Why we should use less photo enhancing

With mobile apps like Photoshop, Instagram, Repix and Luminance, people are able to retouch a photo with a simple tap of the finger to enhance or completely change the look of a photograph.

Target recently was in the middle of a Photoshop controversy as it had photos on its site that showed off some botched up Photoshop work.

In the photo the model’s crotch area seems to be boxy and missing as an attempt to make the model’s legs appear longer and create a larger thigh gap.

Personally, I’m not quite sure why there’s such an interest in obtaining a thigh gap, but it seems to be a body characteristic that girls are striving for. For them, it seems to symbolize the “ideal body type.”

Therefore, I think photo editing needs to be a topic of discussion.

According to Huffington Post, 15 percent of girls between the ages of 18 and 24 believed that individuals shown in advertisements, magazines and billboards look like that in real life, that they were unaware of the enhancing that takes place.

A One Poll survey, conducted in London, states at 33 percent of women feel that the figures they are striving for are unrealistic to achieve.

In my opinion, that’s sad; to strive and continuously push towards something that may never be physically possible.

Junior Equalities Minister who, according to has campaigned against negative media effects on body image, Jo Swinson MP said that the images the public sees in advertisements and media are typically the same and it creates the illusion that “there is only one way of being beautiful.”

Which in my opinion makes sense; we see the same stars rocking the same trends, because obviously who else is promoting the latest trends? Right?

But she continues to say, “9 in 10 people say that they would like to see a broader range of body shapes shown in advertising and the media.”

Immediately that makes me wonder, why aren’t we then? Because we are a consumer orientated market.

I’m not trying to blatantly bash Photoshop and say that the technology is bad. However, I do think that the amount that is being used can be lessened and that it’s our responsibility to let people know that enhancing happens.

There’s nothing wrong with trying to look the best that you can, but it is an issue when the best you can look is unrealistic or not physically possible and is merely an effect of a computer program.

But there have been some changes as companies like Dove and Aerie have campaigns in which they promote a variety of body types and unenhanced photos.