I’ve used it for more than two years when I started out with webdesign. However once Photoshop and Fireworks came along, I never went back to it. Still am curious if there will ever be a 3.0 version.
I am surprised this is the first I have heard of this. I have been way to out of touch lately. I haven’t seen many photoshop disasters but i can tell most of the time when it is photoshoped. Sometimes i use a program called tin eye to see where a photo originated to see if it was shopped, if I can’t tell off the bat.
No doubt that photoshop makes us lazy but, There are many advantages providing us like graphic designing and much more, In fact, It is a really remarkable for professional designer and also for us.
Like any other tools, the character of the product greatly depends on the character of the creator. Hope a lot more readers sees this post.
Oh, I dunno. I must confess that my interest in graphics took off when I managed to create a giant ant standing on a highway vanishing into the distance with mountains and a giant ant hill in the background. Previous to that I was unable to draw a beliveable line using traditional methods. I had no concept of anything art.
Actually I still don’t, but since that day back in the late 80′s using that Commodore 64 program, I have become pretty handy manipulating photos with friend Photoshop. Still can’t draw a lick, but I can combine images to make some dandy stuff.Most anything I can imagine.
Previous to all of this, the common method of doing this kind of stuff was a pair of scissors and glue or tape. I prefer Photoshop. I like it. A lot.
Norm
I think the good or the bad is within the user, we cant blame photoshop for it, can we
Photoshop was created to enhance, well, photo images. If users are utilizing its features haphazardly in the aspect of art or perhaps create output that are not generally acceptable, we need to ask the motive and intergrity of those users.
I think that photoshop is a great thing, but it is sad that used to make celebrities even more beautiful. Regular people already have a hard time with body image.
I have been using photoshop for web designing for last 2 years. Now a days, If a computer is a life then photoshop is a love of my life which consists all shades of color. Though for web design graphic optimization, i find optimizing jpeg graphic from firework is low file size than photoshop. Another disadvantage i noticed is that when i shrink average icon in photoshop to small in size (about 16px*16px), it misshaped slightly.
I don’t like those over-edited models – they looks like plastic. I think every professional must use digital tools wisely and not overdraw original nature.
Photoshop provides ample scope for us to be creative to make the image fit with what we want.
Yeah, retouching is a given in about every magazine, stock photo, and billboard. You have to just assume when looking at a portrait that it’s been done, especially celebs – you can always tell when its been done very poorly.
Photoshop is used too often to correct things that shouldn’t be corrected. There are some fun things about it though. The cigar guy is an example. After he showed up at a golf game, he was photoshopped into everything. This was done all in good fun. It is ok to play, but nothing takes the place of hard work. If the photographer takes the time to do a photo correctly, then photoshop will not be needed.
Hi Tara! Photoshop have been very useful to me regarding designing, editing and enhancing my photos. It’s the most simple software I could think of in terms of photo editing. Bottom line is there’s nothing wrong with photoshop, just with people using it for their own bad interest.
More people should be aware of photoshop manipulating the images we see as ‘normal’ on the Internet. It’s something that should be taught at an early age to ensure that a generation of teenagers don’t go overboard aspiring to have ‘perfect’ long legs like Kate Winslet (coz they don’t exist except in pixels)