Photoshop gone too far, again
I created this collage to illustrate how horribly far the photoshopping went on what is considered a beautiful woman in this culture. Well, maybe not in US culture? Perhaps her nose was too "ethnic" for the cover, so they whittled it away.
If you're as tired of such offenses as I am write a letter to the editor
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In addition to the photoshop nose job, they also changed the shape and size of her beautiful eyes, her jaw line is unnatural, her neck has been altered and her hair has doubled in thickness/size.
It's absurd!
Why is huge, thick hair considered 'sexy' to people? It confuses me.
Lots of women naturally have "huge, thick hair," myself included. Let's not fall into the "Real women have _____" trap again, please. We can criticize this terrible photoshop job without mocking women who naturally have some of those attributes.
jesus christ...that's not what I was saying AT ALL. I have thick dark hair on my head and everywhere else. I genuinely wanted to know why people think that big hair is sexy.
It might indicate an over-abundance of estrogen, which also creates other attributes considered beautiful in women, like clear skin and large breasts.
Whenever I go off of my birth control pills, I have a time where I seem to lose a lot of hair, but it's just going back to where it was before I took estrogen.
As much as I absolutely love that shot of Cruz on Vanity Fair, I can now say, that what they did her nose was disgusting. They also lightened her complexion several shades as well.
Oh wow. Her eyes are almost supernatural, they digitally bleached her skin, narrowed her jaw so that it appears as if she is an Anime character, and went way overboard on shaving down her nose. This is just plain ridiculous. The fact that they still do this after all of the controversy that's been revolving around photoshop only exposes the sheer disregard the industry has for the emotional health and well being of women in general. It's sickening.
Honestly, the nose job was the last thing I noticed--it barely looks like the same person to me. Though, now that I see it, my self-conciousness about my own big nose (Thanks Mom!) just went up a couple pegs. Way to go, Vanity Fair.
She looks so frail. This cover made me wonder if she was okay
I am a user of photoshop but this is going to the extreme - she does look like shes been photoshoped a bit too much dont you think?
European Cruises
This is what I wrote to them. You're right, this isn't even her anymore!!
"Penelope Who?"
I was appalled by the unrecognizable person you glossed your magazine covers with. I've never seen Penelope Cruz look anything like that, and unless she got major facial deconstruction (yes, that's the word I mean), this is an example of not only horrible photoshopping and the retoucher should be fired for incompetence; but it is also an offensive generic dolled warping of this already beautiful woman. It is images like this that are taking any shred of diversity out of the idea of beauty and I will not support a magazine that feels it cannot give someone the dignity of her own face.
Amen sister, Amen! so well said!
This was awesome. Perfectly put. This message should be sent to every major magazine company that's doing this.
I looked at the article online, and the images inside are no better. Check out the one on the top of this page.
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2009/11/penelope-cruz200911?currentPage=2
Wow. That looks like anime fanart, not a photograph.
Check out some of the moronic commentary in the captions of her photo album.
"'I never thought about her as a person, because when I work I’m not interested in the person except as a performer. When she turned out to be lovely, that was nice, but I would have been O.K. if she had been a bitch,' recalls Woody Allen, who cast Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona."
Dude, Woody Allen, you're a dumbshit.
"Sischy writes, 'Cruz isn’t cookie-cutter pretty - she even has a bit of a schnoz - but her unusual features come together in a memorable aria of real beauty.'"
A "schnoz"?! Are these people fucked in the head.
yes, they are.
I read that too. Unbelievable. She has a "schnoz"?? So now everyone who doesn't surgically alter their nose is "not cookie-cutter pretty". So many things wrong with that quote..I'm not even going to start...
to be entirely fair to woody allen (god, did i really just write that?), he's right. you don't hire someone because they're nice. you hire them because they're good. nice is a bonus. was this the right forum for that sentiment? not really. but that doesn't make it less of a true statement.
that eye makeup is bizarre, and the words of uncle ben surely apply to photoshop as much as fighting crime: with great power comes great responsibility.
Nnn, that's not really the point, either. The point is that "bitch" is a gendered insult and "being nice" is a gendered trait, and the former is a result of the stereotype of powerful, talented women being "uppity" and "bitchy." Woody Allen wouldn't have even MENTIONED such a thing about his male actors. Can you imagine? e.g., "I never thought about him as a person, because when I work I’m not interested in the person except as a performer. (Actually, this statement in itself is absurd, and sounds even more absurd when said about a man; how do you NOT think about A PERSON as A PERSON? What do you think about him/her as, a robot?) When he turned out to be really thoughtful and kind and agreeable, that was nice, but I would have been O.K. if he had been a mean jerk." This sounds absurd because it's normal for talented men to be both mean and bitchy and still be liked. But it's NOT normal for women; women are supposed to be nice, all the time, no matter what they're trying to accomplish. People continue to have more negative opinions of mean, angry women than of mean, angry men.
OMGoodness. It's out of control! Do they have no conscience?
The editors must know it's on the shelf, in line at the grocer, for little girls to see and be influenced by.
They are just out of control! How can an editor approve such an image and why do photoshop artists who do this continue to pollute our world with images like this?
I wrote an article recently about how I grew up feeling ugly, but eventually learned to accept and love the way I look. I made a passing joke in it about how photoshop artists wouldn't think twice about giving me a digital nose-job. But at the same time it still shocks me to see this.
Really really sad.
(this is my article)
No one should have to be photoshopped in order to be presentable. Good for you for seeing yourself as is--that fact makes you beautiful.
I saw this in the magazine stands and I didn't even recognize it was Penelope Cruz. What's the point in having a celebrity model for you if you're going to make them virtually unrecognizable with photoshop anyway?
When I first saw this magazine I didn't even know it was Penelope until I looked closer. I thought it was Megan Fox.
It's always the skin that gets me - women in magazines and ads no longer have pores, or even skin that looks human. It's just this flat colour.
Wow. They made her look pale, emaciated, and not like herself at all.
How can you tell they altered her nose? I can't really tell from the lighting.
I can tell her skin's light and her eyes are an unusual shape, but is that maybe just the make-up?
You're right, though, that it doesn't even look like her. I just watched her in _Vicky Cristina Barcelona_ and she was awesome (in spite of its being an overall stupid movie).
Rent Volver, it's a much better movie with her in the lead role.
and she looks human and beautiful.
How can you tell the nose has been altered?
look at the photo underneath the Vanity Fair "photo".
PC is known for having a bump in her nose and the more common in the Southern European countries, shorter space between end of nose and top lip.
I get the point of the photoshop criticism.
But, this woman is a rape apologist. She signed the petition to have Polanski released and not extradited for his crime of rape. This woman does not deserve any help or support.
This is not about her. It's about the little girl with a bump in her nose, or a wide nose or thin hair or who is at an average weight, has melanin on her skin, has pore, etc. at the grocery store.
That little girl is bombarded by images that wipe away any features that don't appeal to the insane editors of magazines like VF.
This.
I think you're wrong about that.
Additionally to what Hara said, there's another point.
Having anti-feminist opinions (such as expressing rape apologism) does not mean that feminists should no longer call out idiotic misogynistic things that are being done to you. That's not how it works.
Shakesville founder Melissa puts it far better then I ever could
http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2008/05/how-feminism-works.html
Points to that article for using the term "grok"!!
And yes, I'm so tired of the idea that we should only defend women we like from sexism, as if the world is neatly divided into women who are worthy and women who aren't, and we can successfully divert all the sexism to the women who aren't worthy and and dismantle the patriarchy at the same time. Don't think so.
that's in not on her skin...oops
she looks like an alien. so what, now "human" is considered ugly? jesus h. christ and a stack of pancakes...
I wonder what it feels like to be an photo editor, sitting in front of a computer equipped with all sorts of tools to alter a picture to perfection. When I think about it that way, I actually can understand how crazy stuff like this and the Ralph Lauren pic happen. (its what happens to me when I start editing my own photo on photoshop!) The editors need to understand, however, that they are working with a picture of a real woman, not an object.
This kind of thing is ripe for lawsuits - as in, fraud. Because it is. It isn't even her. The magazine is misleading the public and should be fined.
honestly this pic just looks like they used alot of makeup and hair products on her. skin color can be altered alot by lighting. her jaw doesnt appear to have changed at all, niether does her nose. its the angle of her head that makes them look different... this is a case of a very good lighting specialist who knows how shadows work to alter contours. Her eyes naturally angle up slightly... and all they did was add dark eyeshadow on top to accentuate that. She has big hair... all they had to do was blow dry it and add some shine product to get this look. I use photoshop a lot and except for smudging out her smile-lines I dont see much of it.
here is a link to a retrospective of Cruz's pictures that have been included in Vanity Fair. You will see many different variations in her skin tone based on the lighting used in each shoot. The contrast has been turned up in some of them to eliminate mid-tone shadows. At least in one of them the purpose seems to be to compare her photo to similar shots of Audrey Hepburn. There are many things wrong with the way magazines portray women, but in this specific case, I dont see over-photoshopping as one of them.
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2009/11/penelope-cruz-portfolio200911#slide=1
also, here is a link to a much clearer version of the cover. i dont know about you, but i can see the bump on her nose pretty clearly.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://cdn.buzznet.com/media/jj1//2009/09/penelope-vanityfair/penelope-cruz-vanity-fair-november-2009-02.jpg&imgrefurl=http://justjared.buzznet.com/photo-gallery/2249331/penelope-cruz-vanity-fair-november-2009-02/&usg=__BA3VYIQchPn1RWWv2oDbwYNX-6U=&h=1222&w=861&sz=277&hl=en&start=13&sig2=fqeRnkFUlg6aUQ_iia3aRw&um=1&tbnid=2v9316Cd2zDXhM:&tbnh=150&tbnw=106&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpenelope%2Bcruz%2Bvanity%2Bfair%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1G1GGLQ_ENUS349%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1&ei=fbXdSt79BM3glAfj1rmoAw
I purchased a copy to share with my p-shop students. It's a great example of what NOT to do. The imaging artist shaved and reshaped her nose.
Just one of a list of wrongs here.
Maybe your screen is disfucntional
look at this:
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2009/11/penelope-cruz200911?currentPage=2
and please, go look in the mirror to see what a real human looks like, then compare.
You'll notice that you have a natural curve under your eye, that you have pores, and if you are near PCs age, some wrinkles...you'll see an incredible difference that lighting alone can't be blamed for.
If not, make an appt. with an eye doc. ASAP
We pretty much KNOW they photoshoped it. That picture is not fresh off the camera and printed just as it was shot. We don't know specifically what they did but we do know that they did choose to show her with lighter skin (whether lighting or photoshop did it). The nose...I'm not sure on that one.
Here is another example of PC being photoshoped: http://a7.idata.over-blog.com/539x293/0/40/84/95/divers2/penelope-cruz-avant-et-apres-photoshop.jpg
I worked with photoshop (freelance artist) for a few years and it is still a hobby and an art medium ( I make collages, alter images, etc.)
I have some images of me, that have been altered in an artistic way. They are not on a magazine cover, trying to look like a real human image.
From my experience as a P-shop artist I can tell you without a doubt, that neck, the shoulder, her jawline, hair, nose, eye, and under her eyes have been shopped to death. It looks like an amateur job. I'm shocked at the shoddy work and more shocked that this imaging got past the editor, especially while the article exclaims her "unlikely beauty" and "shnoz" etc.
It's horrid and irresponsible.
When I saw this on the newsstand, I did a double take. I had no idea who the person on the cover was. The first explanation that popped into my head was that it was Jesse Jane with a brown wig and a lot of eye makeup. Imagine my shock when it turned out to be Penelope Cruz!
FYI, Jesse Jane is a porn "star" whose plastic surgeon must have been under the influence of an anime Real Doll. (BTW, the links are SFW. The second one, though, is somewhat disturbing)
--Alyssa