Photoshopping and airbrushing?

Selphiroth · By Selphiroth. 04/11/09, 01:12 am

I'm quite curious on what's the general attitude over photoshopping and touching up cosplays. Of course I'm not talking about vandalism, but rather things like tweaking the contrast, changing the hue, smoothen blemishesor at most, rid of the extra 10kilos the camera always give to us . What's your view on those? Are they okay under any circumstances? Okay okay if the cosplayer gave permission after being asked? Okay okay if the cosplayer in question requested it but asking is impolite? A complete taboo regardless of what?

I'm asking, because I know that internationally it's considered normal practise to touch up the cosplays to the point of crossing uncanny valley, and don't even get me started on the commercial stuff. In here though it's still almost never done AFAIK. I would love to learn to touch up, but I don't want to do it if it upsets people.

What's your view on it?

**Duckeh** · By **Duckeh**. 04/11/09, 01:16 am

MAKE ME PRETTY, BETCH.
D8<

That's pretty much my stance.

Edit: To elaborate, I see no offence in someone fixing apparent flaws.
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**JVCA** · By **JVCA**. 04/11/09, 01:27 am

I think as long as you're not body morphing (I'm talking making boobs bigger/butts smaller) then I don't really have an issue with it - I'd much rather have a photo of me with the shine patch from my forehead and the giant zit on my chin removed than have the aforementioned afflictions floating round on the internet.

Changing hue and contrast I don't really count as photoshopping - those are standard edits any good photographer should do.
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Selphiroth · By Selphiroth. 04/11/09, 01:27 am

@Duckeh - I don't think I've run into you in Arma, nor that I have your photos. Who were you cosplaying as?
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Selphiroth · By Selphiroth. 04/11/09, 01:32 am

@JVCA my problem is I don't really know how much would count as body morphing. Especially consider personally I found that photos are not the most accurate description of the actual body shape of anyone, would it be out of line to shrink enough for the person to be morphed back to accurate size?

Not quite Ralph Lauren's HEAD BIGGER THAN PELVIS that's for sure.

Thank you so much ! <3
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**seraphik** · By **seraphik**. 04/11/09, 01:32 am

i don't see a problem with it. i mean, in the end, cosplay is just another art form-- and it doesn't really matter what you do with the photo contrast/hue/sharpening/healing brushing. surface blur is also a good one to cover up flaws. (:
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**Duckeh** · By **Duckeh**. 04/11/09, 01:34 am

I didn't cosplay this year due to much fail.
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**JVCA** · By **JVCA**. 04/11/09, 01:37 am

Roflmao XD EDIT: laughing was in reply to Shelley's Ralph Lauren reference, not Shannon's cosplay tragedies. o_o; *did not want to be misunderstood*

Idk, generally (when I take photos at least) when you take photos you aim to take photos for effect - deliberate foreshortening and the like. I think I need an example?

I think the issue I have with people bodymorphing photos is that for the person themselves to bodymorph it, it sounds vain or deceptive. For a photographer to do it, it's sort of like "...you think I'm fat/my boobs are too small/my butt is too big?"

I'll also add: Photoshopping eyes to be the same colour as the character is fine by me. Very Happy

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Icarus · By Icarus. 04/11/09, 09:47 am

idk, but isn't photoshoping/touching up photos about the same as make-up?
so there's really no problem with it
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u_ne_korn · By u_ne_korn. 04/11/09, 10:52 am

I would be horrificly offended if I found pictures of myself that had altered the contours of my body. You'd be seeing another enormous rant. My body is MINE, you do not get to "tweak" it as you see fit in your photographs. Don't like how I look, get a new model. /feminist rage building!

I am quite happy for you to take out that sweat patch in my armpit, or the enormous zit on my nose that sprouted this morning in retaliation to the makeup. Or the flyaways. Those are not ME. Those are undesirable consequences of the costume.

I think makeup is different to body morphing, especially in cosplay. I don't wear makeup on a day-to-day basis. But in photographs taken of me without makeup, I dont look like I do in real-life (mostly my skintone gets horribly washed out and all you can see of my eyes are the bags underneath them. Thats not how my skin looks with natural light). Cameras see skin and light different to eyeballs. I wear makeup for photography in an attempt to trick the camera into seeing what an eyeball sees.
Costume makeup is different again - if I'm wearing (for example) full Joker makeup then thats a special effect - it's like a prosthetic nose. Its not supposed to look real, its creating an effect.

But I don't have any issue with things one to the hue (especially from hallway shoots, yuck!), or washing out the background to emphasise the foreground, or doing something completely bizarre with the image to make it a new peice of art.

But don't you dare touch my boobs or my ass or my waist or my neckline or the curve of my back or limbs.
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Static · By Static. 04/11/09, 11:43 am

I wrestle with this one quite a lot! :S

My stance is this: things that are permanent, and are part of the model, shoud be left alone. This includes body shape, freckles/moles, and scars. Things that are transitory, such as pimples and flyaways, or a food stain on a costume, get edited out: it's a shame to let a bad skin day ruin an otherwise gorgeous photo, and I've yet to see someone object.

Personally, none of my photos get shown to ANYONE without having the levels and curves adjusted - this is because I prefer to work post-production rather than in-camera. Quite frequently I'll tweak the exposure and colour balance to get images looking uniform and better than they were before, without doing anything to the model.

Having said that - I have gotten rid of rolls before. One of my favourite images is a friend of mine in a corset and lingerie, reclining on a couch - she's not a small girl, but she is beautiful, and I smoothed out one roll between bra strap and back of corset. IMO, this is fine - she's still clearly not a size anything smaller (and there's nothing wrong with that) but now there's not the distraction of that bit of fat to draw the eye.

Ethical retouching FTW Very Happy

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Mischa · By Mischa. 04/11/09, 06:38 pm

Yes for pimples! No for freckles.

Photographers can do wonders with the right angle and flattering lights. I LOVE LOW ANGLES because I have short legs.

I have had my teeth photoshopped and I was no no no why? I like my snaggle teeth
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**JVCA** · By **JVCA**. 04/11/09, 06:43 pm

I don't mind having my teeth whitened slightly (not OMG WHITE but just... not yellow, lol) but I wouldn't want the shape of my teeth changed, 'coz I think they give me character. Very Happy

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Static · By Static. 04/11/09, 07:55 pm

Lol, low angles. I hate them - it's very difficult to get people's faces not looking really fat at low angles...but do make shorter legs look amazing.
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Zari · By Zari. 05/11/09, 12:28 pm

Personally, zits, under-eyes bags, food stains...fine. But anything that changes the subjects permanent appearance (body-morphing, changing facial features) is out of line. I mean, if someone attempted to edit my figure I'd object because that would be changing ME. If they have a problem with my rear or my chest it's none of their business changing it. It's my body.