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France passed yet another interesting Law. From now on, any commercial image featuring a model whose body was digitally altered must have an “edited photograph” stamp on it.

While activists who’ve been pushing that idea for quite some time celebrate, the actual implications are likely to radically differ from their expectations.

Photoshop’s liquify tool is the main, if not the only target here. It’s an essential tool whose usage goes far beyond making models skinnier. While Photoshop can be used in extreme ways, it is not as common as medias depicts it. The liquify tool is just one baby step in the editing process. Carefully adding and removing light at key locations is what makes a massive difference at making a model look incredible.

Prior to this, posing, lighting, makeup, clothes, using the correct focal length, are also powerful tools to shape anyone’s body, draw attention to some parts of it, and distract from others.

The net effect of this Law is that we will keep seeing photographs of models that look unreal, with the absence of warning, effectively meaning “not edited”.

No matter what activists keep rehashing, anyone that hasn’t been living under a rock for the past 15 years knows that photos can be, and are retouched. Ironically, knowing this helps you not think about attractive people you constantly see in the real life.
Yes, some people do have a better body that yours. And it hurts. But on a photo, it hurts less, because you know it’s been digitally edited — skipping over all the previous steps of a professional photoshoot, but the perception is the same: “this is not real, so I don’t care”.

Now, we tell you that it *is* real. Or rather, that Photoshop’s liquify tool wasn’t used, so the perception is “this is how the model looks, for real”. And it now hurts. Way more than it used to.

This Law is bound to have terrible implications in the industry as well. Models who don’t have a perfect body won’t be booked any more. Period.

Since a quick fix in post-production is not an option any more, other models will try to get as naturally skinny as permitted by the Law.

Young models aspiring to become professional models will give up their dreams.

Worst of all, this clusterfuck happens right around the time major brands started to promote highly diverse body shapes. This has actually been happening for quite some time, as seen by the raise in the number of castings looking plus size models. Shot with very tight corsets underneath, overfitting clothes to blur the body shape, and professional makeup, lighting, and photography so they still look amazing, especially on a seamless background that doesn’t provide any scale. I intentionally didn’t mention Photoshop’s liquify tool, which often ends up being a minor factor in the whole equation, if existent at all.

And what is pretty fascinating is that a lot of people didn’t even notice the rising presence of these plus size models in everyday’s ads. Because these people still look unreal and amazing.

The high fashion industry is running behind, but everywhere else, efforts were being made, and nobody really cared. What we have instead is a clueless Law that is going to shake the industry pretty hard, where only models with the best bodies will survive. And consumers who will realize that Photoshop’s liquify is not the actual secret to beauty.

Good job, everyone.
	France passed yet another interesting Law. From now on, any commercial image featuring a model whose body was digitally altered must have an “edited photograph” stamp on it.

	While activists who’ve been pushing that idea for quite some time celebrate, the actual implications are likely to radically differ from their expectations.

	Photoshop’s liquify tool is the main, if not the only target here. It’s an essential tool whose usage goes far beyond making models skinnier. While Photoshop can be used in extreme ways, it is not as common as medias depicts it. The liquify tool is just one baby step in the editing process. Carefully adding and removing light at key locations is what makes a massive difference at making a model look incredible.

	Prior to this, posing, lighting, makeup, clothes, using the correct focal length, are also powerful tools to shape anyone’s body, draw attention to some parts of it, and distract from others.

	The net effect of this Law is that we will keep seeing photographs of models that look unreal, with the absence of warning, effectively meaning “not edited”.

	No matter what activists keep rehashing, anyone that hasn’t been living under a rock for the past 15 years knows that photos can be, and are retouched. Ironically, knowing this helps you not think about attractive people you constantly see in the real life.
	Yes, some people do have a better body that yours. And it hurts. But on a photo, it hurts less, because you know it’s been digitally edited — skipping over all the previous steps of a professional photoshoot, but the perception is the same: “this is not real, so I don’t care”.

	Now, we tell you that it is real. Or rather, that Photoshop’s liquify tool wasn’t used, so the perception is “this is how the model looks, for real”. And it now hurts. Way more than it used to.

	This Law is bound to have terrible implications in the industry as well. Models who don’t have a perfect body won’t be booked any more. Period.

	Since a quick fix in post-production is not an option any more, other models will try to get as naturally skinny as permitted by the Law.

	Young models aspiring to become professional models will give up their dreams.

	Worst of all, this clusterfuck happens right around the time major brands started to promote highly diverse body shapes. This has actually been happening for quite some time, as seen by the raise in the number of castings looking plus size models. Shot with very tight corsets underneath, overfitting clothes to blur the body shape, and professional makeup, lighting, and photography so they still look amazing, especially on a seamless background that doesn’t provide any scale. I intentionally didn’t mention Photoshop’s liquify tool, which often ends up being a minor factor in the whole equation, if existent at all.

	And what is pretty fascinating is that a lot of people didn’t even notice the rising presence of these plus size models in everyday’s ads. Because these people still look unreal and amazing.

	The high fashion industry is running behind, but everywhere else, efforts were being made, and nobody really cared. What we have instead is a clueless Law that is going to shake the industry pretty hard, where only models with the best bodies will survive. And consumers who will realize that Photoshop’s liquify is not the actual secret to beauty.

	Good job, everyone.