Beauty is in the eye of the Photoshop editor

It’s not like this is the first time we’ve heard that all the beautiful pictures we see of women have been doctored with computer magic.

Years ago, there was a famous photo of singer Faith Hill from the cover of a magazine that made the rounds. I think she may have even been the one who put it on the Internet. It showed the raw photo of her taken in the studio side-by-side with the Photoshop-doctored one that actually hit stands.

And even a beauty like Faith was far from perfect. They had perfected her skin, shaved a little off her arms, tucked her waistline, smoothed her hair and highlighted it, etc.

I’ve even had pictures of myself doctored a little bit. I kind of liken it to “sweetening audio,” which is why what you hear on a CD or on the radio sounds smoother and cleaner than when you hear the live version.

But then I saw this video. It shows an average-looking woman at a photo shoot and, honestly, the result is absolutely astonishing. You’ll see the computerized transformation step-by-step.

I don’t even know why they needed her there at all, really. I think they went a bit too far in some of the doctoring. She almost looks like a mannequin and I think her neck is too long, but it just goes to point out how much we women need to quit comparing ourselves to celebrities and models whose pictures are in magazines and the like. They aren’t real! They are probably even comparing themselves to what they see.

Where is the healthy balance? On one hand, we have these images, and on the other we’re told that Americans are the most obese people on the planet!

Do you find that you still compare yourself to beautiful women in magazines and on the Internet and TV? Does your daughter? Knowing what we do, why do we still strive to a standard that is virtually unattainable, even by the best of us?