Photo edits - more fake in a fake world?

I actually like seeing photos that are edited. They really do look better and it goes for all photos of everything. Usually editing or improving what is there brings the picture more to life then leaving it dull. But I actually prefer those that ARE selling dolls to have one taken without any editing, so the buyer can have a better idea on how the doll really looks. Or at least have one picture of the doll that is unedited then provide pictures that are. And it usually helps too if one also says that the pictures are edited so people know that it's not completely natural but still a photo taken of the doll.

 

If I'm buying a doll I want to know exactly what it looks like. I definitely don't want the edited version. I don't want to receive a doll only to find out it's not exactly what I paid for. Then I get disappointed and feel like I wasted my money on something I didn't really want.

Even if it's for art I think I would prefer to see the real doll. I don't mind edits to the background and other things. But isn't the art supposed to show off the beauty of the doll, not the beauty of the edit?

 

Personally, I have an addiction to editing photos. I can't not edit my photos a bit(unless it's a sales pic). If I don't edit them it bugs me. xD

 

Unlike with models and people in magazines, dolls are already 'perfect'. They are made how they are made, they generally don't come with flaws unless someone ordered them that way... you order a doll because it is how you like it, etc. So photo editing doesn't bother me at all... it just adds more artistry to the work. The doll, the photo... all of it is part of that art. It's like working with many types of traditional media. Maybe you use markers for flats for one reason, pencils for shading for another... in the end it all comes down to one peice. It is not, in my opinion, like in magazines and advertiesments where the people in them are made to appear perfect, or better than you... something to aspire to being etc. You don't edit photos of your dolls so that someone elses doll will feel bad and want to buy the same pastels to make their faceup perfect like THAT doll, LOL!

But in the case of altering a photo of a doll you intend to sell, that is a huge no-no. Include those images by all means, but also have the ones that show it as it is, as it would go to the buyer, or else it's really just faking a person out D:

 

I'm a photoshop fanatic myself, and I do quite a bit of editing for photos to capture a professional appeal to the viewers. But as always, I DO mention that it has been edited. Whether one can tell it's been edited or not, I'll always say so. I do not see the harm in editing a photo and if someone asks how I did that, I'll just honestly tell them that it's an edited shot.

I haven't personally seen any cases where a photo of a doll has been edited to the point that it presents an unachievable reality, like on the cover of a magezine... and if anyone would point me to one, it would be appreciated. But I see the dolls as art, the same way I see a photo as art. Every one of them will turn out a little different than the last one. So trying to copy what you see isn't going to be entirely successful, whether you get the exact same things as the thing in the picture or not.

What really matters, however, is being able to honestly say that it's an edited photo.

 

Alas, not all dolls are always flawless! Sometimes your doll gets a scuff in his faceup, or a chip in his nipple-blushing, or there's a dirty spot you overlooked while taking the photo, or his wig doesn't fit perfectly around the hairline, or the resin is really yellowed. Photoshop to the rescue! My WS dolls have yellowed over the years, so when I do a nice photoshoot of them where their yellowness is too distracting to me, then I adjust the yellow channels in the photos & make their skin white again. If I overlooked a spot of schmutz or a scuffed cheek or a chipped nipple, I use the clone-stamp or blur tool to cover up the flaw.

Sometimes the tiniest flaw is a HUGE distraction once you know it's there, whether or not your audience will ever see it. If something distracts you from the main artistic mission of that photograph, then you get to fix it. I wouldn't do any of this for sales photos, of course, but when it's my artwork I get to choose what shows up in it.

 

Editing my photo's is part of the hobby for me (Weird, because I work as a photo editor irl, and you'd think I'd be done with it at home but no. My job is why I have thought a lot about this issue).

I would also argue that it is not comparable with the editing of photos in magazines. The problem with the extensive Photoshopping of models is that a completely unrealistic image of a person is used to sell the idea of achieving that perfection to people. People are now waking up to the fact that the photos are fake but a lot of damage has already been done. The editing of doll and other art photos serves a completely different function, in these pictures editing is mostly used to enhance the picture itself, which is art in itself.

I agree that it's a big no if you want to sell something. You should honestly disclose the flaws, otherwise you are scamming.

 

People Photoshop people, as well as all sorts of other things. They may want to make the colors more vibrant since the sky was overcast, or they might find someone in the pic that ruins the whole mood of the shot.

I find nothing wrong with it, if their reasons were not meant to seriously mislead me. Like, if they were trying to sell me something that was photoshoped to look better than it really was, then I'd be against that.

People may do editing on dolls to maybe remove a minor scratch, or a joint, or even to add fine detail they wouldn't risk doing by hand.

 

thia is ok to make the doll looks good no matter what the creator does, including photoshoping the photos since it is NOT for reflecting the truth.

O for personal use (do whatever you like)
X as a portfolio of a face-up artist ( the photo must be as real as it can)

for me, it will be no problem if someone photoshoped the pictures of their dolls if it is nothing do with commerce.

Bye the way, VOLKS is the only company could shoots the most ugly dolls pictures.....make things ugly is also a sin.

 

Well, I think that depends on the situation. If there is a photo competition, than editing photographs would be cheating. In other cases I guess this is mainly the question of taste