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This was inspired from Alarias's picture in the other thread. I LOVED seeing the photo so don't take this as anything bad about that. Anyway...what I'm wondering is how people feel about editing photos? Not like scenery or whatever, but like photos of a person themself. I know kitty does some brushwork on hers and it would seem alarias likes to bump up the contrast on her pictures. So I thought we might have a little thread for discussing that sort of thing. What is good to do...what is bad...what you like...what you don't...etc.

So...I should start I suppose heh. My view tends to be that photo editing should be done to make the photo look like the person did when it was taken. So you know...fixing coloring as needed, red eye, contrast, whatever. Just to make the taken photo match reality. Now I do realize there can be an artistic side as well. Sometimes a photo is taken with the purpose of editting and turning into something other than the original source. I'm fine with that. What I'm saying though is that if I am taking a picture of myself...just to be a picture of myself...then my goal in editting is to make it look how I actually look. So pumping the contrast or painting out blemishes seems kind of wrong to me. I mean I understand it some...everyone wants to look good in photos. You don't want people looking at a photo and going "Wow! Look at that huge zit!". So I can kind of understand the editting. It just kind of feels like it gets to the point where one never gets to see the actual person.

I guess what I'm saying is that I feel like you can look at all the pictures of a person and then go meet them and they look like a different person. That seems wrong to me. I feel like that if you take all the pictures of a person then you should know what they actually look like. Not that they all have to be the same realistic look. Some can be brushed up and editted or whatever. Its just the doing it to every picture that I feel like happens online that seems questionable to me. Its like people want to present some stylized improved version of themselves instead of their actual self.

So...what are other people's views on this? Do you think people do too much editting? Do you think its fine? Obviously its a question of degree as well. One may find upping the contrast on all their pictures bad, but simple brushwork alright. So you know...explain your stance. I'm curious what others think though.

I don't edit all my photos, unless you count resizing them.

I used to do a lot of "smudging" when I was off my pills because I was getting a lot of breakouts that I normally wouldn't get, and it made me feel really self conscious. My pimples are not me... they wont stay with me forever and I don't want them to be something everyone remembers after seeing a photo.

However that was only for about a year... before and after that I didn't/don't do much of anything to my photos. Every now and then I'll use a smudge, but one out of like... 10 or 20 photos isn't a big deal. I usually just edit the colour balance. Indoor lighting is a pain and editing the colour balance usually helps to brighten the photo up. I do zero editing to outdoor photos because the lighting is already perfect.

I've met tons of people from the internet... I don't feel like I'm leading them on. Any time other than one week out of the month *cough*, I have clear skin... And as for colour balance... It doesn't really make me look any different... So I think the small amount of editing I do now and then is perfectly acceptable. I'm not rearranging my face, whiting it out so I have no nose (I used to have a camera that did that for me, whether I wanted it to or not), or painting over my skin... The most dishonest thing I do with my photos is take the pictures at angles that I know make me look good, rather than angles I know make me look bad ^.^;

Oh, side note! I read about Alarias' dark circles. I tend to have those a lot too. They don't show up in outdoor light though, only in indoor light because shadows show up better in the poor lighting. This is another reason I adjust the colour and try to lighten up the photos. Also taking into consideration I don't wear makeup (Except the VERY occasional eye liner and mascara... maybe some lip gloss if that even counts. But no concealer/foundation at all)... So blemishes, under eye circles... these could be covered by makeup... I just choose not to. Half the girls you see when you go out don't really look the way they present themselves... try seeing them without their hair done and their "face" (makeup) on... You might not recognize them.

I guess for those of us who post photos online... photoshop IS our makeup... It fixes any little imperfections that may occur. It's not any less honest than wearing a pound of makeup when going out. Different folks have different strokes ^.^;

Well, uh in my book...anything is a go.
Just so long as you're happy with the results of your editing/lack of editing...then well, that's all that matters.
I agree with Catty that editing photos is just like putting on makeup...alot of people look different alone than when they are out in public encountering other people who will see them.

I'm actually rather fond of extreme changes too, like changing your skin tone to a wacky color...or making your eyes bulge out and glow...
I don't think anyone should really feel the need to limit themselves...
I mean...I like seeing what someone would look like if they were cartoonish and green with big black smudges where their eyes should be...I can see a regular person just by going outside...but, I'm not likely to see one of those by glancing out a window...
So, anything and everthing fair game.

On a side note, sorry if I came off as defensive...but, I just wanted to explain my own photos...and why I edit them the way I do...I mean, I guess that wasn't the intention of this thread...but, you pointed 'em out so, kinda thought it was...sort of called for in a sense...but, uh I'm not offended or anything and yeah...