Lie

[fj]

“The people who complain about retouching are the first to say, ‘Get this thing off my arm.’ ” I mentioned the Dove ad campaign that proudly featured lumpier-than-usual “real women” in their undergarments. It turned out that it was a Dangin job. “Do you know how much retouching was on that?” he asked. “But it was great to do, a challenge, to keep everyone’s skin and faces showing the mileage but not looking unattractive.”

Retouchers, subjected to endless epistemological debates—are they simple conduits for social expectations of beauty, or shapers of such?—often resort to a don’t-shoot-the-messenger defense of their craft, familiar to repo guys and bail bondsmen. When I asked Dangin if the steroidal advantage that retouching gives to celebrities was unfair to ordinary people, he admitted that he was complicit in perpetuating unrealistic images of the human body, but said, “I’m just giving the supply to the demand.” (Fashion advertisements are not public-service announcements.)

Pascal Dangin, master digital retoucher, in "Pixel Perfect: Pascal Dangin’s virtual reality.", Lauren Collins, The New Yorker, 2008-05-12

As found for me by jpeace, who turns 28 today, and brings me the best gifts from the Internet every night.

Comments

[allanh.livejournal.com]

One of the reasons I enjoy reading your LJ - other than your adventures, of course - is you post links to the damnedest articles that fascinate me. This is one such example. Thank you!

[fj.livejournal.com]

As said, a lot of it is found for me by jpeace

[mondragon.livejournal.com]

Thanks to both of you for this.

[fj.livejournal.com]

I thought you'd eat this one up with a spoon.

[mangosteen]

...and people wonder why I'm so ambiguous about removing whole relatives from wedding photos.

[fj.livejournal.com]

It's been requested?

[mangosteen]

A few times, yes.

[fj.livejournal.com]

Anything juicy, or just "I want this to be my sisters only, not that nephew as well"?

[mangosteen]

"We had no idea he was in the picture. Can you.... do something?"

Realistically, if you desire to run a photography business on word-of-mouth advertising, there's only a two word response to that.

"Reasonable rates."

[bitterlawngnome.livejournal.com]

betch please!

[fj.livejournal.com]

Do you retouch people at all in your work?

[bitterlawngnome.livejournal.com]

Not in the sense that this guy means - I'll do minor things this get rid of a zit or whatever but basically what he does is digital painting, and I'm just not into it. Which has got me into huge shit with some rich white girls with entitlement issues.

[dpnash.livejournal.com]

Very cool article.

The description of the Steven Meisel photoshoot brings up something that's crossed my mind a lot recently - for example with Annie Leibovitz's elaborate ads for Disney featuring celebrities dressed as Disney characters. When the final image is something pieced together like that, and when it isn't really Leibovitz or Meisel doing the piecing together - then why do they need to Leibovitz or Meisel in the first place?

In the article, it describes Meisel shooting the two models individually against a black background. Why couldn't Dangin have done that himeself? It's not that hard to do, and he clearly knows how to, since it was his own suggestion to change the lighting. How much money did Meisel get paid for basically signing his name to something that he did very little actual work on?

Nice work if you can get it? Somebody tell me how!

[fj.livejournal.com]

There's still the skill in dealing with the clients, the creative director, getting the best out of the models, and simply time management. The retoucher may be on set, but he didn't do all the client meetings. And my bet is that the more you do in front of the camera and less afterwards, the better the chances to stay in the monetary and time budget, so a good photographer who knows his lenses, film, posing, and vision, is an asset.

[raimondas.livejournal.com]

Austin Powers is the best photoshooter ever. "Be an animal... dig... burrow." :)