Sweet Jezebel!

Back in January, I wrote about the art of the retoucher, and now it's come up again, as Jezebel.com reports that "That Faith Hill Photo Wasn't Actually A Photo, 'Redbook' Editor Explains", as shown on NBC's Today show, that the untouched photo was uncovered by jezelbel.com. "Our goal in every cover is to create an incredibly beautiful image that people want to pick up, and peek inside" said Stacey Morrison, Editor in Chief. Morrison went on further to say what they did, in retouching Faith Hill so severely, was just industry standard.

Watching the video, you see that they thinned out her arm, her face, and her waist.

Of course it's industry standard...in fact, it's the industry's dirty little secret. This is why magazines will happily submit a list of photographers to celebrities who will then choose who will be the photographer for the cover assignment, and then, in turn, the celebrity requires they approve of the photo before it goes on the cover. Further, many celebrities require publications to use the "celebrity-approved" retoucher, who, of course, knows how to ensure that celebrity's flaws are minimized or eliminated. here's an example of massive retouching, to the point of "photo illustration" by an advertiser, and we're to expect that advertising is, in some small way, an acceptable arena for retouching. Who doesn't realize that 100% of the reason that a magazine has anything visual on the cover is to appeal to the newsstand buyer?!? The subscriber already has committed to the publication and paid for it. The cover is marketing and advertising for single-copy sales.

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