Photography Coursework - Transform Brief

Concept - To show that the perception of beauty and "perfection"; especially as it is portrayed on TV and in magazines, is fake! I wanted to use as ordinary a photo as possible to emphasise that the result was obviously fake so the original image was shot hand held at arms length near a window with flash bounced off the ceiling.

The transformation from the original image (right half) to final image (left half) was done entirely in Photoshop; this is my first attempt at such heavy image modification! Mod's included smoothing skin, removing spots and stubble, liquefied the corner of my mouth and some liberal dodging and burning, blurring, sponging and sharpening. I used the stitches to highlight the transformation and the ugly and obvious way Photoshop can be and is used by advertising companies to play to peoples self consciousness and insecurities to sell products! Perfection doesn’t exist; it’s born out of lengthy make-up, expert lighting and plenty of Photoshop. without meaning to sound like a hippy - real tangible beauty is everywhere and in everything and if you're someone who strives for the magazine look at the expense of your health, wealth and happiness perhaps you should consider that love is the only real beauty in the world that’s worth striving for...

The stitches used are from brushes downloaded from [link] (the woman who runs the site makes a fantastic selection of brushes for Photoshop, well worth a look! she’s also an excellent artist too!)