The Story Behind the Photo
- Olivia Ly
- Feb 24, 2019
- 2 min read
Updated: Feb 25, 2019
Every day, we are bombarded with flawless pictures of celebrities on magazine covers, ads of products that promise amazing results, and photos of people with seemingly perfect lives on social media (Luttrell page 149). Unconsciously, we start to compare ourselves to the picture-perfect people and begin to wonder, “Why can’t I look like that or have the life they have?” The simple answer: not even these flawless individuals have what you want. Instead, they spend hours in makeup chairs, worry about the public opinion, and are heavily edited by professionals.
“It can be hard to remember that the rich and famous people and all those fitness gurus on Instagram don’t really look the way they seem to. 99.9% of pictures that these people post is Photoshopped and filtered.” - Lindsay, 19 years old
Thankfully, many celebrities and influencers have come forward exposing the world of photo enhancing and the reality of posts.
A most recent example is Lili Reinhart and Camila Mendes from the TV show, Riverdale. In an issue of Cosmopolitan Philippines, their photos were heavily edited. The magazine edited their waist line to look skinner and in some opinions, unhealthy. Once the magazine was published they took to social media to expose the photoshop.
One can only wonder, “What effects do these images have on young teens who may not be aware of such editing applications?”
The American Journal of Preventive Medicine performed a study that found the more time you spend on social media, the more likely you are to feel lonely. Researchers concluded that “Exposure to highly idealized representations of peers' lives on social media sites may elicit feelings of envy and the distorted belief that others lead happier and more successful lives."
Social media tends to dehumanize individuals by placing them on pedal stools for their seemingly perfect lives. We are encouraged as a society to only post good pictures of ourselves, making our lives seem struggle free. From the outside looking in, its no wonder people feel lonely and wonder why their life can’t be as perfect as an aesthetically pleasing Instagram feed.
Other celebrities and influencers are trying to end the trend of these “distorted beliefs.” Such as fitness influencer, Nina Zeiler. Nina’s account stresses and reveals the truth about social media. People only want to show the good things: the pictures that they look the best in and their best days. However, accounts like Nina are fighting the status-quo.
In one post Nina states:
“It’s funny how you can feel you ‘know’ people you follow on social media. You see what seems to be their life, what they are like, how they are feeling. But do you really?.... They have their bad days, their insecurities and problems and life lessons their learning too… only get to see 5% of someone’s world.”
It’s important to realize that images are aren’t always as they seem. Behind each photo is a person just like you and me who is trying the best to navigate life. They are showing tiny tidbits of their days, only showing the highlights. So next time you start to compare yourself to your favorite Instagram influencer realize you are only seeing 5% of their world.
Olivia- thank you so much for bringing this topic to life on your blog! I think that editing and photoshop on social media and in printed publications is something that needs to change. I think that this topic nicely ties into what we’ve discussed in class regarding ethics. It’s unethical for trusted publications and companies to distort reality in order to potentially benefit their sales or following. In my media ethics class I’m taking this semester, we have discussed the importance of images. We all trust images to be representations of how things really are in the world. However, a lot of the time we as consumers do not know if an image has been edited or distorted and therefore…
Hi Olivia! This was a really interesting blog post and I think this was a very insightful and relevant to today’s generation. I am in a social media class and I was assigned what’s called a social media diet in which I was forced to take a break from all social media for three days. I realized not only how much time is spent on the platforms but also the images that we believe to be real.You mentioned the concept of social media making one’s life feel lonely and perhaps empty, and I realized I felt that way after reentering the social media world. On my feed and my explore page I would see beautiful photos of people traveling and…
People respect authenticity. Media outlets should take after the excellent example Lili Reinhart and Camila Mendes set by exposing the unrealistic and unhealthy body images used to portray them. Certainly, some publications have begun to embrace imperfection as the human image, but by and large the practice of photoshopping people into slimmer and more “perfect” figures still seems to be a dominant trend in the industry.
I’ll confess that fashion and entertainment aren’t my area, but there’s absolutely a proven social cost to subtly altering our vision of how women should look. Absent legal intervention, magazines and other publications should take it upon themselves to self-regulate and take responsibility for their actions.