Digital manipulation: behind the scenes

Scary!

The Conrad Digital site dishes the dirt and shows the secret ‘before and after’ images behind current advertising work.

The page is a hefty download, but the wait is worth it.

Check out the Tylenol Ad: click on the image and then mouse over the pop-up image. You’ll see a larger version of the “finished” article and the original, untouched version. A pretty face is pulled, given a nose job, new skin texture, different eyelashes… All to get a ‘perfect’ look.

Even more scary is the Paul Mitchell ad: what a transformation. Bingo wings ‘shaved’, cellulite removed, colours changed, new hair…

The Photoshopper notes that the:

image was pretty demanding as EVERYTHING needed work. I had to create hair where there was none which is often quite a feat when you don’t have a similar image to pull from. Her legs were in need of some smoothing(dare I say excerise) and the overall image needed some attitude. Not a HUGE difference from the original, but once the cast was removed and the problem areas dealt with, we had ourselves a wonderful little image.

Problem areas? Goodness – imaging what he’d say about us mere mortals!

Just trying to remember what the point of photography was: the starting point for cartoon-like manipulation?