About Image Editing/"Photoshopping"

Firstly, relax. Have a chuckle. I insist.

(You're welcome.)

**

Alright, so for such a 'controversial' issue in the (beauty) blogging world, I actually do not have much to say.  Alas, this post is just meant to answer a few questions I've received over the years.

Inquiries about 1.) my opinion on Photoshopping yourself, and 2.) whether or not I Photoshop my own images.  So let's get down to business, yeah? (To defeat... the Huns~!)

-- - --

1): Do you look down upon bloggers who Photoshop/edit their own images? Why or why not?

Answer: Nope. I am fairly neutral on the matter.  If you have the skill and want to do it, I say go for it. If you find it abhorrent, that's also fine. *shrug*  The beauty world-- whether in online blogging or in advertisements and billboards out in real life-- has certain standards that its inhabitants try and live up to.  These standards are generally insanely unreachable, but that doesn't stop folks from trying to get there: it's a competitive market.

Frankly? The trend tends to be that the better you look, the better your view-count looks. ;P  I begrudge nobody their right to compete for whatever their ultimate goal in blogging is.  The only time I disapprove of extreme image editing is when somebody is reviewing an item: I'd like the images to represent the product as true-to-life as possible.

TL;DR- Have at it, friends: liquify, increase glow, brighten, blur, and saturate to your heart's content. Do what you must to get ahead. Just remember to scale it back so your reviews are true-to-life.  And try to remember not to hold yourself to those high standards in your daily life. <3

* *

2): Do you edit your images?

Answer: Yep! Although I don't use Photoshop. Haha. I actually just use Photobucket's (old) dinky/awful image editor. WHAT DO I DO, YOU ASK??! O:

Well, let me show you~.

-- This is from last month. Last year, I had pretty much perfect skin, but a stress break-out in summer murdered my complexion and left me with dark spots that are taking ages to fade. The bags under my eyes? Have always been there. Haha. --

-- My typical edits : I often change (reduce) the blue levels in my pics, as I take them in very cool lighting that skews colours.  Next, I've recently started to slightly blur the objects in the background to keep the focus on the item/lenses/my visage. Finally, I do my best to remove most (but not all) of my dark spots, and try and reduce my under-eye bags. --

Not too extreme, right?  That's because I don't know what I'm doing and because I am bad at it. Also, because the better my face looks, the worse I feel about editing my pics. xD  Thank god it's so painstaking editing in Photobucket. ;D

Anyway, one more example, yes? From a more recent review:

-- Arrgghhh~. My skin~. ; _ ;  It's improving, but still looks awful. --

-- See? Reduced the blue levels, got rid of some dark spots, and softened my under-eye bags. --

*  *

All done! :D  Hopefully you all haven't lost compete faith in me because of something as trivial as 'photoshopping'.  Because really? Most of my pics go through this process-- as do many of the pics of some super-popular bloggers. (Sometimes, though, I'm too lazy to bother...)

- - - -

COMING NEXT. . .